Re: Henna results question
Posted by Katherine on October 3, 2004 at 01:28:47:
In reply to: Re: Indigo results questions posted by Al Gisnered on October 1, 2004 at 12:32:42:
: You have to think of henna and indigo in terms of transparent dye,not
: opaque paint. Have you ever dyed an Easter egg? If you have, you
: know that if you dye an egg first one dye and then another, the
result
: is not always predictable. Red and blue egg dyes won't always make
a
: true purple. This is because the dyes are not pure color tones. The
: red generally has some orange in it, and the blue may have some
green
: in it.
:
: Henna and Indigo are the same. If you poke around this site you
will
: see that henna, by itself, can produce anything from popsicle orange
: to deep Irish setter red depending on the color of the underlying
hair
: and other things mixed in. There is always a little orange in henna
: color. Indigo produces blue with a smidgen of green in it. New
blue
: jeans, which are dyed with indigo, are not a always a true blue -
they
: often show that smidgen of green.
:
: The way our eyes see color, red cancels green and blue cancels
orange.
: In a perfect world, with perfect pigments, this would result in a
: color the eye would see as very dark gray/black. However, since
: neither henna nor indigo are perfect, it is the balance of the two
: that creates the variety of color you see demonstrated. Too much
: orange and you have brown tones. Too much blue and you have purple
tones.
:
: Also, when you look at the pictures in the mixes section you are
: looking through a video screen that uses magenta (red-violet), cyan
: (green-blue), and blue (blue) phosphors in tiny little dots to make
: the picture. The technology is great, and you get a pretty good
: approximation of the color in the original photograph (which is also
: an appoximation of the real thing), but it isn't perfect.
:
: You may have a shot at getting a "patent leather" looking color but
if
: you're going for someting that specific, you're going to have to
: experiment with the balance of henna and indigo to find what works
for
: you. Remember that the dyes are transparent. Your original hair
: color will show through, and the resulting color of any henna/indigo
: mix will depend on both the underlying color as well as the balance
of
: the mix. Careful testing and re-testing is the only way to find
out.
: It may be more than you are willing to go through.
:
: Al
Al, I know you are speaking here of henna + indigo mixes, but your
comment that 'Too much orange, and you have brown tones' might
explain something I experienced. To make it brief, when I used body-
art henna on my dye-fried hair, which was getting a fair bit too
orange,I had a 'brown scare' when it came out darker than
anticipated. Some of that was the oxidisation process, and it has
since lightened into the gorgeous red auburn I wanted. But could your
idea about that much orange already in the hair, + a heavy dose of
lawsone, explain where the brown tones came from? <btw> I thought
your posting was very interesting - thanks, Katherine
:
: : I am thinking about using indigo to dye my hair black, which I
have
: : been dong with regular dyes for years, not knowing that it can
cause
: : cancer.
: :
: : Anyway I have some questions. I looked at he mixes and saw some
: : indigo colors, and it looks like it is a purple or blue/purple
: : black. I don't like blue black or purple black on me as it tends
to
: : look quite harsh. Does it really come out purple or is it just
the
: : picture. Is there any way of controlling the shade of black? It
: : would make sense that it be purple given the red from the henna
and
: : the blue from the indigo.
: :
: : By the way, my natural hair is a medium brown. What will happen
if
: : I just use Indigo without pretreating with Henna. Please help me
: : create a nice shoe-polish black that is not blue, purple or red,
: : just patent leather looking.
Follow Ups
- Re: Henna results question
Al Gisnered 11:30:45 10/4/2004
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