The henna/cassia thread

**zombi** · July 15th, 2009, 04:32 PM

Clearly I should have put this here instead of the henna thread. I have no intention of ever using straight henna on my hair >_>

I did 50/50 henna/cassia and added like, dash of paprika for no real reason and my liquid was straight chamomile tea. It didn't take the same on my dyed length as my roots (duh) so I'm going to have to mix probably a 70/30 henna/cassia ratio to put on roots only to make 'em match. It really didn't take much at all on my roots for some reason? So... yeah. I'm really happy with the colour of the length, so I don't want to mess with it AT ALL.

I think when I do the roots I'm going to mix it thin enough to come through a dye bottle but only just. I don't want it running anywhere; you can't really see it, but at the nape of my neck the underpart is bleached to white, and I want it to stay that way. So I need my mixes to KEEP OFF.

If anyone wonders, I am naturally strawberry-honey-blonde.
this is the day after I did it:

and this is like, almost a week later:

you can see how my roots didn't colour right.

**Evilynn** · July 16th, 2009, 08:02 AM

The colour in the lengths is absolutely gorgeous!

I've had problems with henna sticking to my roots sometimes, mostly at the back of my head (where the hair is the least damaged). I never quite figured out if it was because I didn't get enough henna on them, or if it was because they were somehow too oily for it to stick properly? O.o

**Elettaria** · July 16th, 2009, 11:42 AM

To the people who had trouble getting henna to stick to their roots, or inconsistent results across their hair, how did you prepare your hair? When had you last washed it, and how had you washed it?

Hopefully I really am going to do my roots tomorrow. I have some liquorice powder now, and am thinking of tossing in a teaspoon of that to see if it changes the consistency of the mix or does anything nice for my hair and scalp. My current plan is to wash my hair the night before, shampooing the roots and conditioning the ends, though if a few people say that they have trouble getting the henna to stick that way, I might try to be energetic and wash my hair a few hours before instead.

**RedWolf** · July 16th, 2009, 12:15 PM

Thought I'd share some pics..

I mixed all henna with 50/50 chamomile/bottle lemon juice. Top strand is PP, middle is BAQ2/Cassia (50/50), bottom is BAQ2. One of my pics has a braid of original test hair. The braid is virgin brown hair. We're going to do BAQ2/Cassia! Anywho, thought i'd share

(All henna's are from the H4H website, and cassia as well)

[url=http://img81.imageshack.us/i/0716090750a.jpg/]

**Nightshade** · July 16th, 2009, 12:22 PM

I have issues with it not taking at the nape as well. Before my last henna I did a Sun-In and blowdryer treatment in that area, and it took much better. I figure I should only need to do that once a year or so

**zombi** · July 16th, 2009, 02:24 PM

Originally Posted by Elettaria

To the people who had trouble getting henna to stick to their roots, or inconsistent results across their hair, how did you prepare your hair? When had you last washed it, and how had you washed it?

I had read that it would be better if my hair wasn't oily at all, so I clarified with shampoo and towel dried (so it was not dripping wet, it was just like, damp) it immediately before putting the henna on. I didn't put any oil or conditioner on the hair at all.

I should point out that my hair was not all one colour when I did it though, my roots were virgin hair whereas the lengths have been through a whole lot of drama -- they were once a chemical blue-black, which I bleached off (at home, successfully, no, I don't know how I did it either) and then used a feria dye to get the exact same red you see here. The henna/cassia did not change my lengths in colour much at all, expect perhaps darkening it a bit. So the length hair is well damaged, while my roots are not. So I think maybe that might also have something to do with it?

**Evilynn** · July 17th, 2009, 06:48 AM

Back when I last did henna I used to wash my hair everyday and I don't believe I used conditioner at all. It always stuck better on the canopy that was a little bit more damaged.

**Elettaria** · July 17th, 2009, 07:50 AM

Which is handy, as it's easier to start applying henna from the nape of your neck and work up to the canopy.

zombi - yep, that'll have made a huge difference. Chemically dyed hair is more porous so it absorbs henna more.

I am currently sitting with a 50:50 mix on my roots, made up with the infusion from 2 chamomile and 1 liquorice teabags, and a teaspoon of liquorice powder. It smells really lovely, and I think the liquorice helped the texture as well, in much the same way that sugars do.

**Elettaria** · July 17th, 2009, 12:17 PM

Oh yes, and there was 1/4 tsp virgin coconut oil in there as well. It applied beautifully, not a drip to be seen, and the quantity was exactly right for 4" of roots. It took 40 minutes to apply (my support worker was doing it very carefully) and I left it on for two hours from the time that we started to apply it. My roots now match my ends, a slightly more coppery version of my usual hair colour. I'm not sure whether it's cleared up the eczema or not, though. Photos will be coming up!

**MoonCreature** · July 26th, 2009, 08:12 AM

I have a gloss on my hair right now, it will be interesting to see what comes out of it

I used:
1 TB Jamila-henna
3 TB Cassia
1 TB camomile
made into a paste with hot camomile/catnip-tea and let it sit for 6h for dye-release (wich may be way too little for jamila henna, but oh well, I'm not that much after the color) and then added a bunch of conditioner. I'll wash it in an hour and we'll see