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I read through 45 odd pages of this thread and tried the catnip today. My hair is pretty badly damaged and is still breaking off and split.
Now it is dry it feels lovely, the ends still look pretty rubbish but hopefully with regular catnip and s&d's it will improve.
Just on the hunt for a good, gentle shampoo in the UK now.
Thanks for all the very useful information. :)
You are most welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by ladyluck
Happy Holidays Everyone!
Happy holidays, ktani, and thank you so much for all you do for us on this catnip thread, and the honey thread! I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we are so grateful for your expert input!
Have a great 2009! :cheese:
Thank you so much and I wish you all the best for 2009 too!Quote:
Originally Posted by MermaidGirl
Catnio update. 2 things of note.
1. After trying this 3 times in a row, catnip conditions better for me in less time, if the hair is squeezed gently to remove excess water before the catnip tea is applied. This is the opposite of how honey lightening works. With honey lightening, the hair needs to be very wet to work.
This next part is very exciting to me. Catnip has been mentioned online to be useful for 2 things, wrinkles (not here yet for me) and an eye wash. I get catnip tea in my eyes all of the time, when I use it on my hair. It is never a problem.
I use Ombrelle Extreme sunblock Lotion, http://www.freewebs.com/mexoryl/ombrelleextreme.htm. Catnip tea removes it, so ....
2. Tonight I used my catnip tea to remove soap and water washable mascara too. The catnip tea dissolved it enough for me to wipe away the last of it with a soft wet cloth. Under my eyes, I have been seeing dryness lately. I reapplied some catnip tea and did not rinse it off. I could immediate see that the dryness seemed to be relieved and my under eye skin looks less dry and is softer.
That's is wonderful. Catnip as makeup remover.
Ktani, I've thought of making my own oil blend, and for additional properties to throw in a selection of herbs (like calendula and rosemary for scalp oil blend as they good against hair loss for example). After a while the oil should become infused with the herbs and gain additional properties on top of those of the oils and the EOs.
Will catnip be good when sitting around in a oil blend for the length? (I planed to throw in some chamomile too).
There are some cautions for calendulal and rosemary. As for catnip there is one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Heidi_234
Other than that I do not think that catnip will be a problem but whether it will be of benefit infused in an oil, I do not know.
I'm aware of the cautions.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
Well then, I think I will include catnip. :)
Cool! I just added rosemary cautions here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Heidi_234
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...4&postcount=59
Yeah I've seen it, Thanks :flower:Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
Do not make catnip tea when you are overtired or distracted. I made a batch the other night and made a dilution of just under 350 ml of boiled ater. I did not realize exactly what I did until I filled my shampoo bottle. I did not have the time to experiment. I dumped it down the sink and started over. I thought that it looked like too much water, when it was in the mug. I hate waste, lol.
I have never used an under eye cream or lotion. My skin is fairly sensitive and most such products either make my eyes puffy or the skin irritated.
I have been continuing to dab on catnip tea around and under my eyes after washing my face with it, and leaving the dabbed on tea, unrinsed off. Results? No irritation or puffiness, the skin all around my eyes is moisturized and the dark circles I can get when I am overtired, are gone.
Please for give me, I skimmed the thread but didn't see any thing about results with catnip and cassia.
Has anyone used catnip and cassia? I would also be interested how it compares to chamomile and cassia if someone's used both.
An update:
On Friday, I washed my hair with one egg and ACV.
Then catnip treatment for 1 hour.
Both with the egg and with the catnip, I added ACV to lower the pH to about 4.5-5.
I used the newly arrived catit garden catnip (lots more of buds than the Armitage I had before, smelt flower while Armitage smelt like hay).
Afterwards, my hair felt not enough conditioned, and I hade to use pretty much camellia oil. Hair was OK after that.
I wonder if I should not lower the pH, but instead let it be natural, wich means pH 7-7.5 for the egg and 6.5 for the catnip.
Or maybe just ACV to the egg.
I think that the low pH in my catnip, may have been to drying or to astringent.
My scalp just loved the egg, it has never felt or looked better.
Catnip is good for it too, my scalp likes a bit of oil.
I will keep testing, and updating.
I want to have correct pH for my scalp, but my hair doesn't seam to like low pH.
I would not worry too much about the pH with catnip alone. It is still acidic. When I added acv to it, my hair did not like it either.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotRag
No one has tried catnip with cassia that I am aware of.Quote:
Originally Posted by freecelt
Ok, thanks. I might have to try it when I get some :) .
