Tea rinses: what do you use?

[selderon]

What tea do you use for tea rinses and how well do you think it works?

Is there a difference in efficacy between regular and decaf tea?

[MindBeforeMouth]

Good question. I have also wanted to know this!

[Jcv-Shelley]

Well I'm not sure if this is useful- but I use cheaps ones bought in publix. It's called Nature's Place Organic 100% Green Tea. My hair feels softer afterwards with a little flyaways.

[MonaLisa]

I was actually scared that tea would leave hair feeling more rough or sticky! I'm really curious about this, and how good does it actually do!
Really considering trying it soon!
I'll watch this thread ;)

[jesis]

I just use whatever I have. I've only done them a couple of times but they make my hair super soft! I usually use fruit or honey flavored green tea, or anything that I've tried and didn't like that is just sitting in the cupboard. :)

[SwordWomanRiona]

I use black Breakfast tea, and tea-rinse every Sunday.
As already stated (:p) in the recent thread I began about my first tea-rinse (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=68071 (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=68071)), tea-rinses work great for me. I don't get rough hair at all, I get soft, shiny and cleaner hair. I've got rather greasy roots and the tea-rinses seem to keep the grease more at bay! Plus I think I'm beginning to get some more reddish highlights (that was my original aim when I began tea-rinsing).
Hope this helps :)

[selderon]

So my beloved and I were at the store getting groceries this afternoon. I put a can of decaf coffee in the cart, explaining that I'm trying to be kinder to my body. Then I reminded him we needed to get tea. He's the kind of man who shops like it's a hunting trip. He wants to go into the store, kill the groceries and lug them home. So he immediately began to try to help me find the right tea so we could hurry up and be done.

"You need black tea, right? How about black cherry?"
"That's an herbal tea. I need tea with tea leaves."
"I don't see any black tea. Wait! Black chai."

This went on for a couple minutes until I found some Earl Grey.

"Wait. How come you're getting caffeinated tea and decaffeinated coffee?"
"Because the coffee is for drinking."
"What's the tea for?" (He's thoroughly puzzled now.)
"It's for hair conditioner."
"What??? You HAVE hair conditioner! What's wrong with normal conditioner?" (He was beginning to envision the bathtub lined with jars of mysterious potions. This worried him.)
"Nothing is wrong with normal conditioner. The point of the tea is that it makes hair really shiny. Very expensive conditioners have tea extracts in them for that very reason."
"Well, how often are you going to do this?"
"Maybe once a week?" This was less worrisome.
"Ok, how much do you need?"
"Oh, I think about a cup."
"A CUP??????" His voice rose an octave and people were staring.
"Yes, dear. A cup. A cup a week."
"Do you have any idea how much that is???"
"Um, yes, sweetie. I know what a cup is."
"We can't afford that! Do you have any idea how much is in that little box???"

At this point I realized he thought I mean a cup of tea leaves every week.

"Oh! No, honey. I cup of brewed tea!"
"Well how am I supposed to know that?"

I forget he doesn't know all this stuff... yet. Poor man.

[MissCoco]

I use Earl Grey or black tea. I'm going try a dark ayurvedic tea sometime, but I know it'll probably work; any dark tea works for me, being a brunette. ;)

[jeanniet]

This is interesting! I use an herbal rinse for conditioning; do you think I could add some black tea to it (Earl Grey) and get a good effect? Is this a final rinse, or is it rinsed out with water?

Oh, and one more question--do you think the tea rinse has a darkening effect? If it tones down my henna roots, so much the better!

[varintalonguard]

I use tension tamer tea. I mix it with aloe vera juice and sometime chamomile tea. I find that this eases the need for cones on my damaged ends.

[spike316]

this sounds interesting, are there any teas that are good for blondes? other than chamomile and catnip, i'm looking into those but my hair's still on the yellow side from when i cassia'd a couple weeks ago. :/

[SwordWomanRiona]

This is interesting! I use an herbal rinse for conditioning; do you think I could add some black tea to it (Earl Grey) and get a good effect? Is this a final rinse, or is it rinsed out with water?

Oh, and one more question--do you think the tea rinse has a darkening effect? If it tones down my henna roots, so much the better!

I never rinse the tea out with water. But that depends on how it works for you, maybe not rinsing it out at the end makes your hair slightly dryer in a negative way, maybe it works great. I haven't experienced any negative results because I have greasy roots after a couple of days without washing, and the tea helps me to reduce the grease. However, some people have reported dryer and rougher hair if they don't rinse out the tea at the end.
And about the darkening effect, well, according to Nightshade (whom I asked, because I was afraid tea-rinses would darken my current colour, which I don't want :)), tea-rinses can brighten up your colour more than tone it down. Not really get it lighter, but bring out brighter reddish undertones, I suppose...That's what I am after, so I hope it works! I've tea-rinsed some four times now, and I haven't really noticed any darkening.

