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View Full Version : Henna/Cassia gloss for the timid!



hennared
September 6th, 2008, 10:42 AM
I've been hennaing my strawberry blonde hair for about ... oh,
15 years, now. Since I've been experiencing a massive shed the past 3 months (that I think is telogen effluvium), I've been really afraid to henna, since the henna always seemed to cause a minor shedding.. and I don't need more of that, right now! So I decided to try my first henna gloss, and decided to try it as half henna/half cassia. I gather cassia has a slight thickening effect, and I thought it might lighten my henna a tad close to my natural color.

I mixed 4 tbsp henna, 4 tbsp cassia, let that stew about 4 hours in a ginger tea (ginger to stimulate the scalp). I added a few drops of lavender oil for the lovely smell and scalp properties. After 4 hrs I saw there was dye release, so then I mixed in ~ 2 cups plain whole milk yogurt, and placed it in the refrigerator overnight.

I just washed my hair and put in about half of my gloss and froze the remaining half (I think yogurt freezes ok!). I let it sit for an hour, and I just got done rinsing. it was SO much easier to rinse out than straight henna! I am currently boycotting my super-hardened tap water in favor of dumping distilled water over my head from a jug, so the ease in rinsing is a big deal.

My hair is still wet now, we'll see how it looks when it's dry. It does feel thicker to me combing with my shower comb; I hope that isn't from residual yogurt I didn't rinse out :eek: But I don't see curds :)

-hennared

hennared
September 6th, 2008, 05:49 PM
Well.. ok, I learned one thing I do not like about the henna gloss - full fat yogurt is WAY too heavy for my hair. After 3 hours and it still wasn't dry at the roots, I realized it was oil, not moisture, up there. I had to wash my hair again! (the ends of my hair really liked the fatty yogurt, though. Too bad I had to wash again; even though I did not wash the ends, the diluted shampoo got to them anyhow).

I think the gloss filled in the color at the roots; I can't see much of a difference other than that, which is what I was after.

-hennared

bikerblue
September 7th, 2008, 05:38 AM
Hi Hennared

I too have been wanting to do a henna gloss, i'm just a bit worried about getting roots, I used to henna my hair as a teenage and my hair loved me for it. Shame you roots didn't like the yoghurt. I'm off to see what I can find ref henna glossing.