Today I ran another experiment with cassia. I started by making roughly 2 cups of tea using a large amount of sage and a smaller amount of horsetail and rosemary. The sage was for the color and the rosemary and horsetail because they are supposed to be conditioning and I had some on hand. I made this tea the night before and just let it sit and steep all night.
In the morning I warmed the tea back up and strained it. Then I took roughly 1/3 cup of cassia and mixed with it about 2 Tbls of black strap molasses and about 2-3 Tbls of red wine. Then I added enough of the strained tea to make the mixture like a runny pancake batter. I didn't wish to let the cassia mixture sit too long as I was not interested in obtaining a die release from the cassia.
I used the left over tea to wet my hair. I poured it over my head several times as if I were using the sage to color my hair and I really made certain to soak my hair good. I figured if I could get the sage really soaked in, it would prevent me from taking on too much yellow from the cassia.
After wringing out the excess liquid I detangled a bit and began applying the cassia, sectioning my hair as best as I was able considering how that cassia really grabs and matts the hair as I'm applying it. I smooshed it around a bit to make certain to have full coverage, applied a plastic shower cap over my head and topped that with a turbie. I looked absolutely irresistible and prayed that the UPS man wouldn't make a delivery for fear that he would become overwhelmed with desire by my presence at the door.
I then spent the next 1 1/2 to 2 hours making Masoor Dal and starting some Hing valli Brown Basmati to go with dinner tonight. Might as well get something useful done while I was waiting.
As I said, I'm not certain exactly how long the mixture had been sitting on my head but it was at least 1 1/2 and not more than 2 hours.
I then went to the shower and soaked and rinsed the bulk out of my hair before using conditioner to smooth and get the last bits out of my hair.
Then on the theory that cassia raised the cuticle a bit (I figured that's why the hair feels so thick and fluffy) I decided that this would be an excellent time to try and get some oil deeper into the hair shaft. So after toweldrying I applied EVOO to below the ear first and then smoothed the fragile hair around my temples with what little remained on my hands and ran my hair over the crown area as well.
I think I was right about the oil. My hair feels very strong and full. In the past I didn't use the oil and although my hair felt extremely soft, I also felt that it was a bit fragile. The oil was a good idea, at least for me.
As to the color. I didn't notice anything that one would consider coverage on the gray hair but it did seem to give my hair a nice tone that made the gray hair look more like highlights. In the past, using cassia and camomile recipe I found that it made my hair a rather undesirable yellow tone - not a gentle golden but bordering on clown yellow. The sage tea mixture and possibly the molasses helped cut down the brassy color and gave me a richer tone.
I don't know if a picture will help or not. It's not easy to get a good color read with the lighting in my room and the camera on my PC. But I took a photo nonetheless.
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