Cassia Obovata
Henna comes in one color which is red. What is advertised as “Clear Henna” or “Colorless Henna” is actually Cassia Obovata. Cassia will give new life to head of damaged hair. Repeated use of Cassia can lead to healthy, shiny, thick and silky tresses. The only downfall is if your hair is gray, Cassia will turn your hair yellow. Be warned, wouldn’t want you to look like a muffet. LOL
Cassia powder LOOKS allot like Henna…but the difference is…stick your finger in a bowl of Henna…it comes out orange…your finger would not turn any color if you stick it in a bowl of Cassia.
What do I mix it with?
I have only used Cassia once and I used it on my cousin. I prepared it the same way I would my henna. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to only use water to mix your Cassia powder with. Well, being the henna head that I am I would still use green tea. Technically it would be null and void to mix your Cassia with something acidic like green tea because the green tea activates the color in Henna. Call me crazy or anal…but I would still prefer my green tea and I would also add a little honey for consistency.
Henna VS Cassia
IMO I think the only BIG difference is the staining of henna. Cassia is known as a “Clear Henna” because it conditions as henna does without the color deposits. However, thru all of my research, NONE of the Cassia results measure up to the results of henna. However, if you afraid of a little color (I was initially myself) I say go for the Cassia. Something is better than nothing right? I must admit though…you are going to eventually bite the bullet and try Henna….and fall head over heels in LOVE!....or is it lust? LOL
Other interesting facts:
There are two type of Cassia. Cassia/Senna and Cassia Obovata. Cassia Senna is different and I am speaking today about only Cassia Obovata.
Cassia has been known to heal skin conditions such as eczema and other skin infections.
This isn’t much but I hope it helps someone. You can buy Cassia at Whole Foods (Rainbow Brand “Clear Henna”) or you can check out this AWESOME site www.mehandi.com and get some GREAT quality Cassia.
13 comments:
THANKS-this is sooo helpful! I am going to get this today and try over the weekend.Can't wait!
I have done five Cassia treatments and for some reason it lightens the front of my hair lol It went from black to almost auburn you can only see it in certain lights though I like it
Labelfree what brand did you use? What did you mix it with?
I used the Cassia from mehandi.com. I mixed it with warm water and honey
Hmmm...did it give you a reddish tint or more of a yellowish tint? From what I have read, it has been called "Blonde" henna because it has a slight yellow tint to it...
It gave me a reddish tint I was shocked as well since I only heard it lightens blonde hair. But I did see a post on naturallycurly.com where this happened to another natural
here's the link
http://www.naturallycurly.com/curltalk/showthread.php?t=71691&highlight=cassia
okay, I'm gonna still try this, but you're right-everyone seems to LUV henna-I read about some of them not waiting (w/henna) until the color releases to not have as much of the color-is this true?
Also-the cassia says mix w/egg. Do u recommend this or the honey-does it matter? (I gave u a shout out on my page since I worry u 2 death-lol)
Aww thanks hon! @lady
I have never used egg. I always stick with green tea and honey.
@ Label...
Hmmm....you got me. I will do a little more research on this one. I am MUCH more familiar with Henna than Cassia but I will check it out because now I am curious.
Re: Dye Release
I NEVER let mine sit over night...yet the dye still releases. I am thinking the warm tea that I add speeds this up. If you store it in a warm place or sit in on a heating pad, that has also been known to speed up dye release. I know that SOME brands release color quicker than others. IMO the Jamila brand does not release as quickly as some of the brands that you can buy in the INdian Grocery ( Reshma and Dulhan). I am going to do an Amla paste this week. Henna has my curls a little looser than I would like...supposedly Amla darkens the hair...so perhaps you can add Amla powder to your mix. I use it and my hair is red...but it is very subtle. I will post close ups of the color tonight. If you can't wait...check out my fotki. It's on the last page of the most recent album...I am in a blue jacket. www.fotki.com/TuttiFruityOne
I think I figured out what it was! Honey lightens some peoples hair and I think that's what happened with mine.
btw I tried Henna today now my whole head is Auburn in sunlight/certain lights in the house lol. I still like it though plus it's cheap for $3 for 100g
labelfreementality, I'm glad you addressed that it was the honey that caused your hair to lighten. I'm curious about using this and did NOT want any lightening effects. I'm going to try it with castor oil.
THANKS FOR THE WARNING! I wanted to use clear henna to condition my newly gray hair (i've just stopped using red henna and gone natural...) I wanted to use henna because it softened my hair so nicely. But I won't now. Thanks for the Warning!
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