Hello Everyone.  A few months ago, I dyed my hair black and disliked it. Which I still do. I looked into hair dye remover at Sally Hansen, but thought it was be very damaging as my hair isnt doing so well these days.

I know that henna can turn chemically colored hair some nasty colors, but I was thinking about buying some and doing a strand test. What I was wondering is being that my hair is black...Do you think I could use a henna made with red and black henna and have it cover my roots and length the same color?  Here is the link to the henna I want to use.  http://www.lush.com/cgi-bin/lushdb/679.html?id=dIDw4GPL


Any comments would be appreciated, I am so clueless about this. Thank you in advance!!

i waited a month between a permanent dye and henna. henna will just react with certain semi-permanent dyes. but i want to warn you that lush is very UNPERMANENT. i dunno what exactly you want to do (dye the roots black until the chemical part is grown out?). i dunno if you dislike the harsh black chemical color or if you truly love dark hair and are looking for something more natural looking or just want to cover up your roots as long as the black is there. lush is supposed to be gone in a month (it's so full of added oils and butters that color won't last long). as well, to reach black with henna usually requires two steps if your natural color isn't at least dark brown already(either twice putting a colored herbal henna, or first pure henna and then the herbal one).

http://www.everydayhenna.com/index.html
you could always mail maureen jones, look in the contact us section.
i use their herbal henna (soft black and dark brown, which is very cool and not at all red). i don't think they sell a cherry black but they do on mountainroseherbs i think but i never ordered there.  you could also try morrocco method henna:
http://morroccomethod.com/henna.html. note that henna is something very personal, the color always depends on your own and the amount of applications and added substances, so does the staying power (if you add tons of oils it will stay less long).

no, finally i ordered from everydaymehndi (the international sending costs were pretty high so i ordered a huge amount). she told me her herbal henna brand has a very cool non-reddish dark brown and a very naturally looking soft black, exactly what i was looking for. and she didn't lie, they're absolutely sublime colors. i wanted more or less a demi moore color and achieved it pretty easily by mixing the dark brown and soft black. i don't even need a two step touch up. i don't think i'll change any time soon.  8)

I recently started using henna instead of chemicals, after reading up on the process here: 

http://www.hennaforhair.com/

After reading about what adulterated 'henna' can do to your hair, I was really careful to buy the natural stuff.  I found it bulk at the local natural foods co-op, but you can also order from the Henna for Hair site.

According to what they say, if you use the boxed stuff that says it is henna but looks in all other ways like a chemical dye, it will probably fry your hair due to all the other additives that react poorly with dyed hair.

I did a lot of hairball tests (collecting shed hair from my comb and brush) before I actually put it on my hair.   As long as you use natural henna, you should be fine.  I waited about 2 weeks between my last chemical dye and my first henna.

As messy and time consuming as the process is, it is really worth it.  My hair is super soft and shiny now.  The ends used to feel really dry unless I used a ton of conditioner, but not anymore.  I hardly have to use any. In fact, this bottle has lasted longer than any I can remember since I began growing my hair.  My hair is also stronger, thicker and splitting less often.

Another nifty thing about henna is if you mix up too much, you can save the leftovers in the freezer for next time!  Good luck

For this color, I used half henna and half 'blonde henna' mixed with strong chamomile tea, lemon juice and some olive oil.  According to the Henna site, henna only dyes red.  Any other color is a different substance.  There is another plant called senna which dyes a gold color, so my guess is that is what the blonde henna I bought must be.  Senna has similar conditioning properties to henna.

I did lots of tests with proportion before I used it on my hair.  Neither of these dyes will lighten hair, only coat it. My hair had been lightened from dark blonde to nearly platinum, so the picture is about my natural shade, minus the red.

Welcome HappyKarin! 

I'm not an expert on the henna scene, but as I understand it, you can use henna over permanent coloring, but you must make sure the henna has no metalic additives in it.  Body quality henna is the best.

Of course, a strand test is always the best test.