cassia/henna mix?..or any natural hair advice

Hi Niki and everyone online,

Hi everyone, my name is Jasmine and was wondering if anyone could give me some insight before I try a henna/cassia mix. Of course I will test the hair on my brush before I do my whole head but some knowledge beforehand will help.

I was wondering (1) what mix of henna and cassia (i.e 1/2 henna 1/2 cassia) I should try,(2) how long I should leave the mixture on my hair, (3) what products I should use on my hair afterwards.

I am a new natural, I did the big chop in February and my hair is now about to my collar bone when wet/past my ears when dry.

My hair type:
I have super Thick, big, and curly. Some of my hair is more wavy and other parts are tightly curled. I have sandy brown hair (My mother and Father's Mother are part Irish and I have a natural tint of red to my hair). I have annoying dandruff and I hate when my hair feels greasy/oily. I like using oils but not the residue some leave behind.

Why I want to cassia/henna:
I would like to loosen some of my curl, have healthier, silkier, shinier hair and alleviate my dandruff. I also would not mind bringing out my natural red even more, but I do not want a big firery afro .

I will greatly take any advice anyone has to give. Whether it is simply good products to use and nothing about henna or step-by-step directions. I have read the hennaforhair.com ebook. I feel the directions for cassia/henna mix is more geared toward Caucasian hair.

Thank you for reading.

Love and Blessings,

Jasmine

I haven't heard of people mixing henna and cassia together, usually they use one or the other. Cassia is used when you want similar conditioning benefits of henna but without the colour. It's been a while since I read the ebook but do they recommend a mix of both henna and cassia there?

Usually if people want to tone down the redness of henna, they might add things like amla, coffee or indigo to the mixture. I think perhaps a ratio of 70:30 or 50:50 of henna and indigo might be pleasing to you? It would yield a reddish brown. It might be a good idea to experiment on some hair strands first to determine what ratio would be best as the colour you end up with very much depends on your starting natural hair colour.