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Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Stinging Nettle Hair Rinse


I have decided to try a stinging nettle hair rinse as the rosemary was making my hair look darker.
When I was at a friend's farm on Saturday I found some and brought it home roots and all.
I have been threatened with a painful death if Craig finds any coming up in our garden.
What a sumptuous emerald green colour it is.

Stinging Nettles have amazing medicinal qualities and are very underrated. They work in all manner of ways in the body but as always, check with your Naturopath or qualified Herbalist especially if you are on prepared medications. 
I have washed thoroughly and cut all the roots off and placed them in a jar with alcohol to make a tincture.
When working with nettle you do need to wear gloves as the tiny hairs on the plant do sting and cause an inflamed red itchy area. Quite often you will find dock growing where nettle does and this is a natural remedy for the sting. So if you accidentally sting yourself with nettle, tear off some dock and crush it and apply the juice. 

Make the hair rinse in the same way as other herbal vinegar rinses.
(See my previous post here with links also)
I used a large double handful of leaf and stem and poured over boiling water (about 800ml) and leave to steep. It will exude a rich green colour. After a few hours and once it is cooled, drain and make up to the litre by adding 100ml of apple cider vinegar and the rest water.
I decant into some old shampoo bottles and have one in the bathroom and the rest queued in the fridge. This will last me nearly a month.
Stinging Nettles are so good for your hair and scalp and indicated for dry skin, itch, hair loss and dandruff.


9 comments:

  1. That looks like a good hair rinse. I spied stinging nettles (I think the NZ native one) while out on a walk yesterday but did not have any way to collect them. At least I now know where to go to get some!

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  2. Hey Tanya, sounds interesting...........don't have stinging nettles around here and the last time I found them, they certainly lived up to their name !!
    Let us know what you think of this rinse, I would be very interested to hear.

    Claire :}

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  3. I can remember getting stung by stinging nettle as a kid....it did sting. I was wondering how you rinsed and handled it but gloves came in handy.

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  4. Hi Tanya.
    I used to be a hairdresser(guess I still am). I'd be nervous of using green colored rinse on your lovely fair hair. Has it affected the colour?
    Chris

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  5. We've always got plenty of nettles round here. Well actually not at this time of year!

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  6. We must be the only farm without nettles !
    I want some !

    I fancy some nettles, Silverhill juices them with apples - sounds very refreshing.

    They are also great for your compost I've heard. And as a base for natural dyes.

    Had a bad batch of rosemary rince once, so nettles sound like the perfect alternative :)

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  7. This sounds fantastic....but please excuse my ignorance, what is a rinse? Would I use it after my conditioner? Instead of conditioner? I really want to make some on the weekend :)

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  8. After shampooing your hair or washing it with soap, apply the rinse so that it wets your scalp and squeeze through the hair ends. No need for conditioner as this closes the hair shaft and ensures there is no soap residue. Do NOT rinse this out, just leave it in and dry your hair as normal.
    And for all those waiting with baited breath...NO my hair has not turned green but my head feels fantastic and my hair wonderful. I am never going back to the other way with commercial shampoos and conditioners ever again.

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  9. I just wrote a post on Stinging Nettles. I came across this post looking for other nettle inspiration. I linked your post in mine. I hope that is ok! :) Thanks!
    http://izzylizzybzz.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-time-stinging-nettles-and.html

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