In desperation, to cover the greys, I decided to colour my hair with an ammonia free colour in a shade closest to my natural hair colour. Once the roots started to grow, I noticed that the number of greys had multiplied! So it was back to colouring and each time the number of greys just seemed to increase. Quite a vicious cycle. (I know a lot of hair colours, regular and ammonia-free, claim that colouring doesn’t turn your hair grey, but it happened with me. Perhaps mine is an exceptional case and it might not happen with you. Just thought I’d inform you all).
So, I was on a quest to find something natural that would help me colour my hair but without harmful chemicals. I tried the Lush Caca Noir but it had absolutely not effect on greys. Recently though, my sister-in-law found the perfect solution when she visited her sister in Chennai, Kaca Natural Hair Darkener. (She too has experienced this “hair colour leading to grey hair” phenomenon.)
It is basically a two step process in which you apply the henna first and then the darkener the same day or the next day. The darkener turns the red hennaed hair to a dark brown/black.
I checked the ingredient list and was very pleasantly surprised to see absolutely natural ingredients. I googled them and here’s what I found.
Acacia Catechu – Kattha, it is generally used in paan to give the red colour and flavour.
Eclipta Alba – Bhringraj. It has been used since centuries in India in hair oil to maintain lustrous black hair.
Hibiscus Rosa Sinensis – Hibiscus or shoe flower. This too is commonly used in hair care.
Emblica Officinalis – Amla……need I say more?
Indigo – Indigo. This explains the dark brown/black colour.
Lawsonia – Henna
Murraya Koenigii – Neem leaves. Help in retaining natural hair pigmentation and stimulating hair growth.
Terminalia Chebula – Haritaki or Harad. Very effective in controlling hair fall. Triphala is a product made from this.
You too can google these terms. There’s a ton of information available on each ingredient.
I know the pictures aren’t that great. The package had got a bit squashed in her bags and I thought it would be better if I took the pics with the cellophane on. Hmmmm…wasn’t a very good idea.
One pack costs Rs. 276 and contains 4 single application packets, two of the henna (brown base) and two of the indigo (darkener) along with a pair of gloves and a small tub of hair conditioner. The ingredients of the conditioner aren’t mentioned.
The biggest problem with this is that it is extremely time consuming and extremely messy. If you have ever applied henna to your hair, you will know how long you have to keep the henna on your hair, how uncomfortable it is and what a pain it is to rinse it all off! Now multiply that by two because once you do it with the henna, you have to repeat with the indigo!!! And let me not even get started on the smell. Yes, there are some who love the smell of henna, but I doubt anyone will like the smell of indigo.
So, using this to colour your hair requires major planning of your schedule and keeping time aside for the application and washing. And of course you can’t run any errands with that goop on your head. I call a lady home who is super fast at applying henna on the hair and does a very good job of it coz I honestly can’t do it on my own.
I used this on my hair a fortnight ago and I did the indigo the same evening. So basically, I was walking around the house with this goop on my hair the whole day!!! Personally, I feel this trouble and inconvenience is worth it coz of the lovely natural dark colour I got, not to mention that it made my rough hair smoother and shinier. (Actually, that could also be due to the new shampoo and conditioner that I’ve started using…will review those soon.) I am so glad that I have found a natural, chemical free solution to cover my greys.
The conditioner that comes with this was quite useless (my opinion…you might like it) so I used this new one that I mentioned. Also, I didn’t shampoo my hair the same day, so for two days, I had flakes of this coming off the scalp into my comb and hair brush. The third day, I oiled my hair and washed the next morning. I admit the whole process is very tedious and cumbersome but I don’t mind it. I really don’t want to damage my hair with further colouring and I like my hair to be lustrous black. (Can’t help it, have grown up on a steady diet of Indian mythology where all princesses or even the daughters of Rishis had jet black shiny hair.) In face of these time constraints, I know the chemical hair colour will seem more appealing to many of you. But if at all you want a natural solution to greys, get this.
My hair is not styled in this pic. You can see the colour as well as the natural texture of my hair without any serums etc. The roots are beginning to show though.
Availability is a major, MAJOR issue with this. As far as I know, it is available only at Health n Glow stores in Chennai. I searched for it online but couldn’t find an online retailer, just came across it on indiamart.com which is a wholeseller. If you have relatives or friends who can send it to you, then you’re lucky. Or you could try to email them your order. Their website too isn’t opening on my ipad (my laptop has gone to tech heaven so have to get a new one soon).
Have any of you or your relatives tried this? I’m quite happy with this after just one round of colouring. Would you like to go for this time consuming hair colour method?
PS-I’ve changed the image resolution to medium and yet the pics are being published x large. What to do???
Hi, can you please suggest where can I get Kaca Hair Dye online or anywhere in Delhi?
Or if you can share the contact details of the distributor whom I can reach
Sorry, I have no idea about that.
