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Not happened yet, lol. Once the tea is rinsed out, cats have no interest in the hair, from my exprience, actually once the tea is brewed. Be sure to keep it covered though, while steeping.Quote:
Originally Posted by zen_oven
And you are most welcome.
Yesterday I catnipped for the first time, and I liked it.
I followed Ktani's original instructions and used 1 level teaspoon of catnip in 300ml of just boiled water.
I left the catnip on my hair for 15 minutes as I wasn't looking for colour, then rinsed thoroughly. I was amazed to see that I had significantly less shed rinsing out the catnip as I do when I rinse out conditioner. Ktani and others reported this, but I was slightly sceptical that it would have the same effect for me, but it was highly noticeable.
After rinsing I didn’t use conditioner or a shea leave-in as I wanted to see what would happen, and left my hair to air-dry.
My initial thought as my hair began to dry was that it felt lightly conditioned – certainly as though I'd done 'something' to it rather than just not used a conditioner, although my hair was 'squeaky', which it hasn't been for years.
Once dry, my hair became very shiny and healthy looking, but without the normal 'conditioned' feel. Hard to describe, extra flexible somehow. I had no greasy roots, although my hair did feel extra flyaway and fluffy, but that could be the lack of shea rather than the presence of catnip.
I will definitely do this as a regular treatment.
Thanks to Ktani and to everyone else for their experiments. :)
You are most welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by LutraLutra
Yes, it does have a different feel to it compared to conditioner. I have noticed this winter, that I have less statcic than last year. I have altered my dilution and method slightly and I think that has made the difference.
Shea can coat the hair, so you may have some still on your hair. Catnip does not do as well over coatings, but it depends on how much is on the hair and how much your shampoo removes, before applying catnip.
My shampoo has 1 cone as I have said, but I do not have build-up problems with it and my hair is still getting better as long as I pay attention to the dilution and timing for me, the timing less so, now.
It is only when I get sloppy with the dilution and method of application, that I notice differences in results.
ktani:
I have tested pH and more today.
pH in clear water = 6.25
pH after steeping and straining = 7
Measured this twice, same result (my pH tester is tested and should be very correct).
Isn't this a bit strange?
I have had poorer and poorer result of the catnip rinses. Today hair felt like not conditioned.
Maybe you have a point in the soapnuts mucilage may be building up.
First tries with catnip, I used decyl glukose schampoo, then soapnuts. I thought the amla disatser (amla with *surprise surprise* indigo in it) maybe had caused the strange feeling, but instead of better, the catnip seams to work less now.
It may also be so that my catnip is only leaves. It doesn't say "just leaves" but it looks like leaves, just green, and says something about leaves but nothing about flowers.
I also tested my soapnut liquid in pH, and from pH 6 in the clear water, soapnut liquid with hibiscus had slightly over 3 in pH. Maybe I do not need any acidic rinse after that.
I forgot to test pH in just soapnut liquid, so I had it steeped with hibiscus before I remembered :-S
Yes, that is odd about the catnip pH. It is acidic but the flowers may make a difference in the result.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotRag
My water tests pH 5.5 straight out of the tap (I just tested it again, twice) and my catnip solution straight out of the bottle tests between 5 and 5.5 (I just tested that again, twice too).
I had a feeling from the descriptions of the soap nuts adding body and shine to the hair and a report about tangling and making the hair thicker, that the mucilage (and perhaps something else) was coating the hair. Since whatever it is, is not being removed with something else like shampoo, it is building-up or layering, IMO. I have no doubt that is why your successive catnip treatments are not getting results and the results you are getting are progressively worse.
My shampoo contains some polymers but not the kind that leave coatings in relation to the cleansers. I can spot build-up when I do s&ds, in the way my hair bends or has white dots or breaks. My breakage is mechanical. If I am not rough with my hair and I apply catnip properly, with the right dilution, my ends and hair curves or bends without sharp edges and I can straighten them out with my nails, without scraping off cuticle that then breaks them (I blunt my finger nails, so that they are not sharp).
My hair no longer gets that ratty taper from breakage (no amount of s&ding can get everything, IMO) and my hair is thicker, roots to ends. The only taper I get now is the kind from going too long between trims. That happens because of hair growing unevenly, which is natural. There is a difference. My ends used to be thinned out between trimming and s&ding confirmed breakage as the cause.
One of the things I noticed with the 3% mucilage linden tea that was similar to reports I have seen about soap nuts, is that I had tangling with a lower concentration, but not with a higher concentration. The build-up took a while to establish itself and during that time I had a "no zone" of nape hair that would not grow in. S&ding, proved that I had breakage there.
I still s&d my now grown out nape hair and I usually have 0 breakage there, except at the very longest ends. I did have breakage all the way up there, because the mucilage coated hair would curl up and tangle at some point, as the build-up increased.
Thank you for your thoughts and comments.
I think I will not do any more catnip before I can get one with flowers.
Maybe I also will stop soapnut wash for a while, maybe try egg wash.
I had good results with SLS free home made shampoo, so I will look for even milder cleansers to make more. I have a non ionic tensid now, but want to try "amfotair" (argh, do not know the English word).
My hair likes lots of oil, maybe catnip hasn't enough? But I will of course try catnip WITH flowers to see if result is better. And not use soapnut first.
You are most welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotRag
Catnip flowers contain more oil than the leaves.
Is this too much flowers:
http://www.alaskanmade.com/EBAY_pics/nipflowers.jpg
That is mostly flowers only or catnip buds.Quote:
Originally Posted by HotRag
This is what I buy and use lately (the past year). I buy it locally.
http://www.twenga.co.uk/offer/41457/...083423545.html
Do you see the white bits? Those are flower petals. It does not say leaves and flowers, or even the catnip species but that is, from everything I have read, common catnip or Nepeta cataria.
Oh, I see. I do not have any trace of white in my catnip.