The Cassia Thread (see first post for link to FAQs)

[EliL]

200g cassia is on its way to me - I'm excited!

I've been curious about cassia for a while and now is a good time to try it. I'd like to see if it has a conditioning effect on my hair, and calms my scalp.

However, I have one worry. My hair is a very dark brown, and I have about 5 completely white hairs, three at the back and one on each temple. I love my white hairs and I don't want to change their colour permanently. Can someone reassure me that if they do take on a golden hue for the duration of the cassia, they'll eventually return to their original colour? And what's the worst case in terms of the colour - will I look ridiculous with a head of dark brown hair and a few blonde ones?

My natural hair is dark brown with many more whites than you, but honestly I did not see any change in the colour of the white ones at all (I just did the cassia treatment today). I have no previous experience with it but everything I have read regarding cassia throughout this forum, is that the effects are temporary and need to be reapplied at least monthly for lasting results.

[barnet_fair]

My natural hair is dark brown with many more whites than you, but honestly I did not see any change in the colour of the white ones at all (I just did the cassia treatment today). I have no previous experience with it but everything I have read regarding cassia throughout this forum, is that the effects are temporary and need to be reapplied at least monthly for lasting results.

Thank you so much for your response, EliL. How are you finding the effects of the cassia?

[EliL]

Thank you so much for your response, EliL. How are you finding the effects of the cassia?

You are very welcome barnet_fair Other that there is no colouring of the silvers, my hair seems to have amazing volume. I was afraid it could make it very dry as my hair is already a bit damaged from the chemical dyeing, but it does not seem dry surprisingly. It also feels very soft and shiny. Honestly, while I was doing the whole procedure I thought I’d never do this to myself again (especially if no colour change), but seeing my hair now, I might rethink this lol..

When is yours coming along?

[barnet_fair]

You are very welcome barnet_fair Other that there is no colouring of the silvers, my hair seems to have amazing volume. I was afraid it could make it very dry as my hair is already a bit damaged from the chemical dyeing, but it does not seem dry surprisingly. It also feels very soft and shiny. Honestly, while I was doing the whole procedure I thought I’d never do this to myself again (especially if no colour change), but seeing my hair now, I might rethink this lol..

When is yours coming along?

It's in the post apparently - hopefully it'll arrive next week. Or even today - but there have been lots of delays recently so I'm being patient.

I'm glad to hear your hair feels soft and shiny with amazing volume!

I've never applied any sort of chemical or herbal dye/mud to my my hair and I'm anticipating a tremendous (but hopefully enjoyable) mess.

[Bellalla]

It's in the post apparently - hopefully it'll arrive next week. Or even today - but there have been lots of delays recently so I'm being patient.

I'm glad to hear your hair feels soft and shiny with amazing volume!

I've never applied any sort of chemical or herbal dye/mud to my my hair and I'm anticipating a tremendous (but hopefully enjoyable) mess.

It is and isn't messy, I think it depends on how you do it, and what you have available.

I do my henna sitting on a shower stool in the bathtub, which makes cleanup extremely easy. It doesn't get everywhere, but a bit falls here and there, and it's nice to be able to just spray it down the drain.

I get some on my skin, but it wipes off easily with warm water.

The biggest mess I find, is rinsing it out, but that too, is limited to the shower. However, I don't know how people manage if they have a fixed shower head. I get bits of grit all over the shower walls and ceiling. Granted, I don't bother with a "mermaid soak" first, because I have both a shower head on a hose, and a high powered water gun on a hose as well. This makes it super easy to remove from my hair and easy to clean up afterwards.

So yeah, it kind of is messy, but also not really. I was shocked how easy it was to not be messy with it.

[barnet_fair]

Just after my previous post, the cassia arrived, and I tried it out for the first time yesterday (Day 0)! So here are my Day 1 thoughts, in case it helps anyone:

Application

Mix: 200g cassia, approx. 630ml water, a few drops of peppermint essential oil, and a dash of olive oil, mixed to the consistency of thick cake batter. This was easily enough to coat my WL+ iii (4.25") hair.

Application: Glooped everything onto my scalp and (clarified) hair while leaning over the sink wearing an old black T-shirt, then covered with two shower caps.

