Hair treatments - Strengthening hair poultices: Cinchona and cassia

Cinchona and cassia hair treatments

A fortnight ago I finally stopped procrastinating and used a boxed hair poultice I had had in my fridge for nearly two years xD 

Like henna, this is a mud-style hair treatment, from the Radhe Shyam brand (their henna is not among the best quality brands because they seem to have a pretty low dye content, although I also like how they give my hair very nice highlights). The treatment is incorrectly named as being 'henna cinchona', though, because there's no henna in the powder at all, only cassia (which has a colourless effect and is not henna, either!). The poultice includes cinchona bark (Cinchona Succirubra), birch leaves, cassia (Cassia Ovobata), nettle and thyme, and it apparently helps to strengthen hair.

I mixed the powder with strong red tea (I like using tea for rinses and treatments because of its reddish tinges and astringent qualities) in order to create the mud-textured poultice and applied it to my hair with my hands (the mud doesn't stain the skin and hair like henna does, and the mud washed out easily with water). Then I covered my hair in a plastic wrap (and some sophisticated rubber bands xD) and waited for about an hour.

Mud selfie xD!

 Because this mud doesn't colour-stain, application, rinsing and cleaning were so much easier than with henna or a vegetal dye! I literally covered the bathroom in mud while applying the poultice on my hair xD, but it was pretty easy to clean with a bit of water. Apart from that, bits of dried powder kept falling off my hair while I was finger-detangling and drying it, but overall it was an easier process than my henna experiments.

My hair felt really soft and shiny after rinsing all the mud off. It also looked a tiny bit more voluminous, I think? It doesn't feel thicker than it normally is now, though, so maybe I'd have to try again to see if it has a thickening effect (maybe after more applications?), like henna or cassia treatments. A fortnight later, I haven't noticed really noticeable changes in the strengthening department, but I'd probably need repeated, or at least more, hair treatments like this one for that, and this box was already two years old, fridge or no fridge. So pretty happy on the whole :)

This is also an October length shot!

And some pics of the post-poultice hair:

Nighttime with flash:

And in the morning, indirect sunlight with flash:

I've also done a couple of 100% Cassia treatments, from the same brand, and this 2011-12 treatment I remember especially, because it did leave my hair feeling more voluminous and a bit thicker :)

Pros (judging by  my personal experience):

• Easy to clean and rinse out compared to staining muds like henna (I LOVE henna, though xD)
• Soft, shiny hair
• Hair is a bit more voluminous
• I like the slightly bitter, herbal scent, so that was also a plus for me

Cons:

• Mud-treatments always mean mud literally everywhere, even if it cleans off easily xD You also have to sweep the floor at least once to get all the drying powder that falls off your hair when drying. Not a low-maintenance process.

SwordWomanRiona / rionashairblog.blogspot.com.es

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