Bigen over henna, recipe for disaster?

[sprungonhairboards]

I henna'd my hair about 2 months ago. And no it wasn't the nice pure body art henna they say you should use. It was the regular out the box natural henna from Whole Foods. (The most natural I could find). I used it to cover greys, It gave me a light reddish color but not a huge change.

Then a few weeks ago I put in a black weave and I LOVED it! Now I want to dye my hair black with Bigen. My natural hair color is a medium reddish kinda brown(much lighter now in summer). Bigen says not to use over henna but dangit I'm daring. It's been 2 months. The henna is starting to fade but I can still see it in the light.

Will I go bald? I've been looking at 2 boxes of bigen for weeks too scared to do even a strand test erplexed

 

[Caramela]

I say do a strand test on the hair that comes out in your comb... Personally I don't think that a 2 month old henna job will interact that badly with a bigen dye... but then again, I'm no chemist.

 

[sareca]

Wow, they actually said don't use over henna. Henna is not that popular and the manufacture thought the interaction bad enough to note it on the bigen box? Yikes! Sounds serious.

The warning from the hennaforhair people was pretty sever too. Here's what they say about mixing dye and compound (out of the store) henna.
Who should NOT use henna in their hair?


If you have used ANY commercial hair dye in the previous year, harvest your hair from your hairbrush and henna your spare hair to see if you get the infamous green or if enough of the chemical residue has rinsed out that you get nice results!

Compound henna over Synthetically Dyed Hair = DEAD HAIR!
I do mean dead. You can't fix it.
This is "shave your head and join a nunnery" dead hair!
Start over. Grow it again.

If you use body art quality henna on your hair, there won't be any problem.
​

You could always use body art quality indigo on your hair to make it black. My March 06 pic is half henna and half indigo, but next time I'm going straight indigo.

 

[sprungonhairboards]

Wow, they actually said don't use over henna. Henna is not that popular and the manufacture thought the interaction bad enough to note it on the bigen box? Yikes! Sounds serious.

The warning from the hennaforhair people was pretty sever too. Here's what they say about mixing dye and compound (out of the store) henna.
Who should NOT use henna in their hair?



If you have used ANY commercial hair dye in the previous year, harvest your hair from your hairbrush and henna your spare hair to see if you get the infamous green or if enough of the chemical residue has rinsed out that you get nice results!

Compound henna over Synthetically Dyed Hair = DEAD HAIR!
I do mean dead. You can't fix it.
This is "shave your head and join a nunnery" dead hair!
Start over. Grow it again.

If you use body art quality henna on your hair, there won't be any problem.
​

They sure did, not on the box but inside on the instructions. But I've done a zillion things against instructions with no ill effects before but I dont want this to be the one time I kick myself.

See I read that at hennaforhair too but I dont see how that applies to me. It specifically speaks to using henna over synthetic dye (which I didnt or dont plan to do). I cant find ANYTHING that answers this specific question.

I still don't know erplexed

 

[sareca]

They sure did, not on the box but inside on the instructions. But I've done a zillion things against instructions with no ill effects before but I dont want this to be the one time I kick myself.

See I read that at hennaforhair too but I dont see how that applies to me. It specifically speaks to using henna over synthetic dye (which I didnt or dont plan to do). I cant find ANYTHING that answers this specific question.

I still don't know erplexed

I don't think it matters what's first. I think it's the mixture not the order. The website speaks specifically about henna over synthetic because it's a henna web site. They don't sell synthetic dye and therefore provide no instructions for it. The synthetic dye company saying don't apply over henna and the henna people saying don't apply over synthetic dye pretty much means don't mix to me. A strand test will tell all tho.

ETA: We've all broken a few rules the trick is knowing which ones. Be careful with dye. I once highlighted the front of my hair w/ a product that contained bleached. I figured what could happen. Within a month those hairs were no were to be found. They completely fell out.

 

[sprungonhairboards]

I don't think it matters what's first. I think it's the mixture not the order. The website speaks specifically about henna over synthetic because it's a henna web site. They don't sell synthetic dye and therefore provide no instructions for it. The synthetic dye company saying don't apply over henna and the henna people saying don't apply over synthetic dye pretty much means don't mix to me. A strand test will tell all tho.

ETA: We've all broken a few rules the trick is knowing which ones. Be careful with dye. I once highlighted the front of my hair w/ a product that contained bleached. I figured what could happen. Within a month those hair were no were to be found. They completely fell out.

I think it does matter. Just like don't perm over color, color over a perm or whichever way it goes.

And yeah, I'm a chronic rule breaker That's exactly why I'm asking here If it works for me I'll do it even though I wouldnt recommend it to someone else. I've also NEVER based my scalp doing a relaxer, I never wear gloves when applying and I use Nair on my eyebrows and I open bottles with my teeth. Smart? Nope. Does it work for me? Yep.

Guess I'll do a strand test on some hair that's NOT on my head.

 

[thickness]

I don't think it matters what's first. I think it's the mixture not the order. The website speaks specifically about henna over synthetic because it's a henna web site. They don't sell synthetic dye and therefore provide no instructions for it. The synthetic dye company saying don't apply over henna and the henna people saying don't apply over synthetic dye pretty much means don't mix to me. A strand test will tell all tho.

ETA: We've all broken a few rules the trick is knowing which ones. Be careful with dye. I once highlighted the front of my hair w/ a product that contained bleached. I figured what could happen. Within a month those hairs were no were to be found. They completely fell out.

The exact thing happened to me! But I would not chance it with Bigen, try a color rinse first and then wait a year before doing the Bigen.

 

[sprungonhairboards]

The exact thing happened to me! But I would not chance it with Bigen, try a color rinse first and then wait a year before doing the Bigen.

A year oh heck naw.

I'll be on something different by then. Plus it said it would wear off in 4-6 weeks (but it hasnt). Color rinses are a waste of money for me. They wash right out and dont cover the grey well enough. Plus I specifcally want that color and sheen and look I get from Bigen. I'd use body art henna but its so many steps and mixing different stuff to get the color you want, I aint up for all that.

 

[nomoweavesfome]

soo - just to reiterate hoping that I understand this thread If I Bigen over Body Quality Art Henna, I should NOT experience dead starting all over again hair????

 

[sprungonhairboards]

soo - just to reiterate hoping that I understand this thread If I Bigen over Body Quality Art Henna, I should NOT experience dead starting all over again hair????

I'm not recommending anything cause I still don't know for sure if you're supposed to or not Bigen says not to use over henna period, it doesn't specify which quality.

But I did it anyway about 2 months ago and my hair is just fine! I love it and am so glad I followed my instincts. But I know my hair and what I can and can't do. I didn't have body quality henna either.

 

[nomoweavesfome]

I'm not recommending anything cause I still don't know for sure if you're supposed to or not Bigen says not to use over henna period, it doesn't specify which quality.

But I did it anyway about 2 months ago and my hair is just fine! I love it and am so glad I followed my instincts. But I know my hair and what I can and can't do. I didn't have body quality henna either.

thanks girl - I'm so sick of this head - it ain't even funny. between the doo doo brown to now off black with hint of red brown in the light to the 3 different textures - shoot - I feel like starting over!! - Thanks for some insight tho.