The Cassia Thread (see first post for link to FAQs)

**Curlsgirl** · December 20th, 2008, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by RetroKitten

Sorry, I didn't explain myself very well.

What I gained from this thread is that you can let the water - cassia mix boil for appr. 20 minutes and then use it on your hair for a maximum of 30 minutes for no color change only conditioning.

So does the time you have it left on affect if you have yellow or gold tones?
I know how cassia can stain white and very light hair, what I am more interested in is the effect on dark blonde hair.
There's no chance for me to do a test on my own hair to see if it will turn yellow or gold... either I have no shedding or the hairs are too fine for me to see them.

Yes I think that is exactly why it stained mine so much, because the top layer is highlighted light blond with some gray mixed in. The light to medium brown color is a smidge darker and it added a goldtone to it for sure. I like it. You can it really well under my hair when I wear it up. Probably no one else would notice but me though.

**Curlsgirl** · December 22nd, 2008, 05:51 AM

Okay I washed and conditioned my hair again and put some leave-in and Boots curl cream in. It didn't curl quite as well as usual, that is clump very well. It seems to be a lot frizzier than usual too. My grays at the roots are back to well.. gray. Don't think this is going to work for covering it. The blondish parts of my hair (highlights) are sort of darker/golder. I wouldn't mind the golder but don't like the darker. Jury is still out. I think I will do a moisture treatment on it this afternoon when I get home. It is still a bit dry.

**maskedrose** · December 22nd, 2008, 12:21 PM

I did my first treatment last Thursday, but I'm just now getting around to reporting how it went...sorry

I mixed 100 grams with a cup and a half of chamomile tea and let it sit for about an hour. I didn't mind the hay smell at all, but that's probably because I've spent the vast majority of my life in the company of horses, so I actually really like the smell! I glopped it on (making a pretty big mess) and let it sit for an hour and a half. I then filled the tub and did a mermaid soak to get the majority of it out and it worked really, really well! The only downside is that I felt like the lady of the swamp until it all drained away

I then started the shower and COed the rest of it out and then put a bit of shea on the ends after I blotted it dry. It darkened my hair a little to a pretty, rich gold but seems to have faded a lot with my wash yesterday.

My ends were really dry though and I felt like I didn't get all of it out or something with my first CO. I used a gentle shampoo yesterday and then soaked the ends in coconut oil and my hair is much happier today. It's really soft today and very shiny, so I think I'm just going to have to shampoo it out from now on.

I'm also thinking about adding a few tablespoons of cassia to my deep treatments (that I'm vowing to do once a week from here on out) - I know people do this with henna sometimes, so I'd guess that it would work with cassia, right? I know some things inhibit dye release (like yogurt), but since it doesn't change my color that much anyway, I just want the condition. Has anyone else tried this?

**Curlsgirl** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:19 PM

I am updating again, maybe I should do it in my blog but I thought people here might be interested. I can't tell any effects of the cassia now after CWCing again today. In fact my hair seems to be not behaving as well as before the cassia treatment. Maybe my hair doesn't like cassia or I did something wrong. It's a little golder overall still and I like that part. Not sure I'll do it again since it's so messy and a lot of trouble to do with little or no effect for me. One more thing, I seem to have a LOT more shedding than usual. Anyone else have that experience?

**Themyst** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:24 PM

I've only done it once, as well as my DD8. We've experienced no unusual shedding. We'll be doing it again this week.

Our hair loved it. I'm sorry you're having a hard time with it.

**Curlsgirl** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:27 PM

Originally Posted by Themyst

I've only done it once, as well as my DD8. We've experienced no unusual shedding. We'll be doing it again this week.

Our hair loved it. I'm sorry you're having a hard time with it.

Thanks. It's not terrible guess I am just a little disappointed. Never know until you try though huh?

**chloeishere** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:35 PM

Originally Posted by Lisa Marie

Whew! I've read this whole thread and still want to make sure that if I order senna leaf powder that is cassia alexandrina that this is the right stuff? Thanks everyone!
Lisa Marie

Yes, that is what I use, with excellent results.

**maskedrose** · December 22nd, 2008, 07:49 PM

Originally Posted by Curlsgirl

I am updating again, maybe I should do it in my blog but I thought people here might be interested. I can't tell any effects of the cassia now after CWCing again today. In fact my hair seems to be not behaving as well as before the cassia treatment. Maybe my hair doesn't like cassia or I did something wrong. It's a little golder overall still and I like that part. Not sure I'll do it again since it's so messy and a lot of trouble to do with little or no effect for me. One more thing, I seem to have a LOT more shedding than usual. Anyone else have that experience?

I've been shedding more than usual lately too, but I'm not sure if it's due to the cassia or if I'm just going through a major shed. My length has been so dry the last couple of days that it is currently soaked in shea and coconut oil, so I'm not really sure how my length actually looks. I'll be wearing it down over the next couple of days for the festivities, so I'll update then. I'm thinking that I'll just add cassia to my deep treatments once a week and see if the added moisture at the time of application helps. I figure adding a quarter cup of cassia to any given deep treatment will only help the strength and shine.

**Curlsgirl** · December 22nd, 2008, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by maskedrose

I've been shedding more than usual lately too, but I'm not sure if it's due to the cassia or if I'm just going through a major shed. My length has been so dry the last couple of days that it is currently soaked in shea and coconut oil, so I'm not really sure how my length actually looks. I'll be wearing it down over the next couple of days for the festivities, so I'll update then. I'm thinking that I'll just add cassia to my deep treatments once a week and see if the added moisture at the time of application helps. I figure adding a quarter cup of cassia to any given deep treatment will only help the strength and shine.

Hmmmm maybe I will do that too with the rest of the cassia I have. Do people have good results with this?

**maskedrose** · December 24th, 2008, 12:55 AM

From what I've read, yeah. Although my hair feels fantastic today and the color boost has actually stuck around (my mom said it looked like spun gold today

), so I'm kind of tempted to do a full treatment again. I think I'll try using it in my deep treatments for a couple of weeks to see if the result is good before I do a full again.