Duration: 2 hours

Weight: My head felt extremely heavy with all this piled on top of it! I didn't expect this effect. I consider myself fairly strong but I do have a stiff neck/shoulders, so maybe that was the cause of my discomfort. Anyway, I was able to go on the computer and make dinner, and my neck feels fine now.

Smell: This was a bit bothersome for me and had a sort of astringent quality, especially smelling it on an empty stomach.

Mess: Wiped down the sink directly after application, quick and easy. The thick mix didn't drip from the shower caps during treatment. Thanks to Bellalla's advice I sat down in the shower to start rinsing it off, which prevented any mess in the bath.

Results

As of Day 1 my hair definitely has a waxy coating and a faint scent of cassia. It has a thick, rough texture. I've been oiling it and looking forward to my next wash/SMT in which I think I'll see the true results.

Shine: My coarse, wavier underlayer is now incredibly shiny, almost glittery! I've never seen it like this. It'll be interesting to see whether this effect survives the first wash. The rest of my hair also has a good shine, similar to my usual coney conditioner.

Colour: No effect on the colour of my dark brown hair. It took some time to locate a couple of my white hairs, which are now a sort of silver/gold colour. I imagine if they had started off silver or grey, the difference would be imperceptible, but these hairs were bright white before. I don't mind this and it may even be a useful way to track the disappearance of the cassia over the next few weeks.

Thoughts for next time

If I do this again I might try using less cassia, maybe 160g, mixed with some other ingredients like yoghurt and conditioner, or other herbs.

I'll be combing this thread looking for advice on other scents to combine with cassia.

I'm curious as to how easy it is to do a cassia or henna treatment at longer lengths. With longer hair it would be even heavier, and my shower caps would not fit (they were at their limit and the disposable one ripped!). I imagine LHC members with more hair have experimented with hair placement and use of other things to cover the head during treatment.

[Jane99]

Congratulations on your cassia application!
I love adding powdered clove to cassia/henna. The smell of clove lingers for a long time and it’s quite pleasant to me.
I will cover my head in plastic wrap because my shower cap is in too sad of shape for a multi hour treatment.

[barnet_fair]

Update: on Day 3, I did an SMT. Despite my combing it while wet as I usually do, it dried wavy, in clumps with loose S-waves, resembling photos I've seen here of 2a or 1c/2a hair!

I was amazed, I've never seen my hair so wavy. Not sure if I'm ready for this change! I think it's down to the conditioning effects of the cassia (and perhaps it enhances natural wave potential by filling in certain parts of the cuticle?) and the lack of cones during the cassia and SMT washes.

There's still an occasional faint scent of cassia, but surely undetectable to others. Jane99, thank you very much for the advice to use powdered clove - I love the smell of cloves. I'll try another cassia application in 2-3 weeks and add the powdered clove.

[GRU]

I'm curious as to how easy it is to do a cassia or henna treatment at longer lengths. With longer hair it would be even heavier, and my shower caps would not fit (they were at their limit and the disposable one ripped!). I imagine LHC members with more hair have experimented with hair placement and use of other things to cover the head during treatment.

I used to use two disposable plastic shower caps (one for the front and one for the back, overlapping in the middle), but now I just use a plastic shopping bag (we still have them in my area, although they've been banned in others).

It's big enough to fit over my whole head, and the lack of an elastic band means I can shape it however I want to keep everything covered so it doesn't dry out. The tension from the elastic on the shower caps makes them want to pull into more of a straight line, so it's hard to get it follow my hairline all the way around my head. With the shopping bag, I just put the whole bag over the top of my head, and then I can form the edges to follow my hairline by rolling or squishing them up and sticking them to the goop.

I gather the excess bag together in one spot and hold it with a small claw clip, then put a Turbie Twist towel over the whole thing.

[Jane99]

I did a mostly 90/10 cassia/henna gloss last night... well it was a fenugreek and yogurt mask that I added some frozen cassia/henna to... left on for 2 hours shampooed and conditioned afterwards and put a drop of argan oil through my hair afterwards. My hair was freakishly shiny this morning!