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I was originally having trouble getting the catnip to colour my white hair and found that the problem was the amount of shampoo I was using. I now dilute my shampoo and find that I pick up much more colour although it is still a bit difficult to get good colour on the white hair closest to the scalp.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris
Catnip tea does not lighten hair from my experience. It can stain hair a light blonde colour but not lighten hair colour.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sissy
I got some colour with catnip from the start (not a great deal though), over linden tea build-up. Catnip stains hair from my experience. However, depending on what is in a shampoo, it may not be able to stain. I had limited staining with some shampoos when I was experimenting with a few of them. A number of shampoos contain film formers that can prevent staining, even if they do not cause perceptible build-up. I have also had a shampoo by Aveda strip catnip colour. My hair has achieved a balance, it is moisturized and stronger but it is not porous. When I have used my regular shampoo, Sunsilk Lively Blonde and catnip, followed by a conditioner, when I was experimenting a while back now, my hair did not absorb colour from conditioners, the way it did when my hair was porous, even though the the products were not designed to deposit colour.Quote:
Originally Posted by iris
Lemon juice contains mucilage (it has been reported to make hair sticky) and I can see that preventing catnip from colouring or staining hair with lemon juice mixed with it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sissy
... Lemon juice, owing to the fact that it contains much more sugar and mucilage ..."
http://chestofbooks.com/food/beverag...mon-Juice.html
Thank you KarpatiiSiv and ktani, for the color remarks!
Ah, thanks, I hadn't considered the amount of shampoo at all. Which shampoo do you use? And approximately how much?Quote:
Originally Posted by KarpatiiSiv
I know that the shampoo matters, so for a large part of my experimentation, I used the Andrelon 'summer blonde' shampoo that is very similar to the Sunsillk 'lively blonde' that you use - I don't think you can get more similar really, the ingredients are the same, all the way down the ingredient list there are a few that switch position (indicating the proportions are slightly different) but none of those are film formers as far as I remember, they were things that affect the way the product looks - there was more mica in the andrelon (or in the sunsilk), things like that.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
Yes, but it is the catnip itself that has made your hair less porous, right? Your hair grows fairly porous from your head, then you apply catnip which 'fills in the holes', and then conditioner won't stain anymore over that.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
I'm thinking that I may also need to reconsider the amount of catnip I use. I use ktani's dilution, but I use more of it - I brew it in 400ml containers (1.5 teaspoon catnip to 400 ml water) and I use almost all of that in one wash (the rest I use on my face - my skin loves the stuff). That may mean that I'm using too much, in absolute terms, for one wash.
I have an oily scalp (strictly speaking I can go for a day and a half without washing, that works out to washing every day sometimes and every other day other times), and I find catnip rather oily - if I don't mildly shampoo the length, it gets really greasy with catnip in just a few days of use, bafflingly so really. Maybe I've worked myself into a cycle where I use too much shampoo because I'm using too much catnip - where the excess catnip makes me greasy, which leads to using too much shampoo, which takes off the stain. Just thinking out loud.
How much of the catnip solution do you ladies use per wash? Do you use the entire 275 ml, or even less?
I do think that is mostly it iris. And you are most welcome!Quote:
Originally Posted by iris
When I have used too much shampoo to catnip, it does remove more stain and too much catnip can be a problem for me in terms of my hair separating more.
I do not believe that my hair grows out of my scalp porous as such. It is what I do to it that can make it so.
In the past, I have used shampoos that took too much moisture from my hair making it porous and the conditioners I used did not and could not address that.
The Lively Blonde is not harsh but using too much can be a bit drying, more so on my scalp but not excessively. It is designed to remove coatings but it is not a clarifying shampoo. It washed out the linden tea build-up and the chamomile build-up very slowly.
I brew just under 300 ml of water to 1 packed but level teaspoon of catnip and I do not use all of it each wash. I do not measure how much I leave behind for my skin but it is probably an ounce or so.
I just know by experience how much of both to use by now (shampoo and catnip) and that varies with what I have done the previous wash, by how my hair looks, feels and reacts.
