I am so glad that you love it. It has done wonders for my scalp, skin and hair and hair colour.
Printable View
Ktani, could I just reiterate, you do rinse it off dont you? Also will the 30 ml be enough for waist length hair or will it need doubling etc? Mind you its actually just the top layer of my hair thats ruined because it was that which was bleached.
Hubby will just do as he's told LOL. But I want to use it on my hair too ;)
Hehehehe here's something funny though. Hubby just came in and I told him what I was asking you and he said "Oh I thought you were going to force me to drink the stuff" :crazyq:
ETA
I also have very hard water, would the dilution be different for this ?
Sorry to seem so stupid , but I'm not used to putting anything but the normal shampoo and conditioner on my hair
First, to me, no question is stupid.
You can double the recipe if you need to, just use the same dilution. It depends both on the length and thickness of your hair as to how much you need.
I have hard water, so that is not a problem but tap water varies in pH. Still, no one has reported water being a problem.
And yes, I always and only rinse it out.
Your DH sounds sweet, lol.
Thank you so much for your help Ktani. I have bought the catnip and I cant wait to try it. I'm really hoping it will help.
Oh and hubby? He's the best, even if he is a bit daft. I'm very lucky :cheese:
A note on catnip dilutions. I know what dilution is best for me. However, because I eye the "just under 300 ml" amount of water and a level tsp can vary (it needs to be packed down), there can be differences in recipe results.
No worries. Just figure out what you did and did not do and change it next time. Make a dilution yours.
Do not judge one catnip use as the standard for success with it.
From my experience, catnip works beautifully, both on skin and hair but there are variables as with all things used on hair, like what is on your hair now, in terms of possible residue.
I am still trying to figure my whole catnip routine out. I can tell that my hair feels different (better!), like it's stronger and more resilient. That might sound like wishful thinking or mind over matter, since that was one of Ktani's positive outcomes. But I can tell my hair feels more hairlike, and less woolly-sheep like. Since growing my hair out this time around (in my 40s as opposed to my 20s) I have achieved 'soft' hair through less washing and gentler products, but I have yet to get my hair to feel like hair, like it did in my 20s when it was long. I think the catnip might help me get there, if I stick with it.
Unfortunately somewhere along the line, with the change in hairwashing routine, I am having a terrible time with tangles, and after I wash (without conditioner on the ends first) my hair becomes a cotton-candy like jumbled mess. I have tried more shampoo, less shampoo. Then I put the catnip on and put it up under a shower cap - as a cotton candy jumbled mess. There it stays for about an hour, until I rinse it off with cold water in the sink, and then put my conditioner on and rinse it back out again, in the sink. All the time it's like crumpled up spiderwebs.
All this is giving me huge tangles and it breaks my heart to try to get a comb through it, but I have to otherwise I'm afraid it'd be way worse once dried. I have tried leaving some of my conditioner in and spraying an oil mix on it afterwards, but that didn't help. I also have this monstrously greasy scalp issue too, so I can't just dump all kinds of oil onto my hair.
It's odd because for all the tangling mess, my hair feels stronger once it's dried!
I might have to go back to just c-w-c and live with that. :(
My hair is stronger and more resiliant and does feel more like hair, so that sounds about right, to me.
I do not think that it is a more or less shampoo issue.
I lather only once, wash my scalp and squeeze the lather through my length.
It may be your shampoo itself, or since you have been adding it to the mix, the conditioner.
Try s&c a few times with progressively less conditioner, then try catnip again as the conditioner, with maybe adjusting the dilution.
I am thinking that if you comb your hair before getting into the shower, dilute some shampoo and only put it on your scalp, do not manipulate the rest of your hair much - do not pile hair on top of your hair and scrub, etc. then pour catnip rinse over head, braid wet hair and put it in shower cap for 1 hour, then get back in shower and let down braid, rinse with braid in, then unbraid and rinse some more, always leaving hair straight down, it shouldn't get super tangled - at least that's how I had to wash my hair when I had long extensions in to prevent tangling.
