bright roots! Help to blend please

Are you happy with the length color or do you want something lighter than your natural dark brown? I was thinking just using a deposit only (no lift color) in a med brown shade on your roots only could help blend it in...that way you don't have to use bleach.

Then you can use your veggie dye over that to make it the cherry color your length is.

What color are you aiming for over all?

I am looking for a bit darker than my roots but quite a bit brighter than my ends! Easy to please, eh?!  I also think this, long term will be easier to maintain as although I have dark hair there is a good percentage of grey now so in the future, when I bleach the regrowth I won't need to match it in further with another type of dye to match the ends.

So, since my initial post, I have been thinking, in a week I may  re bleach bath the lengths and when I then dye I will use a slightly darker red on the roots and a lighter one down the lengths.  Does this sound like a possible plan for some success?  If so, what reds will blend best?  Thinking Blood red on the roots and devilish or poppy on the lengths?

Thx for replying, great to have another opinion, cheers xx

Bleach bathing is a good way to go. If it's working then stick with it. Just keep it to the dark sections and leave the roots alone.

Luckily reds don't need a particularly light base to work from but it does help to bleach bath a little before using red shades as red molecules need a little help getting into the hair shaft and bleach bathing opens the cuticles a bit, allowing the red to penetrate better.

As you've been using henna it could be hard to get that out because of the salts in henna products but if the bleach bath seems to be working (sounds like it is) then keep it up. Bleach bathing is very mild on the hair, it does dry it out a little so keep on top of the conditioning and you should be fine.

Once it's all evened out you should be able to use any red you wish. The base colour you end up with will decide how dark the red turns out - the darker the base the darker the red etc - so you need to figure out exactly what shade you want to end up with. Here is the unbleached gallery which might give you an idea of what reds look like on darker bases:
http://www.hairdyegallery.co.uk/unbleachedpage1.html

And here is the red gallery which shows what reds look like on a bleached base:
http://www.hairdyegallery.co.uk/redpage1.html

Either way the reds shown will vary depending on how dark the base colour was when the dye was applied.

Hope that helps.

Thankyou for that in depth reply.  I know the henna I used had no metallic salts in it as the US website I get it from has a chemical assay carried out on it for all chemicals even down to lead and pesticide levels! So thankfully that is not a prob.  SOme hennas do have metallic salts in though, you are right, if I am not mistaken the ones from Lush DO.  Haven't ever used that brand though and they might have changed formula.

One great thing about being a long term henna user is that my hair is in fab condition, as shiny as a polished cherry after its first bleach bath so I know I can do another one.  
Can I bleach bath even though I have Directions on it now?  What I mean is will I only lose the directions red colour or will it lighten my hair at the same time? Common sense tells me it will be both probably and although a waste of money on the pot of Poppy Red as it will only be in for a week, the end result i.e. matching hair  *yay* will be worth it.

Will buy some coconut oil too for the next bleach bath just to have all my bases covered though.

Thanks again for replying, looking forward to chating on this forum now!  It is such a friendly place xx

oh forgot to ask - I know it should be a week till I re-bleach bath but could it be done any sooner? Noworries if not, only have to wait till friday

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I would suggest that you only bleach bath once a week. Although bleach bathing is mild it is still bleach after all and it does have an affect on your hair. Give your hair a week to recover from the mild drying effects of the bleach bath and you should be able to keep that fabulous condition you have.

Bleach will take out whatever colour you have in your hair, I can't speak for henna as I'm far from being an expert in that field but as it's lightening your henna'd hair I'd say that any bleach you add will lighten any colour you have, regardless of what dye you use.