cassia

Cassia is a powder that is taken from a plant similar to Henna.  Henna is red/brown, while Cassia has a slight yellow color.  Many people use cassia (and henna) on their hair because improves the health of the hair, and it leaves the hair soft, shiny and manageable.  I don’t want to have red hair, so I’ve been thinking about cassia.  LHC has a good topic here.

You buy cassia in powder form, and mix it with water, lemon juice, tea, or conditioner (there are many other options, but those are the most common).  Cassia, and henna, have a period of time that they have to be combined with a liquid before they get what as known as “dye release” (happens after about 12 hours), a point when the color molecules become usable.  If you use Cassia before that dye release it will leave almost no color on your hair.  But if you wait, then it gives your hair a slight yellow or golden tone.  This shows up most on blond hair, really light blond hair will actually darken, but you’d have to be REALLY light blond.  On dark hair you would hardly notice it at all, even if you wait for dye release.

You then take the paste and spread it on your hair, wrap it up, and leave it on for a while.  Those that are just looking for a colorless gloss only keep it on for an hour or so.  While those that want the color boost leave it on for 3+ hours, some even keep it on over night.  Then you rinse that goop out, which isn’t easy from what I’ve read, and most people have much silkier and softer hair.

So I’ve been thinking about trying this.  I wouldn’t try for several weeks yet, because I want to keep a record of how my hair does on water only, without any other changes.  So in about a month or two I might order some cassia and give it a whirl.  I dye my hair right now, but I dye it only a slight bit lighter then my natural color, so I’ve been thinking that between the chamomile in my WO rinse and the cassia I might be able to get my natural color to the color that I’m dyeing it now.
The only problem with that is this: if I do both of those on all of my hair it will also lighten my colored hair as well.  I could try to use cassia only on my natural hair, not my dyed hair.  A second option to that would be to cassia my natural hair with a dye released form, and the rest of my hair with freashly mixed stuff.  That way I could have the affects on all of my hair without getting the color on my already dyed hair.  So many options…..

I’ve been thinking about this alot, so I thought I’d share.