Hi, I am from Chennai. Nowadays Kaca is not available in Health and Glow and they saw not in stock after GST. I have been using it for past 7 years and felt safe enough to use it as I have allergy to certain chemicals. How can I get a supply of Kaca?
Hello all, Please suggest any product or juice for fair skin
Please provide the KACA hair dye avilability center address in kerala
Hi.all… it was great reading your comments about our product. You can contact me on 094443 87875 for availability and any other clarification regarding our 100% herbal hair blackener –KACA
Using Henna on my head doesn’t suit me as it leaves me with severe headaches. Any other suggestions??
I wanna knw wer I can buy dis product … It’s is not available in Mysore .. So please do let me knw .. That wer else I can buy dis product
It used to be available at the Health n Glow stores but since the last couple of months it isn’t available there either 🙁
Hi, excellent review and very timely when I was bored of my henna brown colored hair and was looking for something to make it black. Do you think this paste makes the hair black or gives a darkest brown color coz both are very different shades. I want a super black color on my hair. And how long does it last? 2-3 weeks? Thanks
Hey Dolly, nice article. I started with this only today and the only thing bothering me is if it will make my hair very dark. I want it to remain somewhat light brown not dark. Any idea how it effects light brown hair?
Indigo is going to make you hair dark brown. Almost black in fact. If you want a coffee brown colour then skip the indigo. Soak the mehndi overnight in an iron vessel. Boil coffee powder and a couple of cloves and when that water cools, use it to make the mehndi paste. That will give brown colour.
I wish we could simply pinpoint to one factor Shagufta, but you see the pollution, stress, chemicals in our food and wate… So many factors that contribute to premature greying.
Is it the Mumbai water?
I have tried everything – oils, herbal potions, massages, almost everything but my hairfall refuses to cease. Most of my Mumbai friends and relatives of all age groups seem to be complaining of hair loss. Could it be that Mumbai water is the culprit (like my dad says- beta paani kharaab hai)
It is a very nice option and covers greys totally. You could check with the health n Glow stores coz they stock these.
I just ordered 3 packs of this coz I’m going crazy with my hairfall. Perhaps if I stop hair colour and start this again, my hair fall will reduce.
Ohh nice.. Wud love to try this.. Still dont fibd a need to color my hair as yet but yes, evn i wud prefer something natural like this.. Hope to find it somewhere n use 🙂
The darkner, which is indigo powder, is supposed to be used after the henna, either the same day or the next day. I am not sure if you can use just the indigo and get a dark colour. You need to wear gloves while applying the indigo to the hair coz it can stain your nails badly. If you can apply henna yourself to your hair, then you can manage with the indigo too, coz it is a similar kind of paste. Leave the indigo on your hair for at least 2-3 hours for the hair to catch the colour well. Hope this helps you 🙂
Hi I heard about kaca hair dye from a friend of mine and I bought it. But I dont know how to use it.I often use natural henna so I think there is no need to use brown base on my hair. How can I apply darkener to my hair? Can I apply darkener to my scalp and hair with bare hands. Do I need to take professional help to apply it on my hair as in the case of normal chemical hair dye’s available in market. Please advice. And one more doubt how long I have to keep darkener on my hair before I rinse it with water to get effective result. waiting your experienced advice
Im sure it would be. Try the Health n Glow stores in ur city. If not, you could email them.
Thanks for the review. Can you please let me if it is available in Kerala?
Yes it’s available in kozhikode, CPA store SM STREET CALICUT
I am a regular user. Its indeed a grt product. Avlble only at few Health n glow outlets. Gr8 right up.
Thanks 🙂 . My friend just couriered 6 packs of this from Chennai coz they aren’t available in Bombay.
Hi Nice post and lovely blog dear..Following you hope you will do back
http://www.indianbeautyzone.com
Thanks 🙂
Will surely follow ur blog too
Sounds like a amazing product and I would suggest for you to use picmonkey on your ipad to resize and after that you can upload the photos, or check when going into your post in your dashboard by clicking one of the photos you can see which size it is and try around which works better. I am your newest follower, if you get a chance stop by my blog darling!
xoxo Pakize
Madame Keke
Thanks for the suggestion Pakize 🙂
Following ur blog too.
Oh….nice review…I will definitely suggest this to my mom…as u said try editing through laptop for the resize of pics…happy weekend dollie
Have been trying since an hour to resize but just not happening. And it’s showing the date when I had first typed this draft. So tuff to do all this from the ipad!!!
Btw if it does not work for some reason then you would need to manually re-size the image using a photo editor and then upload again.
Thanks for the suggestion. I tried the saving and then resizing thing but didn’t work. Guess I’ll just have to do it from a laptop.
Save the post and close it out. Then exit from the editor and refresh your browser page. Go back in and change the resolution again. I think you will find it set to x-large. This time your save should work. Let me know if it helped.
Nice review! Too much of a hassle though 🙁 Plus the non-availability is a big issue.