Cutch (Acacia Catechu)

[mellie]

Has anyone ever tried dyeing hair with this? I tried it once but it didn't work for me...but I wonder if I just didn't do it right?

Supposedly, it gives a medium brown stain on its own:
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/en...lnav=dyes.html


Here's some links:

http://www.sababotanical.com/ingredients.html
It is an ingredient in Lustrous brand henna:

Synonyms

Catechu, Cutch, Katha, Khar

Description

It's a 15-20 meter tall tree grown in the forsts of India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. Its bark is used for extracting color and Katha (used as traditional mouth freshening material)

Constituents

Kitechins, Tannins, glycosides and resin.

Usage

Used as traditional mouth freshening material with beatle leaves, also used as natural dye for hair coloring [bold mine] and textile..

Although on hennaforhair.com's forum, I found this:

C_Cartwright_Jones
Re: Cutch ?????
Posted on: 08/17/2006 06:49 PM
It doesn't work well on human hair as it requires mordanting and simmering. Simmering one's head is unpleasant.

But, it seems that perhaps it could be mixed with henna to produce brown?

http://www.hennaforhair.com/science/

Catechu, Ourouparia gambir and Acacia catechu
Catechu is from two different species, Ourouparia gambir and Acacia Catechu. Ourouparia gambir makes a yellow dye, and Acacia catechu makes a dark brown dye. These are tannin dyes. Extracted tannins from these dye plants are added to henna to create other various shades of henna, blondes, browns, and dark browns.

http://www.joyofhandspinning.com/natural-dyes.shtml

Cutch Extract: (Acacia Catechu)
Cutch is a very easy dye. It will remain fast even on cottons and silks. It is good for combinations and produces brown tones if used by itself.

It appears safe to use:
http://www.divineremedies.com/acacia_catechu.htm

Side effects are uncommon in normal doses and the drug has been used for centuries without major problems.

http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Leather

Cutch, catechu or " dark catechu," is obtained from the wood of Indian acacias, and is not to be confounded with mangrove cutch. It contains 60% of tanning matter and a large proportion of catechin similar to that contained in gambier, but much redder. It is used for dyeing browns and blacks with chrome and iron mordants.