Cassia/Alma/Henna to stop shedding??

**~*Trish*~** · October 3rd, 2009, 05:33 PM

I need someone to point me in the right direction

I used to put a mix of 75ml cassia:10ml of henna:10ml of alma on my roots to get a nice blonde colour (to cover my greys). Well I had to stop because even though it was a weak henna mixture my hair was turning red with repeated treaments. It was a beautiful colour but red is not me.

So instead I did a bad thing to cover my greys...I go to my hairdressers who puts blonde highlights in my hair where there are greys. She's really amazing and only touches up the roots and from what I can tell does not get much dye onto my scalp.

Well the problem is that ever since I stopped my cassia/henna mix my shedding has gone WAY up.

I'm hoping that it is because my scalp misses the henna/cassia mix and not because I started to highlight.

I remember reading a while back that henna helps to clear up and keep a healthy scalp but it was a while back and I can't seem to find that info anymore.

I want to start up the cassia treatments again and am hoping that the cassia is what was helping to reduce my shedding and not the henna (no more red for me!).

Any experience that anyone may have would help me or any links to old threads that talk about this.

Thanks a bunch!!!

**lora410** · October 3rd, 2009, 06:06 PM

Cassia alone will give you a yellowish blonde affect on greys if left in for a few hours

**Heidi_234** · October 4th, 2009, 03:27 AM

I'm not sure about cassia, but I have been recommended in the past to do henna root touch ups to treat hairloss. But if you can't live with the color then don't do it. There's no harm in trying cassia, maybe it can help you. Maybe all you need is something antibacterial and/or antifungal like oils and herbals rinses, and henna was that for your when you used it.

**ShaSha** · October 4th, 2009, 09:33 AM

A while ago I had some shedding in my hair. It stopped when I used a blend of essential oils in my scalp.

**Leneveu** · October 4th, 2009, 10:02 AM

Originally Posted by ShaSha

A while ago I had some shedding in my hair. It stopped when I used a blend of essential oils in my scalp.

Which oils did you use?

**~*Trish*~** · October 5th, 2009, 03:57 PM

Lora410- I started with just cassia and it wasn't strong enough to cover my greys unfortunatley...thats why I started to add the little bit of henna

Heidi_234 - does cassia have anti-fungal properties?? I rmember reading somewhere that henna does help clear up some scalp conditions. What other oils or treatments are anit bacterial or anti fungal??

**Heidi_234** · October 6th, 2009, 05:05 AM

Originally Posted by ~*Trish*~

Lora410- I started with just cassia and it wasn't strong enough to cover my greys unfortunatley...thats why I started to add the little bit of henna

Heidi_234 - does cassia have anti-fungal properties?? I rmember reading somewhere that henna does help clear up some scalp conditions. What other oils or treatments are anit bacterial or anti fungal??

Well - I'll quote H4H on that one:

Cassia Obovata, harvested for use in hair, is grown in Egypt and Nubia. There are about 400 species of cassia around the world. Many of these species are used in folk medicines, as antifungals, antibacterials and laxatives, and were recorded in 9th and 10th century Arabic pharmacopoeia.

http://www.mehandi.com/hair/cassiaobovata.html

I don't have personal experience though.

As for oils, you'd have to search (google is your friend

), but many EOs have untifungal and antibacterial properties - like Tea tree oil. Watch out though, they are very potent and should be diluted in a carrier oil. Speaking of which - I think coconut oil also have some of those properties (I've read people using it as a deodorant replacement).

You might also have success with Monistat, if you're open to the idea. It's original purporse to to kill fungi, and people do use it to make their scalp happy again (and their hair growing lol). Here's a Q&A page complied by one of our member, it should answer all your questions. http://www.hairgrowth.5u.com/

**hmmm** · October 6th, 2009, 05:18 AM

There are a lot of things apart from henna that you can use for thickening hair. Off the top of my head I can only think of Coconut oil, Bhringraj and Amla, but I'm sure you'll find others in the herb thread.
Also, you could do a henna gloss instead of a full henna application and probably get the benefits of henna without the colour. I haven't tried this myself, but I think you should use the henna immediately and not wait for dye release. Can't say though, you might still get colour on your hair.

**~*Trish*~** · October 6th, 2009, 08:26 PM

Well I've just finished experiment one in my quest

I went back to the mixture that I was using before just minus the henna and left on for half as long (4 hours). I'm not sure if there is less shedding (too early to tell) but wow does my hair ever feel soft!!

I used to use a mix of EO's on my hair but i found that didn't work.

I'm crossing my fingers that this works...even if it doesn't I'm going to keep doing it...my hair never felt this soft with the henna in the mix!!!

Thanks for confirming that cassia also does have antifungal/antibacterial properties

**Heidi_234** · October 7th, 2009, 02:41 AM

Trish, some things don't resolve problems overnight. Sometimes ditching a treatment after one month is not good enough to determine it didn't work for you.