Quick question.
I use shampoo bars and then a ACV rinse. Would I do the catnip in between washing and the ACV or after the ACV?
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Quick question.
I use shampoo bars and then a ACV rinse. Would I do the catnip in between washing and the ACV or after the ACV?
I would use the catnip after the ACV rinse as it is the catnip that coats the hair and makes it stronger. I tried a trial of catnip over conditioner hair and that did not make the difference that the soaking and leave in has.
I have just completed week 3 of catnip soaks. Have to say I am still impressed. I look for splits daily or every other day (because I currently have the time to be able to do it) and still find a few. But so few that I am happy. I had a ton of white dots before I started this. I still find a few feathers that I think are the result of pony tail damage of a few years ago.
I am continuing to adjust what I do. Once I tried just a pour over and leave in with the catnip tea and I did not get the great manageability I usually do, so I switched right back to the soaks. So here is my current routine: make catnip tea day before. I let it steep overnight. I strain it and slightly warm it. I condition wash with the VO5, wash with DE raspberry shampoo and rinse, towel off most of the moisture, soak in the tea 20 to 45 min, my head cocked to one side for half the time, then the other side for half the time, Then I pour the tea through the rest of my hair, gently squeeze out the excess and air dry. I finger comb and have stopped combing with my wide tooth comb. I am now putting on the baby oil to ends mostly, and length, when it is still pretty wet, and finger comb some more. My hair takes about 2 to 3 hours to dry.
I am getting more wave, even almost some spirals. When dry, I have more texture and my hair looks thicker, overall. It looks great on day 2 after combing, applying 1 to 2 drops baby oil on the ends and bunning for the night. My new night bun is done by leaning forward and gathering hair in a pony and gently twisting, making a loop over 2 fingers from front to back, wrapping rest of hair around that loop and then pulling that loop over wrapped hair and securing with a small fork. It stays in all night, and gives a few bun waves in the ends but without big kinks so all hair appears smooth, but still has a bit of texture. I have never had my 2b hair behave so well. (not since blow drying it perfectly straight, that is - and I like this even better than that).
I am so pleased overall that I have been wearing my hair down more often when I go out because it looks so good.
I had terrible damage from having shoulder surgery 6 weeks ago and not being able to get it up and keep it up, and dry weather damage from being on the east coast 2 months ago. I had another inch off a month ago and this new regime is protecting my ends very well. I don't feel dry or flyaway even tho I have ditched conditioning after washing.
I've just started using catnip. The first time, I sprayed it on dry hair and left it in overnight before I washed. The second time, I washed my hair with my diluted shampoo, and then did not use conditioner (unheard of for me). I rinsed with ACV, let the excess water drip out, and then sprayed all of my hair with the catnip and left it in. I was a little worried, because when I got out of the shower, it seemed like it was going to tangle and make my day hell. I put a little coconut oil on the ends. When it dried, it was soft, completely free of tangles, and didn't seem to even want to tangle (what??!! Yes, it just didn't want to tangle!)
This is the second time I've used it. I live in the desert, and we're having record heat right now. My hair is loving the catnip, it's wonderfully moisturizing and isn't making my hair greasy. I'm just using it as a leave in. So far, I haven't noticed any difference in the few silver hairs I have taking on any color, but that may be because I only steeped the tea for an hour. Right now, I don't have enough gray to really be concerned, and by the time I want to tint it some more, I'll have it figured out. But for now, my hair feels thicker, and if this helps prevent splits over the summer, I'll be so happy!
I use CV shampoo bars with an AVC rinse and a catnip soak. After shampooing with the bars I towel dry and add the catnip. Shower cap and turbie towel for 1 to 1/2 hour then rinse. The I do the AVC rinse, let sit for a minute or two, then rinse. I used to just go with that but my hair is so so dry it needs conditioner. So I condition, sit for a minute, then rinse. Lovely, soft, bouncy hair!
This has helped so much with my split ends, I used to have them on almost all of my hairs. Now I only have a few. It won't fix them, so you have to cut them off but they don't come back like they used to.
