Our Organic Cassia Obovata is a fantastic, 100% natural powder which is produced by grinding the dried leaves of the Cassia Obovata shrub. Organic Cassia Obovata is primarily used as a means to condition the hair as well as create golden to strawberry blonde tones on lighter hair, brighten up darker hair tones and create a glass-like shine. Organic Cassia Obovata can also be added to henna to produce light copper to copper penny like tones on blondes to medium brown hair tones. Organic Cassia Obovata can also be used to improves the scalps condition.
For some, Cassia Obovata can be a little drying (typically not as drying as henna can be). Try out different ratios until no dryness is experienced. Following are different methods for using our Organic Cassia Obovata.
Using Organic Cassia Obovata for Conditioning Only (no colour)
Organic Cassia Obovata is fantastic for conditioning the hair. For those that are not looking for any colour, this method is perfect. To use Organic Cassia Obovata for conditioning, it is best to add a tablespoon or two of the powder premixed with water to your conditioning base, such as conditioner, flax seed gel, Light Greek yogurt or thick coconut milk, for example, or mix a sufficient amount of powder to cover your hair with Greek yogurt or coconut milk for extra conditioning. Let the paste sit for 10 minutes, then apply to freshly washed damp hair. Wrap your hair up, relax for 30-40 minutes and rinse out in the shower very well to get all the particles out.
Another way to apply Organic Cassia Obovata and avoid the barn hay dry hair is to pre-oil your hair prior to applying Organic Cassia Obovata. Some like to pre-oil the night before they do an Organic Cassia Obovata treatment. Choose any oil your hair likes and oil the hair moderately; either apply the oil the night before, or an hour or two prior to the Cassia Obovata treatment. Mix the cassia with water (distilled water seems to be the best option), unless you want a colour boost, then use Chamomile or Hibiscus teas, or juices. Make sure the mix is of pancake batter consistency. For more information on colouring with our Organic Cassia Obovata, please refer to the Cassia for colouring section below for more details. Let the paste sit for 10 -15 minutes. During that time, mist the hair with water until it is damp. Apply the cassia paste all over your hair, cover and relax for an hour. After the hour is up, rinse out extremely well in the shower. Some find it helpful to use conditioner or clear Aloe Vera Gel to aide in rinsing out the particles from the hair.
It is important to not add any acidic ingredients to your Organic Cassia Obovata. Adding any acids can encourage the dye release and leave golden to strawberry blonde tones or highlights in your hair if you are lighter. Those with darker hair need not worry about the ‘Cassia glow’ as it is mostly evident on those with lighter hair (silver-light browns). Teas made from Egyptian Chamomile Flowers or Organic Hibiscus Petal Powder can be used as the primary liquid to mix your Organic Cassia Obovata powder with. Keep in mind that Hibiscus petal powder can impart a reddish tint on blonde to medium brown hair, and the Egyptian Chamomile Flowers can impart light golden tones as well. If in doubt, always do a strand test just to make sure!
Organic Cassia Obovata can also be added to Ayurvedic herbal washes as a conditioning component. Add 1TBS of Organic Cassia Obovata powder to your Ayurvedic tea wash, herb packs and ‘gravies’.
To make a conditioning Organic Cassia oil, in a sterile jar, steep 1TBS of Cassia in 1 cup of carrier oil in a dark place for 2-3 weeks. Shake every day and strain with double layer pantyhose when the oil is ready.
Cassia for Colouring
For golden tones and strawberry blonde tones
To achieve golden tones on light blonde to light brown hair, mix Organic Cassia Obovata powder with something acidic such as tap water with a little squirt of lemon juice in it, Chamomile Tea (this is the best for golden tones) or Hibiscus Tea (this is best for strawberry blonde tones). Add 1TBS Aloe Powder and honey per 100g Cassia Obovata powder.
The dye release is important if you’re wanting to add golden/strawberry tints to you hair. Let the Cassia release from 3-4 hours to over night for best results. To create ashy golden and strawberry blonde, add 2-3 TBS of Organic Amla Powder per 100g of Organic Cassia Obovata paste before dye release. For extra conditioning and moisture, add 1-2 TBS of Greek Yogurt, coconut milk, Shea butter or oil for every 100g of Organic Cassia Obovata after dye release.
