Catnip for split ends?

Hey all, I got myself some more catnip and have been using it all week. I loove it! :crush:

I use the recommended dilution (1tsp in ~300ml water), and I steep it for 5-8 hours.
I'm using it as a leave in styling spray (usually just use water) on dry hair and I really love what it's been doing for me. I've been using it probably once a day, and noticed no stickiness or buildup in between washes (3-4 days). I did soak my hair in the tea a couple of times, and THEN there was some stickiness while it dried (but I think it went away when it had been dry for a good 8 hours). I know that the next time I washed my hair after soaking it in catnip, it felt super slippery when it got wet.

Some benefits I've noticed in the last week:
SHINE! (Oh my goodness, the shine! I've had a lot of difficulty getting my damaged ends to look even a little shiny, and catnip helps)
Detangling! (not that I'm very tangle prone with 24/7 updos, but there are definitely less to comb through now or they're easier to comb out, either way)
Softness! (dry, damaged ends are much less brittle feeling)
Hold! (If I style my hair when it's damp with catnip, not only do those crazy frizzies take more time to show up, but bun and braid waves look almost heat set.)

No comment yet on splits, but I've been regularly S&Ding my braids, so I have a baseline to reference.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Vanilla

You might want to brew it for less time. Ktani I think said in her blog posts that longer steep time for catnip was attributed to more moisture.

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I finally had a chance to try this, in addition to changing the dilution to 450 ml, and it worked fantastically. My hair is so soft and silky. I love it!

Thanks so much!

I guess now my question would be, how would this work with co-washing? I know some people do it, but I was wondering if you needed something like a cleansing conditioner otherwise the catnip might not work as well over it? I'm fine using a non-sls shampoo with it for now, but since I'm a curly, I was considering trying out co-washing again.

Hello all, so I'd like to try this catnip rinse since my hair seems to get splits if I look at it wrong.
I have read ktani's article but there are still something I don't get so I wonder if someone could answer a couple of silly questions

Firstly, how often should this treatment be done? Once a month? I wash once a week if that helps. I do not want to stain my hair or anything, I'd be doing this rinse purely for it's split-battling abilities.

Do you have to keep it in your hair for an hour or is that just if you mean to stain your hair?

If I only want to avoid splits, should I steep it less time? I read some people say that steeping less was better if your hair tends to get greasy.

Ruzovy,

From what I understand, Ktani does it every time she washes, so if you only was once a week, it wouldn't be too much of a hassle.

I think you're supposed to keep it in your hair as long as you can if you want the full conditioning properties, though I know some people do it for much less. (I do it for about 40 minutes.)

And yeah, I tried adjusting the steeping time and dilution because my hair was getting rather greasy from it.

My hair has been pretty dry since I switched to shampoo bars/ACV, but I'm reluctant to go back to buying conditioner. Brewing some catnip again to see if this helps!

I am using catnip for a couple of weeks now.
The way I do it should be qualify as “catnip soak” instead of “catnip rinse”, I guess.
I put my dry hair in a high ponytail and then soak the entire ponytail into the bowl with catnip tea.
I do a wet bun and keep catnip in my hair for an hour, more or less. Then I CO.
I notice a lot of shine! My ends feel less dry and my hair is also easier to comb out. :D

Butterfly,

I'd love to know if you end up seeing a difference in split ends! Please keep us updated!

Just an update on my use of catnip tea as a leave in styling spray:

It's still awesome!
:lol:

I use it every day, probably about 2-3 tablespoons of the tea spritzed all over my hair. I haven't noticed any help with my (first EVER) dandruff, but the catnip may take some time to do it's magic (and I'm not spraying my scalp very much).
The one caveat is that too much on the roots leads to piecy looking over moisturized roots. I don't find it to be too troublesome because it looks very different from oily/dirty roots to me.

It's only been a few weeks, but I think my weekly S&D of my braids for the last two weeks have been noticeably less splitty. I haven't done a full S&D since before I started using catnip, maybe I'll take some time this weekend and see what's the haps.

Lol, I feel like I did when my Gran first told me about coconut oil; I'm amazed that a single product could make my hair so much nicer, and I want to tell everyone I know in real life about it!

veryhairyfairy - I've been using your spray method. Absolutely drenched my hair yesterday and sprayed it again today and I cannot believe how soft my hair is! I'll definitely be keeping this up :D

I tried doing a catnip rinse today. I shampooed as usual and also shampooed down the length because I had coconut oil on it. Then I poured the rinse (it was still warm) over my head. I let it sit for a minute and lightly rinsed with water. I did not use conditioner.

Verdict: My hair hates it. I probably did everything wrong. I used 2 big pinches of catnip to 1 cup of water and let it brew for 30 minutes. I did not let it cool down. I did not let it sit for a long enough time.

The thing is, I am not keen on leaving hair cold and dripping wet for such a long time. Would the spray method for better for me?