I have also been continuing to squeeze out extra water from my hair prior to conditioning/colouring with catnip. It is continuing to work better for me, consistantly.
In bitter cold wild winds, no tangles or weather damage to deal with, when wearing my hair loose and free.
I have tried catnip and cassia together a few times now. It has been fine. I have to admit to not having experimented very thoroughly with catnip on its own though, so I cannot really compare the effects.
When using catnip alone, I didn't do very much for me, so for the time being I stopped faffing with it, planning to revisit it later. But since I have to mix the cassia with something I thought I might just as well use catnip. My current cassia routine is as follows:
1) Wash hair, normally with sulfate shampoo on these occasions (for other washes, I also often CO or use non sulfate shampoo alternatives).
2) Apply honey lightnening treatment, close to the instructions in the honey thread, ie I mix 1 part honey with 4 parts water and let sit for one hour before applying, but as I haven't got any distilled water at the moment I just use boiled and cooled tap water.
3) Bag and let sit for about one hour. In the meantime, mix cassia with catnip tea and a glug of olive oil.
4) Apply this mix to hair that still has honey mixture in it, rebag and let sit for another hour or so.
5) Rinse, condition, finished.
I get nice results from this, but as I said I haven't systematically investigated all components of this routine separately so couldn't say which ingredient or technique does more or less good. It was more of a case of combining the treatments that interest me in such a way that I can give them a shot with minimum time and effort involved, avoid any of the known clashes (like adding stuff to honey or applying conditioner before catnip) then cross my fingers and hope for the best!
Interesting experiment!Quote:
Originally Posted by Kazazi
For the honey lightening just increase the dilution to 1 part hoey to 6 parts water to get the new dilution 1 tablespoon honey to 6 tablespoons (distilled water preferably) minimum.
Catnip contains iron and other minerals and is not recommended for honey lightening, but by adding it in the 2nd hour, most of the lightening should have already happened, if it is going to in any case (with your honey and chosen water).
I don't have any fancy equipment to make tea from loose herbs, so how can I make the tea with just a simple pot? I'm starting to get a lot of split ends, so I'm really looking forward to some tips. But making the tea seems so complicated!
You do not need fancy equipment or a pot. It is not a complicated procedure but I use care to make sure that it is done in a way that I consider proper and hygenic, and to ensure consistency.Quote:
Originally Posted by PaddedPushUpBra
You need an inexpensive tea strainer or a teaball. I use a stainless tea strainer (about $3.00), a stainless (*stainless is optional) 1 tsp measuring spoon, a bone china mug (bone china is optional, from the dollar store), a demitasse saucer (any saucer will do), a creamer (easy pouring) and a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.
Boil the water (stainless kettle for me), measure out the catnip (I steralize the mug, saucer, Pyrex and tea strainer each time with the boiled water) measure out the catnip, add to the mug, measure out the water, add to the mug, cover with the saucer, steep untill cooled or longer, if you wish.
I empty the mug into the creamer (through the tea strainer) and tap condensation from inside (underneath the saucer) into the creamer as well and then use the creamer to pour the cooled tea into a washed out plastic shampoo bottle, through the rinsed out (tap water) strainer. I either use the tea right away or store it in the fridge, to use later.
I use a bigger plastic strainer to empty the tea strainer (before rinsing it, to use again to use with the shampoo bottle) and mug, that I gather the dregs from, with a paper towel and discard. I then wash out everything used, except the Pyrex because it only gets boiled water in it.
I've been mixing my cassia with the catnip tea every time I do cassia. I also added a dollop of honey, EVOO, ACV and lemon juice into the mix. The honey and the EVOO help the cassia rinse out easier, and the ACV is to help the color stay on gray hair. I've liked the results. I am also diluting my shampoo in catnip tea as well. It saves money on shampoo and seems to be less drying on my hair than straight shampoo. The hair will feel kind of dry and texturized when it is still wet, but if you let it dry, then it feels soft and silky.
Some times I do a cassia "gloss" by putting in just a teaspoon or two of cassia in with the catnip tea. It is like pouring very runny silt into your hair. I like doing that because the cassia can reach more parts of my hair when it is very runny. My hair seems shiny and more golden when I do that. Again, it feels texturized and almost hay-like when wet, but really nice once it dries.
Tonight I tried catnip for the first time. I used it in my cassia mixture instead of chamomile. I used four catnip tea bags (Alvita brand) in a cup of boiling water, which I let steep for about 15 minutes.