I used to do the catnip after the AVC but it seemed to just sit on top of the cuticle and not help with the hairs splitting. Since an AVC rinse closes the cuticle I decided to try the catnip befor the AVC to have better penetration. My hair feels stronger and smoother now.
I do clarify regularly to prevent buildup, this also seems to help the penetration.
Oops double post
My first catnip-treatment is steeping right now! :D tomorrow I'll try it out.
Which steeping-time gave you the best results?
I just did my second catnip treatment. My hair is fine, thick and has been bleached twice before. I did it in the past and I loved it but I was to lazy to keep up with it. Now that I succesfully stressed my washes to every days (I'm trying to get to once a week) the catnip is less of a hassle. I do the exact method as Ktani (see her blog). I also keep a bit of catnip for my face as a toner and my rosacea is fading away!
What's really impressive about catnip is that it doesn't loose effect after a few days like most conditionner do. After the day 5 of non washing my hair is still soft and silky. As for the split I will report back in a few months. If your hair is fine and fragile and that co is really not cutting it for you you should give this a try! It's very cost effective and simple. No need for bi-weekly deep treatment, heavy oiling and such.
I'm another one with loads of split ends.No surprise there since I'm growing out old dye and bleach damage and my hair is super dry :rolleyes:
So I'm going to give this catnip thing a chance,since oiling,microtrimming and wearing my hair up all seem to do nothing whatsoever about the splitting. Did the first soak today for about 30 minutes,conditioned and rinsed and I put the remainder of the tea in my mister bottle so I can spray the ends with it between washes as well.
I was not yet brave enough to leave out the conditioner :)
I've begun using catnip instead of conditioner, I have it going on for about a week now, and I've tried to work my way through this ENORMOUS thread, but haven't found the answer I'm looking for yet - I have to use camellia nut oil, 3-4 drops total, on my wet hair after the catnip and rinsing to detangle. Will this make my catnip non effective? Anybody know anything about catnip and oiling?
Hi all
I have been using catnip as a misting spray/leave in spray when my hair is dry.
I CWC, what is the best way to use the catnip to get the conditioning properties (no splits)?
I'd prefer not to wait around for ages but am open to suggestions.
I have read this thread but am still a tad unsure as to the best method!
Can it be done weekly as a special treatment or all the time?
Edit: just tried out another method
I'd done a coconut/castor oil all over hair oiling, shampooed, put the catnip all over my hair, showercapped it for 10 minutes, rinsed and applied conditioner to ends.
The feeling after rinsing the catnip was AMAZING!! I was shocked how silky it felt with no conditioner!
I’m trying ktani method. Making catnip (from a pet store, she says it’s fresher) tea:
1 tsp of catnip to 250 or 300 ml boiling water. Steep for 30 min and then strain out the catnip and let cool. Apply to shampoo washed hair, put up and use a heat cap for 30 min. Then rinse (may use conditioner if needed).
She said that it would take some time like a month or two to get to the point when you don’t need a conditioner afterwards. She also recommends doing this treatment every time you wash or two times a week (and only on shampoo washed hair, she says conditioner will block the hair shaft from catnip tea).
Catnip sounds interesting, I think I will add this to my list of things I want to try! :D
I was perusing the pet store aisles for a little treat for my cat (chose a catnip stuffed mouse) and thought of purchasing some cat nip for myself. I didn't as I had yet to read up on how I'd go about it, but maybe next time I pop to the pet shop I may treat msyelf to as the results sound good and the method rather simple :)
Has anyone tried using castor oil with their catnip tea? I've never used either in my hair but I've read up on both of them and have been wondering if they would work well together to condition and grow my hair, keeping away splits?
Idon't really want the color, but I know with henna the effects come with the color so is it the same with catnip? I use a henna indigo mix resulting in a reddish brown...don't want any yellow added to that! Especially if it has a possibility of mixing with the indigo to make green... Anyone know?