[SwordWomanRiona]

this sounds interesting, are there any teas that are good for blondes? other than chamomile and catnip, i'm looking into those but my hair's still on the yellow side from when i cassia'd a couple weeks ago. :/

Tea-rinses would give your hair some red tones with use. So if you don't want reddish tones, I wouldn't try tea-rinses...

[tigr]

So my beloved and I were at the store getting groceries
[snip]

What a lovely and funny story. And you tell it very well. :)

[selderon]

LOL Thanks, tigr!

[jesis]

So my beloved and I were at the store getting groceries this afternoon. I put a can of decaf coffee in the cart, explaining that I'm trying to be kinder to my body. Then I reminded him we needed to get tea. He's the kind of man who shops like it's a hunting trip. He wants to go into the store, kill the groceries and lug them home. So he immediately began to try to help me find the right tea so we could hurry up and be done.

"You need black tea, right? How about black cherry?"
"That's an herbal tea. I need tea with tea leaves."
"I don't see any black tea. Wait! Black chai."

This went on for a couple minutes until I found some Earl Grey.

"Wait. How come you're getting caffeinated tea and decaffeinated coffee?"
"Because the coffee is for drinking."
"What's the tea for?" (He's thoroughly puzzled now.)
"It's for hair conditioner."
"What??? You HAVE hair conditioner! What's wrong with normal conditioner?" (He was beginning to envision the bathtub lined with jars of mysterious potions. This worried him.)
"Nothing is wrong with normal conditioner. The point of the tea is that it makes hair really shiny. Very expensive conditioners have tea extracts in them for that very reason."
"Well, how often are you going to do this?"
"Maybe once a week?" This was less worrisome.
"Ok, how much do you need?"
"Oh, I think about a cup."
"A CUP??????" His voice rose an octave and people were staring.
"Yes, dear. A cup. A cup a week."
"Do you have any idea how much that is???"
"Um, yes, sweetie. I know what a cup is."
"We can't afford that! Do you have any idea how much is in that little box???"

At this point I realized he thought I mean a cup of tea leaves every week.

"Oh! No, honey. I cup of brewed tea!"
"Well how am I supposed to know that?"

I forget he doesn't know all this stuff... yet. Poor man.

Bahahaha! I do love a good story. Your husband sounds like a good man :D

[selderon]

Bahahaha! I do love a good story. Your husband sounds like a good man :D

He's the best. Ten years married and I'm still in love with him. Not just choosing to love, but in love too. :p

[spike316]

Tea-rinses would give your hair some red tones with use. So if you don't want reddish tones, I wouldn't try tea-rinses...
Good to know! Thanks!

[christine1989]

I tried a peppermint tea rinse today and it really made my hair soft! I'm going to have to try this one again when I get more tea bags.

[terpentyna]

Guys, when you use a strong tea or bark infusion it can rub off on your clothes and discolor them, just letting you know. Vinegar lessens this.

I use herbal, horsetail and nettle :)

[Natalia]

So my beloved and I were at the store getting groceries this afternoon. I put a can of decaf coffee in the cart, explaining that I'm trying to be kinder to my body. Then I reminded him we needed to get tea. He's the kind of man who shops like it's a hunting trip. He wants to go into the store, kill the groceries and lug them home. So he immediately began to try to help me find the right tea so we could hurry up and be done.

"You need black tea, right? How about black cherry?"
"That's an herbal tea. I need tea with tea leaves."
"I don't see any black tea. Wait! Black chai."

This went on for a couple minutes until I found some Earl Grey.

"Wait. How come you're getting caffeinated tea and decaffeinated coffee?"
"Because the coffee is for drinking."
"What's the tea for?" (He's thoroughly puzzled now.)
"It's for hair conditioner."
"What??? You HAVE hair conditioner! What's wrong with normal conditioner?" (He was beginning to envision the bathtub lined with jars of mysterious potions. This worried him.)
"Nothing is wrong with normal conditioner. The point of the tea is that it makes hair really shiny. Very expensive conditioners have tea extracts in them for that very reason."
"Well, how often are you going to do this?"
"Maybe once a week?" This was less worrisome.
"Ok, how much do you need?"
"Oh, I think about a cup."
"A CUP??????" His voice rose an octave and people were staring.
"Yes, dear. A cup. A cup a week."
"Do you have any idea how much that is???"
"Um, yes, sweetie. I know what a cup is."
"We can't afford that! Do you have any idea how much is in that little box???"

At this point I realized he thought I mean a cup of tea leaves every week.

"Oh! No, honey. I cup of brewed tea!"
"Well how am I supposed to know that?"

I forget he doesn't know all this stuff... yet. Poor man.