Organic Cassia with henna to create light copper to copper penny tones
Organic Cassia Obovata can be combined with henna to produce strawberry blonde- light copper and copper penny tones. Please refer to: “Basic Henna Recipes: From light copper to Red” for more details.
Organic Cassia Obovata for Lightening Hair
Cassia can be used to lighten the hair gradually when used as a base for lightening ingredients. Keep in mind that this is a very gradual process and may require more than one treatment. See this post for the specifics. It is recommend to use ground cardamon instead of cinnamon as there have been reports that cinnamon can cause temporary redness and tingling of the skin wherever the mixture drips. The redness was reported to disappear after 20 minutes after rinsing.
Ayurvedic hair care is all about experimenting. Remember, what works for someone else may not necessarily work for you, and vice versa! If in doubt, strand test. If one method does not work for you, try another. Happy experimenting!
I recently used cassia for hair, and did not precondition or add oil or conditioner…my hair ends are like straw or sometimes like glass. How long with this product be in my hair for…how long until I can undo the drying and curl loosening damage? and How? Thank you!
Thank you for posting Kimmy. The dryness should leave within 2-3 days but I’d really recommend you moisture your hair. Have you done that since your Organic cassia treatment?
To tighten back curls you could use Organic Amla powder
Hi,
Just want to add that I didn’t get dryness from my cassia, I mixed it with henna and alma, also some herbal teas and whipping cream , and tummeric, for some reason my hair loves yogurt or whipping cream, it always comes out soft silky and very very shiny and manageable. The tumeric gave me warm golden color with the redbrown from henna an casia, also my hair has become so much more thick I love my products and cant wait to try more like the mimmosa butter!
Hi Patsy!
Fantastic!! Some people love to use lactic acid products on the hair- it’s conditioning to some! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your wonderfully creamy recipe!! 🙂
I find mixing my cassia with a bit conditioner really helps! Great article with great information!
Thank you, Amber! 🙂
Thanks for sharing your recipe! 🙂
I’ve just used some cassia obovata on my hair for the first time 😀 My hair is a natural dark blonde/very light brown (or light ‘mouse-y brown’) kind of colour. I mixed the cassia-3 tablespoons for my short hair 🙂 – with a tablespoon of chamomile powder and some pure bottled water.. made it into a pudding type consistency and applied it immediately, left it on for about two hours, and I have just rinsed it out and dried my hair off. and what can I say, WOW.. the cassia has made my hair soooo shiny now.. it went from looking quite dirty and limp and dull and listless to being totally enlivened.. it is now radiant and natural and very healthy looking, and it has given my hair so much body! it also has a beautiful yet subtle healthy golden shimmer in the sunlight, without it being brassy or orange or yellowish looking at all. It also looks maybe just a touch lighter or maybe just that my natural colour has really been brightened up, thanks to the chamomile i think, just a lovely boost that has brought my dull mousey brown hair back to life and left it with a super healthy shine and lovely natural golden reflection.. I really recommend this product! My hair is not dry at all, well no drier than it always is after washing anyway, and I just finger-combed some leave-in conditioner through it like I always do, and it looks great. Success!!
I want as much golden color as I can get from my cassia and have been trying to get the dye release to happen but so far no luck. The first time I mixed it with chamomile tea made with distilled water in a bowl and let sit 3 hours. No color left on my hair at all. The second time (same mix with the tea)I put it in a zip lock bag with a paper towel under it to watch for dye release. 36 hours later in temps. of about 68 faren. no dye release. How can i know for sure when dye release has happened?
Hello T. Did you warm your liquid up? It should be at least warm to hot, but never boiling. Usually it only needs 3-4 hours, sometimes 6-8 in winter. It’s a bit tricky to see dye release from organic cassia. How long did you leave it in your hair for?
I have medium-dark brown long curly hair with a few streaks of gray. I want to use cassia mainly for the gloss & conditioning, but would like to get some highlighting in my gray. Would using warm coffee assist with dye release & a darker gold color? Or should I stick with a little lemon juice? Can’t wait to make my first order!
Alicia the coffee may more then likely bring it to a more darken golden tone. But please note it’s temporary and won’t last long.
