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/eng/1893-AA.shtml?lnav=dyes.html
http://images.dharmatrading.com/images/eng/products/image/ndc-2.jpg

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 and textile..

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


[B]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 (http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Dyeing) browns and blacks with chrome and iron mordants.

[mellie]

Some more links:

http://www.gina.antczak.btinternet.co.uk/CU/IA.HTM

Acacia Catechu
Origin: A resious gum obtained from the Acacia catechu plant, a member of the pea (leguminosae) family.
Function: A resin used in hair dyes

http://books.google.com/books?id=DLlsZXFhlyoC&pg=PA64&lpg=PA64&dq=%22cutch%22+hair+dye&source=web&ots=QweLJsSaav&sig=ovkdL34sAL3hGm6rj-sxqZYamD8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=9&ct=result

[Henna] was often mixed with cutch to give ginger-yellow...

http://www.everydayhenna.com/herb_hair_color.html

Cutch: Light to mid range of browns
Red Sandalwood: Range of browns

You can mix these dyes with water and boil down to make a concentrated dye liquid. Mix the concentrated dye liquid with your neutral henna powder or Lotus Powder Plus or henna powder. The more concentrated your liquid, the better the color results.


http://www.renaissancehenna.com/renaissance-henna.aspx?page=productlist

Acacia catechu is used generally to add dark tones to henna. It is to be used in conjunction with henna powder to give colour tones leaning towards brown. Add half to one tablespoon acacia catechu powder to roughly 100gms of Renaissance Henna powder….follow instructions on your henna pack. Apply for normal length of time – about 2 hours minimum.

It is also called khoira, koir, kheriya baval, kher babul, kagli, cachu, kugli, kaderi and sandra in local Indian languages.

[ktani]

Here are more safety links.

Acacia Catechu Safety

"Therefore .... available data were considered insufficient to support .... safety of Acacia Catechu Gum, Acacia Concinna Fruit Extract, Acacia Dealbata Leaf Extract, Acacia Dealbata Leaf Wax, Acacia Decurrens Extract, Acacia Farnesiana Extract, Acacia Farnesiana Flower Wax, Acacia Farnesiana Gum, and Acacia Senegal Extract in cosmetic products."
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=17193843

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~content=a753971703~db=all

"Toxicity: Dermatitis from dyed uniforms known as Khaki probably resulted from fabric finishes .... rather than from the dye itself although effects of the dye could not be excluded. [Mitchell & Rook, 1979]"
http://www.si.edu/MCI/english/professional_development/past_courses_programs/programs/acacia_catechu.html

"Insufficient data to determine safety"
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/ingredient.php?ingred06=700069&refurl=%2Fproduct.php%3Fprod_id%3D62274%26category %3Dmascara%26

http://www.gaiaherbs.com/herbs.php?BaseDir=/herbs.php&GET=/HerbTemplates/subcategory.asp?varSubcategory_ID=5&varHerb_ID=189

[Arctic]

I have used it, it was one of the ingredients of the ready-bought henna mix I loved (Urtekram Fiery Red) but they (Urtekram) have stopped making hennas. It also had indigo. It did give me different colour than pure henna. I'm still thinking what I'll use for my next henna...

[Aer]

I would really like to know my self. I want to get brown tones back!!!!

[indigonight]

I use it all the time. Don't use it on it's own you will need to mix it with your henna- the more you add the more coppery brown your hair will be. I use it before I indigo to change my final tone to slightly coppery. I use 3/4 henna and 1/4 acacia. You should get good results with fresh cutch. Good luck experimenting.

[bulka]

Hi indigonight

please help with acacia catechu, I know that u used it before
1. Do you add acacia to henna, powder to powder. What liquid you do u add for powder to powder method, just warm water or anything else? If you mix them together do u wait for dye release, if yes how long? Or mix acacia separately and then add to the henna which was dye released and ready to use ?

thank u

[Shatam1]

Hi indigonight

please help with acacia catechu, I know that u used it before
1. Do you add acacia to henna, powder to powder. What liquid you do u add for powder to powder method, just warm water or anything else? If you mix them together do u wait for dye release, if yes how long? Or mix acacia separately and then add to the henna which was dye released and ready to use ?

thank u
Hi Bulka
I used cutch before and I have plenty of it in my fridge so I thought I mint as well answer your question. It was suggested to me by my mother's best friend who uses it all the time. She buys it whole and crushes it into powder and adds it to the henna to give her more brown tones. She told me to put one big heaped table spoon into the henna. What I did was different though. You see , my hair is very light originally and I was afraid it would go too dark, so I crush some Acadia and boiled it in a cup of water then let it steep and cool , then I mixed the henna with it after straining it of course. It gave me a different color, it was like more of a brick brown on my light roots and brown on my length , and honestly,I hated it on my complextion. I never did it again, as I prefer the very red tones . I did it about a year ago .
About dye release, you can mix both powders together add water or tea, whatever you prefer and allow it to release the dye as long as needed. I usually mix my henna with hot tea but not boiling and use it after about an hour, leave it on for three hours and rinse using lots of conditioner . You can do the same or you can use warm liquid and leave it longer to dye release.
Hope I was able to help:)

[bulka]

Dear Shatam1

Thank you very much for your time and reply.

Tonight i premixed my henna + alma with warm water and will wait till tomorrow for dye release. Then i would mix ready henna with 1tbsp of acacia catechu and will apply for 2 hours. My hair is chemically coloured medium brown, my natural hair is black with 10/20% grey.

I read somewhere that acacia catechu can colour my hair brown as well as my grey, fingers cross lol I try to avoid orange/red from henna.

[bulka]

PS: I will try next time to mix henna+alma+acacia catechu all in once with warm water and will leave for dye release over night.

[Shatam1]

Good luck Bulka :) hope you enjoy your henna journey, and I must warn you, it is incredibly addictive;)

[bulka]

Thank you very much!!!!