I'm going to give catnip tea a try for the first time today. My hair has been really dry lately so I'm hoping it helps combat the dryness. Also I've been micro-trimming for the past four months, which has thickened up my ends, but I'm still getting too many splits. I really want to leave it untrimmed until at least November to get a little bit of length, so hopefully the catnip will strengthen my hair.
Also after two years of eye-rolling at all the strange things I do to my hair, my non-LHC flatmate has decided to join me in this experiment to see if it helps with her split ends.
Looking forward to seeing what the results are!
I want to give catnip a try as soon as I can get to a pet store. Cant wait!!!
I am on month 3 without conditioner with catnip tea soaks after shampooing. I also put baby oil on the ends after shampooing and at night before bunning. I am VERY happy with this routine. I have fewer splits (when i wore my hair up all the time I had none. Now I have a few because I have had it down a lot this summer) and love how it looks. And I am gaining length, finally.
I'd quite like to start incorporating catnip rinses. Is this something I could do between washes? Does it leave a greasy residue at all? I've heard that catnip isn't as effective if used after using traditional conditioner, so I wouldn't want to use it after my normal cwc wash (I don't want to substitute my co)
I've never heard of using catnip for hair, so you'll have to excuse me if this has been asked before (263 pages!) but how do cats react to it when you use it? If I use it is my cat going to harass me? Not that that's necessarily a bad thing!
Hello...I apologize for my laziness/lack of reading comprehension as I'm sure it's already been said, but can you add different ingredients to your catnip tea? For example, I'm thinking about infusing catnip, lavender, & nettle into a tea and then using as a prepoo tea soak. I also have hibiscus leaves, rosemary, & sage. Would any of those ingredients mess with catnip's abilities?!
I just did my first catnip today. It went okay...obviously no dramatic things happened. I'll probably do these once in a while to see if they're helpful.
if you do the cat nip with vinegar it leaches more nutrients out of the catnip and into your rinse also the reason why its so good for splitends is that its high in vitamin b5 whitch provents breakage from splitends but i defently suggest cutting off half an inch if they get anyworse
I've read this thread a lot a while back when researching catnip rinses so I thought I'd offer the info I've read here:
You get the most results out of catnip rinses only on hair that has been cleaned with shampoo and is not coated in conditioner as I understand it. Other wise it does not penetrate hair shaft as well. It also needs to be rinsed out because it most likely will leave your hair very sticky.
Kitties have absolutely no interest in catnip after it's made into tea. It would be cute if they tried to lick the hair with catnip, but they have no interest in it after it's brewed.
As I read, catnip alone will not build up, but if you add other ingredients to it might build up, but shouldn't change the result. But catnip rinse needs to be used on freshly shampooed and not conditioned hair, so I'm not sure how much you would get out of catnip as a prepoo tea soak.
All this info I got from ktani posts throughout this thread. In the first 5-10 pages she gives very precise instructions on how to make catnip tea.
I have a question which I've been meaning to ask for quite a while. How do you strain your catnip? I read that you are not supposed to use metal cups to steep it, but can you use a metal strainer? Or will there be some kind of chemical process that will make the catnip not good?
I've always used a metal strainer and seems to work fine for me. However, if you have any concerns you could always use muslin or cheese cloth.
OMG OMG so I just tried catnip tea for the first time this week and it has been awesome! Both my shampoo and conditioner ran out at the same time, so I decided I would clarify... (with dish soap don't judge me, it's good if you over oiled or have a **** ton of build up)...and then do a catnip soak on my wet hair. I can't believe how much conditioning power it has without making my hair heavy like oil, or conditioner does.
It was so great I did another treatment on my ends while they were in braids and let them just air dry the whole day, so I have the softest braid waves and I could not be more pleased. I think I'm never going to oil or conditioner again. I must admit I thought some of the catnip results I had read I thought were exaggerated but this stuff really works!
I brewed my catnip tea in a french press with a little tissue covering the spout so no steam would escape. I let it steep an hour I think? Maybe 30 minutes the next time. I'm so happy that I found something that makes my hair happy like when I did henna, but without all the mess. Thanks to all the awesome folks in the thread for posting your experiences!
I strain through a coffee filter-lined funnel.
