I can't decide. Cassia or no cassia? I have auburn brown hair (which is starting to fade to brown) with 10% grey. I've decided on the Yemen with chamomile and a touch of lemon and cornstarch to gel it up. I've done 13 test strands, and have narrowed it down to 3. One has Yemen only, one has 50% Yemen 50% Cassia, and the last one has 75% Henna 25% Cassia. I'm looking for anything from auburn to Irish Setter red.

The thing is, I'm just plain lazy. (Ok, except for the excessive test strands. LOL!) Once I have done my whole head once, I want to be able to keep that color and do the roots with my very precise recipie. But don't I have to "refresh" the color every few months with a full henna? I don't want to have to deal with the fading of Cassia/Henna 50/50 or the problem of always having lighter roots. I also want good grey coverage. But I also don't want to go burgundy. Gah! I sit here finally ready to order my henna and take the plunge but don't know if I should order the Cassia.

What to do, henna heads? :confused:

If your natural hair is brown, and you want something that will match your roots most easily without a lot of touchups, then I would say use henna without the cassia. I don't have any experience with cassia personally, but I believe it is more for blondes and strawberry blondes in the range of henna colors.

I would say you could then just do root touchups for a long time, until you feel the need for another full-length henna for conditioning.

As someone mentioned in the Henna thread, mixing the henna with coffee should help tone done the orangey color. It works for me.

My personal experience with cassia (I'm a blonde) is that it made my hair kind of green tinted and tangly--so I avoid it. I just used henna in my gloss and it didn't turn burgundy, it's kind of copper to strawberry blonde. You might consult Nightshade on this--I believe she uses cassia in her mix.

My personal experience with cassia (I'm a blonde) is that it made my hair kind of green tinted and tangly--so I avoid it. I just used henna in my gloss and it didn't turn burgundy, it's kind of copper to strawberry blonde. You might consult Nightshade on this--I believe she uses cassia in her mix.

Yep! Yay cassia!

If you're looking for auburn to Irish Setter red I'd say lean towards more henna than cassia, if you use it at all. Perhaps 75% henna 25% cassia. I use it to keep my hair more of a golden coppery (65% cassia, 35% henna), but the color in my siggy pic is the 100% henna. There's more photos in my album if you're interested.

Yep! Yay cassia!

If you're looking for auburn to Irish Setter red I'd say lean towards more henna than cassia, if you use it at all. Perhaps 75% henna 25% cassia. I use it to keep my hair more of a golden coppery (65% cassia, 35% henna), but the color in my siggy pic is the 100% henna. There's more photos in my album if you're interested.


I was leaning more towards the 75/25 mixure. That's the strand DH picked, and it would also help my nervousness in doing a full henna. I've also read that it helps make it look more natural. I've got some grey, though, and I'm afraid too much cassia would prevent coverage on those or make them too orange. Today I ordered my henna for the plunge (:happydance:) and I ordered a little cassia in case I decide to use it.

I could not find your album on your profile.

Thanks for the help everyone!