Caca Noir Mama Hair Henna by LUSH | 
| Brand: LUSH Cosmetics
Buy New: $20.45
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 8065
Media: Misc.
ASIN: B0007TJOCY
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| Features:
| • | Safe alternative to commercial hair dye | | • | Also contains cocoa butter, Irish moss powder and clove bud oil for extra richness, conditioning and shine |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Caca Noir (as in black) is for the darkest effect possible. Its combination of indigo with just a touch of red henna that gives a blue tint to your hair if the henna is allowed to air dry, or a redder hue if you cover your hair in plastic wrap. Cocoa butter helps the Caca stick to hair which means that you get more shine than with your average henna powder. Spicy clove bud oil is used in India for love potions but we use it to make your hair smell lovely. Note: This product may melt and is NOT guaranteed to arrive solid during the summer months!
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| Customer Reviews:
Safe & natural vegan hair dye, great results November 28, 2008
M. Mills (USA)
Note: This is a really long review, intended to help pre-henna users who have lots of questions. To skip the background story and general henna overview, scroll down to the paragraph with the two asterisks (**) in front of it. Now, onward!
During a recent trip to LUSH SoHo, my hairdresser (who also happens to be my mother) started freaking out when I mentioned that I wanted to try their Caca Hair Hennas. She shrieked, "Don't EVER use henna on your hair!! It'll break it and make it fall out! That stuff is HORRIBLE!"
I was shocked. I didn't know much about henna at the time, so I had no rebuttal to my mother's condemnation. I'm surprised a LUSH Sales Associate didn't come over and kindly enlighten her. I left the store feeling bummed, as I knew of no safer, more natural, 100% vegan way to dye my hair.
However, like most offspring, I don't always trust what Mom says at face value -- even though mine happens to be an accomplished hairdresser and salon owner. Bored at work, I spent the better part of three days researching henna so I could see what the deal was.
Hairdressers flip out when you mention the word "henna" because they mistakenly think you're referring to one of the junk henna dyes available in the beauty supply industry. Those dyes actually contain very little henna, and they're full of harmful additives like PPD and other toxic chemicals. Junk henna dyes can severely damage hair that has previously been dyed or permed, and the toxic additives can have terrible side effects on people's nervous systems. (For real! That shiz is scary!) My mother has confirmed that, in cosmetology school, hairdressers are taught *very* little about henna except to stay far, far away from it -- and rightly so, given the types of crappy henna products available to them.
This is not the kind of henna that LUSH sells. (Phew!)
The highest grade henna is called Body Art Quality (BAQ) and comes from the top 5% of the henna plant (lawsonia inermis) crop. Henna contains a red-orange dye molecule called Lawsone; true henna will not dye any other color.
All LUSH's Cacas contain pure BAQ henna and do not contain harmful additives, chemicals, or metals of any kind. Three of their Cacas also contain BAQ indigo, from the indigofera tinctoria plant, for darker colors: Marron has a little indigo (result = burgandy, deep red wine), Brun has more (rich, spiced brown), and Noir has a lot (dark brown, almost black).
Pure BAQ henna is perfectly safe -- just like apples or basil, which are safe to most people unless they have an allergy. BAQ henna has been used as a natural hair dye for 6000 years. For the great majority of people, it makes their hair healthier, stronger, bouncier, less tangly, and more lustrous. Like pure henna, pure BAQ indigo is perfectly safe.
Most people who dye their hair with henna do so by purchasing BAQ henna powder from a reputable retailer and then mixing it with water, lemon juice, and olive oil to make a paste. LUSH has simplified this process: they take pure BAQ henna and add herbs, lemon juice, and cocoa butter (instead of olive oil), and form it into a bar. I decided to use LUSH's Cacas because it seemed easier than mixing BAQ henna and indigo powders myself; but some people think the powder is easier.
** So, after explaining all this to my hairdresser mother, here's how I ended up using my Caca Noir. As a quick note, my natural hair color is mousy medium brown with no greys; hairdressers call it Ash Brown.
1. My hair is short -- a shaggy pixie cut -- so I used just one square of the big block (1 block = 6 squares). Because Caca Noir contains lots of indigo, which loses dye capacity if subjected to moderately high heat, I didn't pre-heat the square. Many faithful Caca heads use the microwave, the oven, or a double-boiler/"bain marie" to melt their squares -- but this is probably only safe to do with Cacas Rouge or Marron, the reddest ones.
2. I finely grated the Caca square on my cheese grater and mixed it with tepid (not hot!) water to form a pasty goo about the consistency of yogurt. At this point, it smelled strongly of alfalfa hay, but it didn't really bother me. Some people dislike the scent and mix their Cacas with fragrant herbal teas or essential oils instead of plain water.
3. I spooned the Caca goo mixture into a carrot bag. I clipped an old towel around my shoulders and applied a thick strip of moisturizer around my hairline to prevent staining. I donned plastic gloves, leaned over the tub (to prevent dripping accidents and make cleanup easy), and applied the henna in patches to my dry hair. I started at the front and worked towards the back, rubbing it in and making sure to thickly coat every strand.
4. I left the Caca in for 4 hours, head unwrapped, and read my book, watched TV, checked email, etc. Note that immediately after application, most Caca users turban their hair in Saran wrap/cling film to maintain a warm temperature and bring out the henna's redness. Caca Noir can have a red undertone if you wrap it or a blue undertone if you leave it unwrapped.
5. It took a while to rinse the Caca out of my hair. (The finer you grate it, the easier it tends to wash out.) First, I held my head under the tub faucet and rinsed with warm water for 10 minutes. Then I used Jungle conditioner, rinsed, Go Green shampoo, rinsed, and Jungle again. I towel-dried my hair and went to the mirror to check it out.
Results: My mousy brown hair had turned the most glossy, sexy dark brown! Not black, and no hint of red or blue undertones. I love it! It's softer, shinier, and stronger than it was pre-henna. It glints more in the sunlight now. And the dark color... it's just amazing. The alfalfa scent did stay in my hair for a day, but since it's short and doesn't blow in my face, I didn't notice it much.
A few important notes for pre-henna users:
- Check LUSH's forum and hennaforhair . com for waaay more information than I could possibly write here. Also feel free to comment below, as I'm happy to answer any questions; I'm not an expert by any means, but I'll certainly try to help.
- Henna is semi-transparent. It will stick to your hair follicle and allow your natural color to determine how red/dark it turns out. Repeated applications over a few months will lead to more intense color. Also, the longer you leave the paste on your hair each time, the more intense the color will be. Last, the color will continue to deepen over the next 3-4 days, so you won't know your true result color until then.
- Using henna to dye your hair is an adventure: you're never 100% sure what color it will turn out (I mean, you have a very close idea, but it's the color nuances that you won't be able to pinpoint ahead of time). If you want a *very* specific color, henna may not be the best choice for you.
- Only apply henna to shampooed (not conditioned), dry hair, as it will have a hard time "sticking" to an oily/moist follicle.
- Henna will stain uncovered skin, clothes, rugs, furniture. Use gloves. Put down a layer of newspaper on the floor. Apply a strip of thick moisturizer or Vaseline around your hairline; anything that won't absorb/dry out quickly will work.
- Do NOT use a harsh shampoo when washing the henna out of your hair, as it may strip the color.
- People tend to be paranoid of mixing henna with metal. During my research, I found zero information one way or the other about this; so, just to play it safe, you should probably use a carrot bag, a glass bowl and plastic brush, or your plastic-gloved hands to apply your Caca.
Good luck! Please leave a comment below if you have any questions about LUSH's Cacas or hennaing hair!
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