Recommend a henna/cassia ratio :)

[MadHatter]

I still want to henna my hair, but I'm tired of the colorless hairs on my hairline turning orange when I color my roots. It just doesn't look right. I'm thinking that cutting the henna with cassia will result in something not-so-orange, but I want to know what the optimal ratio would be. The hairs at my hairline are completely colorless, if that helps. I know some of you here do a mix of henna and cassia *looks pointedly at Nightshade :)* and I was hoping maybe you all could tell me a good place to start.

[cmnt831]

I did some experiments recently to test different cassia/henna ratios. Nightshade did give me some very good pointers on where to start. :)

I'll send you a friend request so that you can see my henna album, since it's private at the moment. I've written down the ratios there as well as in my blog. I have a lot of white hair, so the ratios might read similarly on your colorless hair.

[sedonia]

I use half henna half cassia, and my silver roots are still orange-y. I don't mind this; my main consideration is to maintain a natural auburn overall and avoid turning burgundy.

[Dorothy]

I find those colorless hairs at my hairline just plain don't dye very well. I used to use 100% henna and I've experimented w/ 1/3 henna 2/3 cassia - that was much too light, left a lot of my hair looking grey - so now I'm at 2/3 henna, 1/3 Cassia, mainly because I bought a lot of Cassia. I just radically accept those little light hairs, although my partner/hairdresser keeps trying to get them. I'm trying to work up the courage to use my Cassia as a conditioner all over my hair, but the memory of that first henna on the entire length, getting it in and getting it out, is pretty traumatizing.

[prosperina]

So just to verify, you know what you want to do with the rest of your hair, but you're just concerned about the colorless hairs around your hairline?

I use 4 tablespoons of cassia to 1 tablespoon of henna all over my head. My temple hairs which vary from from fine blond (nearly colorless and just annoying) to medium darker blond pick up the color like the rest of my hair. However, they need a second going over. I put the mix here first, do the rest of my hair and then come back and put more on this part. I have a few white strands throughout my hair and the mix does not do anything but impart a weak yellow stain. HTH

Admittedly though, I'm pushing more and more strawberry blond and less red red with this mix, so this may not work for you. That said, if you use some amount of cassia I wouldn't worry about getting atomic glowy orange around your face. I'd start with half and half because even when I was using that mix, I still got an orangey color, but no weird glow.

ETA: By orangey I mean a good orangey color, but you might not want this... The main point is: for me, cassia tends to take the kick out of the natural crazy orange that occurs with henna, but I still have a copper/blond orange, which I like.

[CrisDee]

I would think that adding cassia to your mix would make those colorless hairs turn more orange, not less. I use cassia to get a more gingery tone to my henna, and I think the ginger tends more toward the orange than plain henna. My grays get quite orange with my mix, but they blend so well with the rest of my hair that for me it's not a problem. Do you have a photo of the undesirable result you're trying to correct?

[caribou55313]

Using 5 to 10% henna will give those colorless hairs more of a golden/yellow color rather than orange. More henna than that is likely to give orange.

[prosperina]

I would think that adding cassia to your mix would make those colorless hairs turn more orange, not less. I use cassia to get a more gingery tone to my henna, and I think the ginger tends more toward the orange than plain henna. My grays get quite orange with my mix, but they blend so well with the rest of my hair that for me it's not a problem. Do you have a photo of the undesirable result you're trying to correct?

This is true, but I find the cassia cuts the crazy-electric orange that comes from henna alone. Even henna built up to a burgundy cool color will have this orange glow in the sunlight. My results though could be because I actually have blond hair. I get a ginger color too, but it is by no means the weird otherworldly orange that henna can often have in some lights. Colors are hard to describe without exampels, so I agree that MadHatter might post a picture. It could be that she needs a pinch of indigo to cut down the orange. Or, just leave the colorless hairs alone...

[MadHatter]

Atomic orange, electric orange - those are the appropriate descriptors :) I would post a picture, but its been so long since I've hennaed that those baby hairs have replaced their orange predecessors. I know cassia will cut the henna. I don't mind coppery hairs, but I do mind the bozo-atomic-electric orange.