How to do a proper Cassia treatment?

[Juliet's Silk]

A while back I bought 500g of Cassia. I had used neutral henna before and my hair was a dry and crunchy mess afterwards - I thought that it must be because of the added protein in there (I used neutral Henna from Logona, so it's Cassia with a few other things mixed in). But when I used that "pure" cassia in a herbal CWC I had the same results... dry, crunchy, tangly mess.
I'm not ready to give up on this, I don't quite get why my hair reacts in this way to Cassia... I mean it's supposed to be good for hair, damn it!
So, how do you do it? Do you mix it with hot water only? Do you let the mixture sit for a specific time? Do you do something with your hair afterwards (like a moisture treatment or something?)?
Please share your routines!
TIA! :sweatdrop:

[Calista]

I do a cassia treatment the way I used to do a regular henna treatment: Add hot black tea, an egg and maybe some red wine and let it sit until cool enough to use.

While cassia strengthens the hair it is also very cleansing and drying (like henna). I can do a treatment on really yukky hair and have squeaky clean hair afterwards, so I always follow it with an SMT. You could also try adding some oil to your cassia mix.

HTH!

[birdiefu]

I haven't used cassia before, but I've heard that the first time or so may not give as great results as long-term use. However, I do notice that when I henna, the major key point that determines if I get soft, shiny hair or dry, crunchy hair is rinsing and conditioning. If there is any residue left behind, those little dusty bits can dry into crunch :evileye:. After I henna, I rinse like the dickens, glop on a bunch of condish (like a CO) then rinse like crazy some more. The final step (when I'm lazy and skip this, I get dry hair still) is to apply even more condish or SMT then let it sit for a while (15-30 minutes) then rinse once more. After all that, my hair is super happy.

Not sure if the same thing will work with you for cassia or not, but good luck!

[rivka]

I just started using cassia. I use Flaxen's recipe of 1C cassia to 2C yogurt. No dryness whatsover. My hair is now just shy of tailbone and about 4 inches thick- so there is a lot of hair. 1.5C cassia to 3C yogurt does my head. I think this way you are getting less cassia than if you did the mix with water. But there are still the benefits. I did Cassia like this twice in a week with no crunchiness or dryness.

[Juliet's Silk]

Thanks so far!
I can't use joghurt or eggs since, well, my hair is super sensitive to protein (but I really want to try the red wine, maybe I'll do that). :evileye:
But maybe I could try to mix the cassia with conditioner, like a henna gloss? That could work, couldn't it? Is it necessary that I mix the cassia with hot water, to, I don't know, to release the goodness out of the herb?
Also, if the cassia is very cleansing, I could try to do a heavy-oiling before I'll do the cassia...
Hmm much to ponder!

[Kuchen]

Juliet's Silk - I do just that, mix the cassia with a LOT of condish (and coffee, cloves, cayenne pepper :lafhard: ). I'm going to try this quinquina stuff today, because I can't go out (boo!) and I need something to play with while I work.

[aisling]

Where do you Germans buy cassia? Some online place or..? I'm asking the Germans/Europenas especially, since the shipping within the Eu is usually cheap. I haven't been able to find it here and I'm interested in testing it.

[Calista]

I buy my cassia here (http://www.omikron-online.de/cgi-bin/cosmoshop/lshop.cgi?action=showdetail&wkid=14764&ls=d&nc=1150299896-14961&rubnum=&artnum=100759-250&file=&gesamt_zeilen=0Tsuche--henna). I know it says "neutral henna", and they persist that there is such a thing. I quit arguing with them and just buy the stuff - so far it hasnīt done any harm to my hair.

[aisling]

Thanks! They even accept PayPal and ship to the rest of Europe.

[Juliet's Silk]

I spontaneously decided that I want do to a Cassia treatment today :lafhard: It's on my hair right now, we'll see how it goes with your advice.
I mixed the stuff with coffee and conditioner and put it on dirty, greasy hair - ideally, it will clean my hair and leave it soft and not oily. I also try to rinse, rinse, rinse and condition afterwards, I think that's one thing I didn't do the last two tries.
It was reaaaally hard to spread and very grainy, I hope that I can rinse it out properly...

[Kuchen]

I did mine yesterday too, at about the same time! I used some runny conditioner to help get the grainy stuff out, and conditioned again with something heavy to finish. Looks good!

(the match was fun too, especially Merkel's reaction, but I have to watch the England game this evening :geek: )

[Juliet's Silk]

Yeah my results are far better this time, but I'm amazed at how CLEANSING the stuff actually is.
I rinsed like mad and I think I got everything out of the length, but I still have some stuff sitting on my scalp. Have to remember to rinse better there next time.
My hair doesn't feel dry or crunchy, I'll take it out of the bun in a minute and see how it looks.
I also have to use less cassia and more oil... wow, that's really cleansing.

edit: okay after combing it turns out that the mix wasn't that cleansing - scalp hair is still moderately greasy. But still.
Length is quite soft but not shiney, but I guess that will come with time. At least I know now that the Cassia and my hair agree with each other, I feared that I bought the Cassia for nothing.

Oh and yes, the game was GREAT but quite nerve wracking too.