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Henna and Indigo are natural dyes which are great natural alternatives to commercial hair colour.  With each application, henna becomes more difficult to remove. Can henna and indigo be removed from the hair naturally and safely? This question appears on the forums often, and one often replies with “You don’t date henna, you marry it”.  How true is this statement? Now, to see just how true this statement is, let’s have a closer took at how henna works to colour your hair.

It is a common misconception that henna only coats the outside of the hair.  Yes, henna does cover the outside of the hair somewhat, but the resins (which are temporary) are responsible for this.  What truly happens is the dye within henna, the lawsone molecules, actually penetrate the hair shaft and attach to the keratin (hair protein) within over time.  So, the more one applies henna to their hair, the more lawsone gets attached to the keratin within which in turn strengthens the hair.  This is how henna builds up and gets darker and more prominent over time. This is why those that have bleach damage may get poor coverage, as bleach can actually diminish or break the keratin bonds within the hair which give the henna  a poor base to work with. For those with bleach damage, protein treatments (such as protein fillers used before dying the hair, or other protein treatments) are essential prior to hennaing to get an even ‘base’.  Now, how hard is it to actually remove henna from there hair?  Over the last few years, I (Vanessa) have actually experimented with various natural and a few non-natural options to see if I could lighten my henna and twice henndigo’d hair.  Most of these treatments save the honey treatment were done on hair collected from my hair brush.

Brunette woman with healthy hairs

My (Vanessa) hair stats are:  1b-1c/f-m/ii-iii; I have around 5 years of henna (henna every 1-2 months) and one or two applications of henndigo, plus 3 2-step henna and indigo black on the underside portion of my hair.

What To Expect
Don’t expect crazy henna/indigo lightening with natural methods on the first few applications.  Natural treatments work more gradually than the non-natural treatments.  Watch the condition of your hair and do the necessary moisture or protein treatments as needed. A two step henna and indigo is harder (close to impossible) to lighten with natural methods due to the permanency of indigo.  Vitamin C treatments may be successful in fading the black  of Indigo to a soft brown over time.

heart from lemon dropped into water isolated on white

Natural Treatments:
Lemon juice: 4 treatments.  Applied lemon juice to hair strand.  For two treatments, the strand sat in the sun, and the other 2 the hair dryer was used.  Dried hair out significantly and caused hair to become brittle.  No visible lightening. Not worth it for those that are wanting to grow their hair long.  The strand was still dry after 4-5 deep conditionings.
Honey lightening:  8-9 treatments.  Hair became very dry, limp, porous and resembled hay.  This dryness was not due to honey build up as I did clarify as well as chelate after the treatments, which were followed by deep conditioning.  Three Shades lightened in total, but re-oxidised darker 2 shades.  Honey produces peroxide. Peroxide is peroxide no matter the source!
Rhassoul and other clays: 8 treatments.  Slight henna fading and definite indigo fading as the rinse-out water was a greenish blue.
Yogurt:  6 treatments. These treatments did nothing to lighten my hennaed hair. It did moisturise my hair, though.
Chamomile:  7 treatments. Conditioned the hair, but did not lighten existing henna or indigo.
Warm oil treatments: I tried pulling as much henna would with with olive  and various other oils.  These treatments also did nothing to lighten my hair.

Honey

Non-Natural Treatments:
Anti dandruff shampoos: Dried out the hair.  I did see blue from the indigo washing out while rinsing, but there was no noticeable difference once the hair was dry.
Mineral oil: 3-4 treatments. Did nothing to remove henna (old henna or new henna).
Vitamin C treatments:  4-5 treatments. Faded the indigo slightly after each application, but henna did not budge.  This was probably the most effective indigo lightening treatment.

vitamin C

What Others Have Tried
Effasol/color b4, colour oops hair dye removers.  Many have had success with these.  The downside is that the hair will smell sulfur-y or like rotten eggs for a while.  For more information, follow <this> link.
Sun in:  Sun-in won’t remove the henna totally, just lighten/brighten  it. Check out <this> link for more details.

What to Do if Your Henna-Indigo Turns Green?
Don’t panic!!! You need something red or red-orange to neutralise the greenish tones left over from the indigo. Run/bounce/fly out and find something red to cover the green STAT, or henna 2-3 times.  A red based manic panic/veggie dye or even red or orangey koolaide would work well.  This is temporary, though.   Another option to try before applying a red tone over the green is to do vitamin C treatments to fade the greenish tones slightly. Don’t use an ashy tone over the green, it will not neutralise the green.

After Care
With most treatments, a deep moisturizing treatments are necessary as the colour-removal treatments can be rather drying over time.  With any peroxide treatments such as sun in or honey/cinnamon/cardamom, add in a protein treatment.  If you were lightening a too-dark henna, don’t apply a full strength henna over your lightened hair as this may take you back into the dark tones. Instead, opt to dilute your henna in a gloss with conditioner, cassia or zizyphus.