The first thing I noticed was how much creamier the cassia was when I mixed the catnip tea in. Usually it takes a lot mushing and stirring for me to get the clumps to smooth out, but this time it mixed easily (and this is the second half of a bag I used the last time so I know the sift is the same).
Nothing to report about the application, didn't seem any different but getting the cassia out was so much easier than it has been in the past. I used very little conditioner, and most of it rinsed out with WO. Cassia has never rinsed out of my hair this easily! It usually takes several CO and even then there are clumps stuck on my scalp and throughout the length.
It is taking longer than normal to dry but it feels super soft so I'm not complaining. To say the least, I am overjoyed with catnip and I won't be using cassia again without it. Can't wait to see how it my hair likes it as just a rinse.
I am not surprised to read that catnip works well with cassia or that it works better with cassia than chamomile.
Of the 2, I find catnip to be much, much, more conditioning than chamomile.
I do not think that acv is nesessary, added to cassia, to help the colour last longer.
Cassia is pH sensitive though. The acv is no doubt getting the cassia to yield the desired colour. Cassia yields different colours in different pH solutions.
From reports I have read about cassia, the colour it can yield can be pretty difficult to remove. One method reported to remove it successfully, is honey lightening, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...ad.php?t=13332.
this is what i do too. I am also noticing a lot less splits, just teeny ones on the fine hair. I have got a bit lazy doing this from once a week to once a month, I need to step back to once a week again or even everytime I soapnut wash.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
Thank Ktani for your imput with this thread. x
You are most welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by jojo
I never thought to add this to the thread.
Do not clean out the plastic shampoo bottle used for catnip tea, with hot water. It is the soap that cleans. Let the bottle warm up to room temperatiure if out of the fridge, if the batch is old and you are making a new one. I rinse it out, add liquid soap, shake it up well, and let it stand for a bit before rinsing very well, until I do not see any more bubbles.
I learned this tip from a rep at my health food store and it is true. Tempeature changes (extreme) stress plastic. Use tepid water only. Your bottle will last longer. I was going through plastic bottles too fast. They cracked.
I did my first catnip treatment today. I had to patch test first. No problems there.
So today I did a wash with my DW, three times (I needed to get my hair really clean) and it was diluted, then followed with catnip tea on my hair and scalp after squeezing out excess water. Left in an hour bagged. It felt SO SOFT when I went in to rinse it! As it dried I did get some crunchy ends, but added a little coconut oil and it is fine now. Very very soft!
Note to self: 1 TSP not 1 TBSP!!!! OY that's 3 times as strong. I was making my second batch today (the first was this way too) and had to dump it and start fresh. That probably contributed to my crunchy ends.
No doubt but no worries. Your hair should recover quickly and if your scalp was ok, no worries there either. Catnip is very forgiving.Quote:
Originally Posted by rymorg2
Good to know ktani thanks! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by ktani
I have messed up dilutions before and had dry and even velcro ends (that only once). Next time, perfection.
My next batch is correct so I'll update when I use it on Tuesday. :DQuote:
Originally Posted by ktani
I look forward to reading it.Quote:
Originally Posted by rymorg2
Today was my second catnip treatment. The dilution was correct this time: 1 level tsp to about 275 ml (just over a cup) of water. I used just over half of it. Probably should've used ALL of it LOL. I have such thick hair.....
Anyway, last time I couldn't get my fingers through wet hair. This time I could! AND I didn't come back with fingers full of hair from breakage and shedding! That's not to say I had NO hairs on my fingers, as I did, but not much. It felt very soft to the touch too. I left it in bagged for 1.5 hours.
I'll update once it's dry.
Fantastic results, IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by rymorg2
I have been pushing my dilution lately to just under 300 ml. There is no measurement for 275 ml on my Pyrex cup, so I eye it. It has helped my ends even more.
Thanks ktani, and thanks for all your catnip research! You are the research queen.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
That's about what my dilution was. My pyrex cup has 275 on it but even as I eyeball it there's always a little more in it. I don't lean down to get on level with it. Or even lift it LOL. I'm getting ready to take it down out of the towel to finish air drying now.
I've only gotten so far through this thread, so I don't know if anyone asked this, but: does anyone do this after they use poo bars? If so, is there still an acid rinse, or does the catnip essentially take the place of it? This would be for people who don't leave it in for a long time, obviously.
I was able to replace an acid rinse with the catnip. I'd say it's worth a try, since everyone's hair is so different.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sokudo Ningyou