**READ ME** - Herbs for your Head

I love herbs! I use them for all my hair & skin care as well as health issues. Here are some herbal remedies that are cheap and easy to make:

Rinses and/or soaks: boil a handful of herbs in a medium pot filled with water. Boil for 15-30 minutes until its a dark, strong tea. Strain and save the tea. Allow it to cool, then soak your dreads and scalp. You can let it soak for 30 minutes before rinsing with apple cider vinegar, then water, or rinse right away if you're short on time.
Nettle & Rosemary-a fragrant stimulant for the scalp. It prevents dandruff and promotes hair growth
Sage or Fennel- good conditioners with no residue or greasiness
Parsely: clears up dandruff
Nettles: excelent to treat dandruff

Mint Tonic: before you shampoo your dreads, massage in the following tea. Put 2 tablespoons of dried mint into 1 cup of water and half a cup of vinegar. Simmer for 15 minutes. Steep with a lid on the pot until the tea is cool. Strain and massage tea into scalp. Stimulates the scalp, prevents dandruff and promotes hair growth.

Oily Dreads: Use this as a final rinse. Put half a cup of rosemary into 1 and a half cups of water. Bring to a full boil, then simmer for 15 minutes. Let it sit for 24 hours, covered. Strain, bottle and use every other day for 1-2 weeks. Thereafter, use it once a week.

Dandruff Treatment: In a seperate container, mix 1 cup burdock leaves, 1 cup chamomile,and half a cup sage leaves. Pour 2 quarts of apple cider vinegar into a gallon jar. Add the herb mixture to the vinegar. Let it stand for 2 weeks. Strain and apply to scalp once a day. Do not rinse off. Let it dry on your dreads. Wait until the next day to rinse out.

Dandruff treatment: Add 4 tablespoons of nettles to 1 pint boiling water. Steep overnight. Strain and add 1 cup of apple cider vinegar. Massage into scalp. Do not rinse out.

Darkens Hair: Pour 1 cup of boiling water over 3 tablespoons of rosemary. Let it stand overnight. Strain and use as a final rinse.

Rinse for Redheads: To prepare the rinse: pour 4 cups of boiling water over 1 cup of calendula flowers. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain off the flowers and use the liquid as a final rinse after shampooing. Catch the runoff, and use liquid to rinse again, repeating at least 20 times. Let dreads dry in the sun.

Darken Grey Hair: Pour 1 cup boiling water over 4 tablespoons of dried sage. Let it steep overnight. Combine with 1 cup black tea and work into hair every night until colour desired is reached.

ETA: Lighten Hair: Pour 1 quart boiling water over 1/2 cup chamomile flowers. Let it steep 30 minutes. Add the juice of 2 lemons. Have a basin ready to catch the rinse,as you will need to repeat it at least 20 times. Pour directly on clean hair as a rinse.

ETA: Mould & Mildew remedies:

Dry your dreads in the sun as often as possible.

Add 1 cup of thyme to 1 quart of water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain and let it cool. Use as a rinse/soak for your dreads.

Mix 1/4 cup water with 1/2 cup white vinegar and a few drops of tea tree and lavender essential oils in a spray bottle. Spray on your dreads-do not rinse out! The vinegar smell will dissappear as it evaporates.

 

wow. thanks

 

Hey man they are great !
Any ideas for lightening my hair, without bleaching of course!?
Lemon I have been told is good, but it drys out my hair something rotten!
Peace of the Grove /|\
Alex

 

i was gonna ask the same question! i heard lemon and rock salt does it well too but i didn't wanna risk my hair too much so soon

 

Good call! *High 5!*
Peace of the Grove /|\
Alex

 

Alex and snoopy kids have you tried Vegetable dyes? Never tried them myself but it could work?

Oh and Bcmama, I made herbal tea and put it on my hair. It was lemon and ginger it left my hair very soft. God damn it I didnt realise Ginger stings like a like a bitch. Thanks so much for that tip, next time I try something less harsh on my eyes.

 

Sorry guys; the only lightening remedies I have contain lemon juice.
Here they are anyway.

Mix several tablespoons of lemon juice to 1 cup of water. Apply as a final rinse. Let dreads dry in the sun if possible.

Or try:

Pour 1 quart boiling water over half a cup of chamomile flowers. Let it steep 30 minutes. Strain and save the liquid. Add the juice of 2 lemons. Have a basin ready to catch the rinse as you will need to repeat the rinsing. Use as a final rinse after shampooing. Continue pouring over hair at least 20 times. (double recipe if needed)

 

thanks anyways
I'll probably try it in a few months anyway after they start to lock a little better. I'm stubborn like that

 

this is some good stuff, thanks ^_^

 

No worries guys! I'm almost finished my course in Herbalism-I can hardly wait to get my diploma! I'm more than happy to share my herbal knowledge.
Herbs make me happy....in oh so many ways.

 

excellent post :d

 

I'm bumping this up, so I don't have to repeat myself so often. Could we maybe make this thread a sticky?

 

sticky or combine with 1 of the others
seems like the deep cleanse the maintanance the wax and the herbs coulx all be lumped into maintaance

i think it wwas drumminmomma that combined the deep cleanse and wax and stickoiied them
pm her or any mod or supermod to do it

 

Thanks-I wasn't sure who to contact on that.

 

i like you people who know things, its good. thankyou =]

 

Sun-in is good for lightening the hair without dyes but it's not herbal. I LOVE Sun-in and it hasn't let me down yet. Just using it one time in the sun can lighten it up to 3 shades.

 

Sun-in's main active ingredient is hydrogen peroxide. YUCK!

 

Like I said, it's not herbal so It's bound to have some chemicals in it.

I have been using hydrogen peroxide since I was a kid on my cuts and scrapes and as mouth wash sometimes (as subscribed by a dentists). If it's good enough to be applied on open wounds and gargled in the mouth, why not on hair?

 

Do you trust everything the government says is okay? SLS is approved by various government associations, yet research shows that it carcinogenic and may cause cancer.

Yes, you can use peroxide for cuts, scrapes & mouthwash, but you can also use herbs in all those situations, and that is what this thread is supposed to be about: herbal remedies.
If you want to promote chemical based products, this is not the right thread for you.

 

far better safer and less dammaging is lemon juice
lemonss are an herb (or fruite) so qualifies for this thread
lemon juice works just like sun in or peroxide to lighten your hair but without dammaging it like peroxide

u cxan use it wioth sun, or blow dryer top lighten just like youd use peroxide
i recomend you try that instead