This last wash I used a bit less shampoo and a bit less catnip and it is better than the previous wash. I always check my ends too by listening to how they sound as well, literally. My hair has no crunch to it any more but I still listen, lol. I also go by how well my hair behaves.
While my hair does not tangle, too much catnp can make it want to curl more at times (it holds and has much more moisture) and it feels different. It is hard to explain exactly. I did not smooth out my hair after my previous wash and what I call curlover was driving me crazy. However, in separating my hair this last week, the amount of the friction that would at another time pre-catnip have caused breakage did not happen. My hair is much more resiliant now.
I just washed my hair yesterday, smoothed it out afterward and it is much better.
The other key difference with colour for me is in the application of the catnip.
I apply the catnip during my treatment by what I call directed application. I apply it on certain areas more than others. My hair is more grey/white at the top and sides. I pour a bit of catnip in my hands and apply it several times to those areas and hold it for a few seconds when I do so. The result is that the colour takes better there, even if the brewing time and resulting colour of the tea is different.
The previous wash, the catnip was lighter in colour. The resulting coverage and stain was the same as this last wash, even though I accidently (I took a nap) brewed this current catnip batch 12 hours. It is the application that makes the difference for me too.
ETA: I added this as well to the Catnip Article some time back. From experience, the first applications matter most but I believe this helps too.
"Covering grey/white hair with catnip can be done most effectively, by first steeping catnip tea longer than just cooled to room temperature, to deepen the colour. All other directions remain the same, including the 1 hour timing. The only other additions are; 1. when removing the bag or other covering, let the hair cool down a bit before rinsing off the catnip 2. add more catnip to the greyest areas at this time before the hair cools down completely and the cuticles are still slightly open from body heat 3. only rinse with tepid to cool, not warm or hot water."
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...&articleid=118
Funny note - I made catnip tea several days ago and put half in the fridge for later use. This morning I looked and it is bright green! I think maybe I will brew some fresh, maybe it has been longer than a few days, yuch...
Ah, I had missed that addition, thank you for including it here! Point 1 I knew but I must admit that I've been slacking on it. Point 2 I'd missed completely, I thought that you added more halfway through the soak, but not right at the end.Quote:
Originally Posted by ktani
Point 3 is interesting because I had tried rinsing with cool water, on the theory that cool water would close the cuticle and cause it to hold in more of the catnip color, but I went back to rinsing with warm water because I found that rinsing with cool water just left my hair way too oily - warm water takes out more oil.
Which again points into the direction of me using just too much catnip. I'm noticing that I find it a bit hard to make the conceptual step of accepting that just a bit will be enough. It was already hard enough to accept that a herbal rinse could work just as well as (if not better than) conditioner, I'm having some mental resistance on accepting the notion that a small amount will even do. :laugh: Will have to work on that.
I found a 200ml old shampoo bottle that I'll be using to limit my catnip overindulgence.
Do you find that the catnip stains better for you further down the length than closer to the scalp? In your picture from a few years ago the stain looks quite even from the roots down the length.
And yes, I get crazy curls with catnip, too. My hair is almost BSL when stretched out, on its own it'll curl/wave up to about APL, but with catnip there are days where I get curl shrinkage almost all the way up to shoulder length. I quite like that, though.
kdaniels8811, my first batch of catnip always brewed up olive green. I'm using a different batch now that brews up yellow. In terms of conditioning, I don't notice a difference. There could be a difference in stain, although I don't notice it, but that would be because neither of them stain at all for me so far! :lol:
Iris saidJust thought I'd respond to this part of your question as well, the staining of my length improved over a couple of weeks but I was still having problems closer to the scalp, I now make sure that I concentrate more on my new growth and it is improving. I've been experimenting by soaking a cotton wool pad with catnip and holding it for a short while on the areas that need more staining, I've been doing this just before I rinse.Quote:
Do you find that the catnip stains better for you further down the length than closer to the scalp? In your picture from a few years ago the stain looks quite even from the roots down the length.