Ive been giggling at this for 10 minutes now. I think im going to have a goofy smile when i head down that isle from now on :p.

Anyway back tothe thread lol. I havent done tea rinses in a while. Did a coffee rinse recently so sine tea is cheaper and less messy im going to give that a go again. Hopefully i will get good results similar to the coffee experiment.

[CarpeDM]

I've been using an organic rosemary and green tea rinse for a couple of weeks now and I am loving it! The rosemary has totally slowed down my shedding and my hair is super soft...

[Finchen]

I've been using an organic rosemary and green tea rinse for a couple of weeks now and I am loving it! The rosemary has totally slowed down my shedding and my hair is super soft...

Thats great! :cheese: How often do you use the rosemary rinse and how do you prepare it? Are you sure that the rosemary slowed down your shedding and not the green tea rinse?

[CarpeDM]

Thats great! :cheese: How often do you use the rosemary rinse and how do you prepare it? Are you sure that the rosemary slowed down your shedding and not the green tea rinse?

I actually use it daily since I wash my hair daily. I steep the rosemary and green tea overnight in a large pitcher with distilled hot water. I then take the pitcher after I wash my hair and pour it on and leave it in. I was actually just using the rosemary and only started using the green tea yesterday, so I'm pretty sure it was the rosemary that helped with the shedding, the green tea seems to make it even softer.

[Finchen]

Great, thank you. :)

[CarpeDM]

Great, thank you. :)

You are very welcome :) I love to share great tips that work!

[GingerSnapO]

I need to do more research on rinses-- tea, ACV, so many options, and I feel like I"m learning so much here!

[Shrew]

I use after every washing herbal rinses, generally infusions of nettle, horsetail and burdock but often I also add something like sage, thyme, rosemary, birch, willow, sweet flag.

[GALISH]

I use rosemary tea once or twice a month. I think it's a good moisturizing and also smells good.

[SwordWomanRiona]

I'm trying a new black tea with hibiscus in it, to get more red highlights!!
I have found out it seems I can't live without tea rinses, I forgot to tea-rinse last week and my hair turned SO greasy so soon. Then I tea-rinsed in my next wash and my hair turned much cleaner. Awesome :). Well, at least I love how tea smells.

[gracenotes]

I tried a chamomile/green tea rinse the other day. I'm trying to bring out the blonde tones in my hair, and I've heard that chamomile can help with that. I like the idea of a tea rinse, but I found that it made my hair feel a little dry. My hair craves moisture, so it doesn't take a lot to make it feel dry. Should I be using a weaker strength tea? (I steeped it for quite a while). Should I condition AFTER the rinse? Is there a different type of tea I should be using? Should I mix catnip in? Any tips would be appreciated. :)

[stacyyyy1972]

I Have rather dry hair anyway and have been using kimberlilys spritzer as well as coconut oil and have done one smt. I Am really drawn to the rinses because I have heard of the shine with them.
Could some one break down the difference between acv rinse and tea rinse..what do they achieve and are they directed more for people who get oily hair? I Am pretty new to this site and am trying to catch up with all the different things and what they are used for :) thanks any feedback is appreciated

[Anje]

Well, I had to try this, so I rinsed with a large amount of black tea last night. (I happen to have these quart-size tea bags that I thought I ought to use up....) Honestly, the main difference I've noticed so far is that my hair has been a bit more tangly and hard to comb out. Put some oil on this morning to help with that.

Did I brew the tea too long? Do I need to rinse it out of my length to prevent the tangliness?

[islandboo]

Well, I had to try this, so I rinsed with a large amount of black tea last night. (I happen to have these quart-size tea bags that I thought I ought to use up....) Honestly, the main difference I've noticed so far is that my hair has been a bit more tangly and hard to comb out. Put some oil on this morning to help with that.

Did I brew the tea too long? Do I need to rinse it out of my length to prevent the tangliness?


I don't know about black tea, but when I use catnip I do rinse it out.

[Shrew]

I often use a herbal rinse but I never rinse it out. It just too good for me to do it. ;)
And I haven't tried a tea rinse yet. If I don't forget to check it tomorrow morning, I'll let you know of my little experiment.

[moon2dove]

I use Camomile tea - Honey - Lemon rinse. I then do a cold water rinse. My hair loves it :) But.... The weather is getting colder, so I might leave out the cold water rinse and see if my hair still likes it!

[Ashenputtel]

I use Camomile tea - Honey - Lemon rinse. I then do a cold water rinse. My hair loves it :) But.... The weather is getting colder, so I might leave out the cold water rinse and see if my hair still likes it!

I do exactly the same. Sometimes I switch the honey for glycerine. Talk about volume and shine! I don't rinse it. It works especially well with my heavy shampoo.