I am going for a golden blonde color but have grey roots–my normal color is an ash/golden blonde, and hair tends to be dry. I mixed: 10 tablespoons of the cassia, the juice of one lemon, 1.5 tablespoons of jojoba oil, and enough warm water to make a pancake like batter. Let it sit about 10 hours. Then applied to my hair for about 4 hours. I still see alot of grey though. Should I apply ONLY lemon juice and no water and no oil? Should I let the mixture sit longer–15 hours? Can I leave the mask on overnight or will that damage the hair? Please help!
Yes do try to use lemon juice and perhaps also some chamomile tea as well to boost those golden tones. I’d recommend you let it sit only 3-4 hours and then use it. This should be better. Please do leave it in your hair for at least 3-4 hours. Let us know if this adjustment helps.
Hello,
I want the hair colour like the girl in your picture. I have black hair. Also, can i heat cassia and henna in coconut oil to colour my hair gradually and achieve like the one in the picture.
Lastly, do you ship in Canada? Thanks
Hello
Unfortunately henna products being a translucent naturally coloring herb, can’t make already dark hair lighter. You can use that recipe but it won’t lighten your hair color. Sorry. We do ship within Canada at http://www.hennasooq.ca
Hi there- I just did a Cassia treatment. I wanted to achieve a golden tone over my grays. I brewed up som chamomile tea and let sit until “warm” about a half hour. I added 1 TBSP chamonile powder, 1TBSP neem powder, and the juice of a half lemon to my 100gm mix of cassia. I allowed it to sit for 4 hours. Applied to hair and let sit 6 hours. I washed out and did a conditioning treatment in the shower to remove residue. My grays did not change in color at all, in fact they are brighter and shinier grays..not what I wanted (sigh). Any thoughts on why the yellow pigment of the cassia did not release? My hands did not stain at all from it. Would a terpe oil such as “tea tree” help with the dye release for next time? Should I have let the cassia sit longer than 4 hours? I understand it might take repeat applications but it did nothing at all for this first treatment except making the gray stand out more by appearing brighter and shinier. 🙁 Thanks for your feedback on this…much appreciated!
Hello Cheryl
Organic Cassia can work for some but not everyone especially since it’s such a weak dye molecule and hard to color hair or even greys, can be harder to color. Maybe let the cassia sit at least 6-8 hours, and then use it. I would recommend a longer dye release time. Add some honey, and maybe slip the lemon juice and use only chamomile tea as your liquid.
Thank you– I will give that a try. If that does not work either, how much should I use with my henna to get the grays to cover and maybe achieve a “strawberry blonde” color? I am trying to stay away from the more “orangey” tones and try to achieve “golden” and ideally blonde tone. Thanks much! 🙂
For Cheryl, I tried cassia for my grays 4 times from 1 UK supplier with no effect whatsoever except an itchy scalp, but then I tried another supplier (renaissance) and my whites all turned a pale blonde, I have just done a second application (3 weeks later) as blonde is nearly faded and have new growth. Love cassia for dying my whites however its SOOOOOO drying for my hair. I am determined to keep trying though and maybe add some honey or aloe to my mixes. Its trial and error at the mo. Good luck x
Don’t forget everyone, a reminder, that you can add hair oils to your recipe to add moisture or our organic aloe vera powder and it won’t affect your color results or benefits.
Hi, I have naturally dark blonde hair colour and would love to bring out my golden hues and hopefully some subtle copper nuances. Could I mix cassia obovata with hibiscus powder or something else to get a natural looking/subtle red tone? 🙂
Hello Tamara. I’m not sure if the hibiscus will be strong enough to pull any red as it usually boosts the red slightly and it might pull a little burgundy. Cassia is good for sure for you to use. For copper and slight coppers using our Moroccan henna in that recipe would be a better choice.
Hello Nelly. Thank you for posting on our blog. Sorry for our delayed reply.
This treatment should work well. We might recommend you adding also our Organic Aloe Vera powder for added moisture.
Instead of henna you can use cassia instead or our Sukesh Ayurveda. The color of henna is permanent and will last until it grows out. Yes all our henna powders will generally make your hair reddish tinted. Thank you!
Hello Sabrina. Sorry for my delayed reply.
Dye release usually happens when you mix a powder (henna etc…) and allow it to sit for an allotted time so the color is ready to use. Then you apply it and for coloring treatments usually leave it in your hair for 3-4 hours. Overnight is optional. We do recommend always giving your henna or cassia etc…time to release it’s dye. We see the best results from our products due to that.