It is my understanding that catnip works best if it can get to the very clean hair shaft. That is, without conditioner. I put conditioner on my length - ears to ends - after wetting (to get out the oil residue). Then I shampoo top down. Then I apply the catnip tea. I soak ends anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 (depends on hou much time I have. The longer, the better). I noticed that my length is gradually getting redder and that the catnip covers the gray a bit, so I try to soak my whole head every other week or so. So that the red of mu bun does not stand out so much from the dark blonette that is on my scalp.
I boil a pot of water - in a steel pot. And add a handful of catnip and let it steep over night. I strain it through a strainer and round coffee filter, or through my cone shaped coffee filter. Before using I will add 2 cups of boiling water to warm it up.
I felt my hair was getting dry during the Fall so I went back to conditioner. Never again. I had a ton of splits without the catnip.
After staying at 36 inches all year last year (with trims) I have taken over my own trimming (microtrims) and I have gained almost 4 inches. I am sold on catnip tea and mineral oil on the ends, after washing and every night before bunning. My other oil is Neem that I will put on length and sometime ends under the mineral oil, or mixed with it.
Ladylowtide, so happy you have had good results. Keep us updated with your progress!
I bought some catnip years ago and promptly lost it :lol: I mentioned wanting to try it in the first 10 pages or so here and I never got round to it. It still looks fine and smells fine though I would imagine it's lost some strength (was bought in 2008!) I fail at hair ;)
I'm very interested that people say it helps their skin and is fading rosacea!! I have rosacea so this would make me very happy.
I use CV Shampoo bars without conditioner usually. I'm assuming it would be ok to use catnip with bars.
After hours of reading, I think I'm going to give this a modified try.
I tried catnip treatments the traditional way (clarify with non-buildup shampoo, catnip and bag for an hour, rinse) when I first joined and I didn't like it. No detangling power, no softness, just dry and sticky and breakage-prone. I tried it again after just shampooing my scalp (so no dryness from clarifying) and it still didn't work. So, I gave up on catnip.
Now I'm experimenting with some natural/home made alternatives to store bought conditioner, and I want to give this another go!
I have three ways I'm interested in trying to incorporate catnip tea into my routine:
1. As a leave in spray/rinse. I've got a batch brewing now, and I'll be spritzing my dry hair with it sometime this evening.
2. As the diluent in my conditioner. I usually just dilute my conditioner 50/50 with water before I apply, but I'm going to try switching out the water for catnip tea.
3. As the water phase in home made conditioner. I just bought some behentrimonium methosulfate/cetearyl alcohol flakes so I can try and make my own conditioner.
I'll be posting results to all of these experiments, I do hope something works for me, because I can grow a catnip plant like nobody's business! ;)
Veryhairyfairy, thank you very much for planning these experiments. :) I was going to ask if anybody tried adding catnip dilution to conditioner, so I'm definitely looking forward to hearing about your experiences.
I have some preliminary results from experiments 1 and 2:
Spraying my dry hair with catnip tea is a big ole Thumbs Up! I've done it twice now, using about 3oz each time of the recipe that Ktani posted. It reminds me of leaving in diluted Suave conditioner, only it's better. When it's wet with the catnip at first, it feels nice, and then about halfway through drying there's that stickiness and weird feeling that I get whenever I leave any conditioner on my hair to dry. But with catnip tea, the end product is MUCH shinier and softer and smoother than I ever got with leave in condish! It's a keeper in that respect for sure! :)
I'm not too sure about diluting my conditioner with it, though. I couldn't tell any difference in how my hair felt compared to a normal wash, and it actually may have dried feeling just a touch built up upon. I had a little bit of extra tangles when it was about 95% dry, but my hair felt pretty much normal after it was fully dry and bunned for awhile.
I'm going to do a normal wash or two to kind of reset myself, and I'm going to try diluting my conditioner with catnip one more time just to see if I had some sort of other issue.
Still waiting on my conditioner flakes for experiment 3, but I don't want to make a whole batch of catnip conditioner until I try number two again, anyway.