What I do to have minimum waste and maximum milage for my money is a face steam. Fill up a big bol with boiling water and chamomille flower, I steam my face in it for 5-10 minutes and then I do a clay mask. I then filter the water and had lemon and honey. I have enough for three shampoo.

Minimum waste, and fabulous hair and skin.

[SwordWomanRiona]

I tried a chamomile/green tea rinse the other day. I'm trying to bring out the blonde tones in my hair, and I've heard that chamomile can help with that. I like the idea of a tea rinse, but I found that it made my hair feel a little dry. My hair craves moisture, so it doesn't take a lot to make it feel dry. Should I be using a weaker strength tea? (I steeped it for quite a while). Should I condition AFTER the rinse? Is there a different type of tea I should be using? Should I mix catnip in? Any tips would be appreciated. :)

Well, tea's astringent, so unless one's hair has a tendency to get greasy (due to its being astringent, tea rinses help to keep greasy roots a bit more at bay, that's one of the reasons why I tea-rinse) tea rinses might make it feel a bit dry. This isn't at all general, though, as there are some people who don'y have greasy roots but don't notice any dryness after tea-rinsing. If you still want to tea-rinse, you could try letting the tea-rinse stay for a while on your hair, then rinse it off; or condition after the rinse, as you suggested...I never rinse after tea-rinsing (as I said before, my roots have the uncomfortable tendency to get greasy too soon). I suppose each one would have to experiment about it...The good thing is that a herbal rinse is temporary, so if something doesn't turn out fine, it will be gone after the next wash :).


I Have rather dry hair anyway and have been using kimberlilys spritzer as well as coconut oil and have done one smt. I Am really drawn to the rinses because I have heard of the shine with them.
Could some one break down the difference between acv rinse and tea rinse..what do they achieve and are they directed more for people who get oily hair? I Am pretty new to this site and am trying to catch up with all the different things and what they are used for :) thanks any feedback is appreciated

Tea rinses are good for people with greasy hair/roots, yes, because tea's astringent. ACV and tea rinses give shine and softness results, but I think ACV rinses might seem better to some, because tea-rinses might make their hair a bit dry (that depends, of course, maybe it wouldn't if they rinsed the tea-rinse off). Tea-rinses are also used to bring out red highlights - that's the reason why I started tea-rinsing :)


Well, I had to try this, so I rinsed with a large amount of black tea last night. (I happen to have these quart-size tea bags that I thought I ought to use up....) Honestly, the main difference I've noticed so far is that my hair has been a bit more tangly and hard to comb out. Put some oil on this morning to help with that.

Did I brew the tea too long? Do I need to rinse it out of my length to prevent the tangliness?

:confused: I've never had tangle-problems when tea-rinsing...Maybe your hair got more tangly because you tossed it too much when rinsing?

[Lissandria]

There is nothing like a cool tea rinse on your hair and scalp! I like to use nettle tea. It's all I've tried so far but it feels soothing and makes my hair feel nice. It is especially nice on a very warm humid night like tonight when I've had sweaty head all day.

[fil]

Right now, I'm brewing some rooibos tea to use on my head. In the morning I may pick some hibiscus from my yard to dry and make tea, and I may try to make a mix of the two to see what happens.

[bouclée]

fil, hibiscus is great for hair! It strengthens the hair and help fighting hair loss (probably encourages growth too, but I haven't used it long enough to tell yet).

Please let us know your results if you try :)

[Annibelle]

So are any of you using a tea rinse in place of shampooing or conditioning??? I'm really interested in these, but not for color, and if I'm not doing it for color, shampoo, or moisture, I don't really see the point. Are there other benefits? (I don't have naturally oily hair-- just normal.)

[Diamond.Eyes]

I do herbal tea rinses consisting of rooibos loose leaf infused with fresh rosemary from my back yard once a week :p. Rooibos and rosemary are naturally caffeine free. This rinse really stops shedding and has made my hair so much thicker. I have noticed that when I make a rather strong brew, my hair is a little dry afterwards. But when it's diluted, it makes my hair extremely soft. While my hair is very red naturally, I have noticed that it looks a little brighter in the sun after a rinse. My boyfriend and I live together and he doesn't noticed my hair color standing out more, but I do. :D

[Annibelle]

Okay... I did my first tea rinse tonight. Since I planned on washing my hair tomorrow anyway (if this didn't work), I decided to just do a rooibus tea rinse (it's actually something I had in my cupboard. It's mixed with all sorts of other teas and herbs, though-- and strawberry) and then a vinegar rinse to see what would happen. My hair feels soft, but it wasn't more cleansing than WO, but it might've been more moisturizing. :) It was a fun little experiment. I'd really like to replace my weekly shampoo with an herbal wash, though... I just need to figure out how! :)