Real People, Real Henna: "Evie"





Evie's hair after conditioning with cassia

My hair is normally what my friends call "dirty dishwater blonde". It's also rather fine so although I've always wanted it long, every time I grow it out it starts splitting and getting coarse feeling. Anyway, I'd heard about how good henna is for hair, so I decided to do some research and in the end bought 100 grams of henna and 300 grams of cassia. I didn't want to really change my hair color, just add a few highlights and mostly strengthen and condition it.

I did a strand test that turned out a little redder than I wanted, so the next day I adjusted the proportions and...

This is the mix I used:
1 cup Ancient Sunrise cassia
2 tbsp. Ancient Sunrise henna
1/2 cup of a mildly acidic liquid mix
And I added enough water to the paste to make a yogurt-like consistency

After mixing that all up, I put it in bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and put it under our wood stove. After about 12 hours of letting it sit and release, I got in the shower and started covering my hair with the goop. It was much more of a mess than I had thought it would be - so it was good I was in the shower! I used up almost all the mixture and then plastic wrapped my head up and put a towel around it. Then I watched a movie with my husband for 1 1/2 hrs before rinsing it all out.

It turned out really nice - with very slight red highlights (next time I'll use more henna for stronger highlights). My hair feels soft and the ends don't feel as coarse and frizzy as they did before.

Notes and References
Henna: https://www.mehandi.com/Mehandi-com-Ancient-Sunrise-Henna-for-Hair-s/121.htm
Don’t have fruit juice on hand? Keep some fruit acid powders in your cupboard.
Mildly acidic liquid: https://www.mehandi.com/Fruit-Acid-for-henna-dye-release-s/299.htm
More info on mildly acidic mixes: https://www.tapdancinglizard.com/henna-and-acidic-mixes/
Ancient Sunrise henna for hair kits with everything included: https://www.mehandi.com/Mehandi-com-Ancient-Sunrise-Henna-for-Hair-Kits-s/124.htm
Henna time and temperature: https://www.tapdancinglizard.com/mixing-and-testing-your-henna-mix pp. 10-13
Conditioning with cassia: https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/416964703