Usually, I would prefer to use much easier, faster bubble hair dye like Etude House's or Kao Liese. Since my hair condition has gotten worse these days (drier, more brittle), I decided to darken my strands with softer dyes. That's how I met Lush Caca.
These Cacas come in bar, just like chocolate bars. You break it off and mix with hot water until reaching yoghurt consistency, then apply. Wrap with clingwrap for brighter color, but since I want to darken my brownish hair, I am going to let it sit as usual. Lush says leaving it up to 6 hours will give richer colors. Nay, I dont have 6 hours... so I left mine for 3 hours. Lush website says you can leave it as fast as 1 hour.
In the beginning, I kept on delaying using this. for the fear that it would take ages to prepare. I was wrong. It was easy peasy. My trick was to break the bar off to small pieces, and add hot water soup spoon-ful by soup spoon-ful while continuously mixing and mashing with fork. This way, risk of adding too much water is minimal. For my medium length hair, 2.5 box was just nice to cover all my hair while leaving very little (if any) leftover.
First off, I love the smell of this Caca. Herby and green and fresh... oh so relaxing (for me). What a departure from chemical fume of bubble hair dyes and straightening chemicals. The texture is a little grainy, even after careful mixing, somehow I cant make smooth paste. at times I leave trail of caca crumbs around where I sit while waiting.
The application was pretty easy, simply massage in and make sure everything is covered just as usual. Let me remind you again, crumbs will definitely drop here and there while you apply your caca. Best if you apply it in bathroom where you can simply wash off the floor. and wear dark shirt you dont care about anymore. again... the crumbs, people...
Washing the caca out is another story altogether... it was a nightmare for me. I rinsed my hair with water twice, then with shampoo twice then once more with water. that's how hard it was for me to wash the crumbs off my hair. during the washes my hair feels so rough... and it tangled like nobody's business. Big dollop of Ma Cherie hair treatment helped to calm the whole thing down. I proceed with towel drying my hair and applied my usual hair oils and styling products.
I am so glad that all that stiffness and roughness I experienced when I was washing away the caca doesnt last. after the caca is properly washed, everything came back to normal. my hair does feel a little darker, but not as jet black as my regular bubble hair color result. the good thing is,again, my hair returns to normal as soon as everything is washed off. with bubble hair colors, my hair feels noticeably drier, even though I applied my oils and towel dry as usual.
Some websites mentioned that henna will neutralize chemical processes you have done to your hair. and to some degree i have to agree with this. my hair didnt turn to its usual frizzy curly messy self, but some part of it did. Stubborn patch of hair which unfortunately frame my face turns way more wavy than before I applied the Caca. but that's all the changes I noticed, I didnt notice other changes.
Bottomline,
when you want natural hair color and have the time to wait for the color to develop, LUSH Caca is for you. but dont expect deep jet black color from Caca Noir... you will get darker color, but not jet black.
(picture from lushusa.com)