This post belongs here too, IMO.
http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...2&postcount=54
that's funny, we both had the same idea! I did a cassia treatment with catnip tea this past weekend, with a little honey stirred in. I applied the treatment after washing, and left it in for a half hour before rinsing. Afterward my hair was so soft and felt thicker too.
I've done cassia treatments with plain water before, and they left my hair feeling crunchy for a few days. It was much nicer with the catnip tea and honey.
Well I do detangle before showering, but I have not yet figured out how to get the shampoo onto the greasiest part of my scalp and to massage/lather it without ripping out all my hair with my fingertips, unless my head is bent forwards. My hair is very fine and gets all caught up in my beefy fingers :). I do tip my head forwards so I can get to my scalp with my fingertips without pulling hair out unnecessarily - and this is even after putting shampoo into a squirty bottle (diluted) and squirting it almost directly onto my scalp at the greasiest parts. I tried lathering/shampooing with my head up and my hair hanging down over my shoulders, but felt like I could not access my scalp.
You are right to home in on that part of the process, though, because that's where it all gets messed up. Maybe I should try to be extra, extra careful and see if that helps.
The difference between catnip and conventional conditioner.
In spite of the hype on conditioners, most do not really "penetrate the hair" very much, although some ingredients can penetrate the hair to the cortex, according to Paula Begoun, a few years ago, in one of her books, and she is always well, credibly referenced, IMO.
However, another point Paula Begoun made at the time, was that if a molecule can penetrate the hair easily, it does not necessarily stay there very long and can leave the hair easily too (probably IMO, simply by being washed out). That makes sense to me, and the only thing I know of that binds to keratin permanently is the lawsone in henna. Both coconut oil and supposedly olive oil, penetrate hair because of their molecular size.
Conditioners are designed these days to work in minutes, have concentrated ingredients and sometimes have penetration enhancers among their ingredients.
Catnip is purely natural, since I use it unadulterated, but it apparently has all of the conditioning properties I need.
It took a lot of experimentation on my part to get it to work the way it does for me now, although the split end preventing part happened fairly early on for me. I did not document that as to exactly when, nor did I document anything else on my catnip use, for that matter, other than what I have written on the boards.
2 key things work for me. 1. my dilution. 2. the bagged timing.
The timing, as I have said before, but not here, I think, is because catnip does not contain the concentration of ingredients, or the penetration enhancers of conventional products and it compensates for that.
I have read and I believe it to be true, that the longer you leave a conventional conditioner on the hair, the better it works, within limits. There is a saturation end point I believe and it is not hours or overnight, more like 10-30 minutes, maximum, in most, if not all cases.
For catnip it is about an hour more or less. I am not anal about the timing.
This is such great info, Ktani. You really are a 'hive of information' :). I think I don't have my correct concentration yet.
After 2 catnip tea treatments (made per ktani's method and left on for one hour) last week, and then one treatment of cassia mixed with catnip and chamomile tea (left one for one hour). My hair looked so damaged before that I didn't know what to do. I am so much more hopeful now that I see the results with catnip!
http://i366.photobucket.com/albums/o...cassiahair.jpg
Demetrue
I am very pleased for you. Even with the size of that picture and it being slightly off focus, you hair looks shiny and healthy.
The great news with catnip use, from my experience, is that it just keeps getting better. I have not found a downside yet.
I do not know how it may work out with cassia on its own but again from my experience, catnip is much more conditioning than chamomile, and without the dryness or build-up problems. For your next cassia treatment, which IMO, you should not need for a while, try using only catnip mixed with it.
I just this minute got hubby to use this and I am STUNNED! Its amazing and he didnt even leave it on for the half hour.
He is bald on top with what can only be described as a rats tail and velcro at the top back of his head. The velcro as gone completely and now even he has said he'll do the full half hour or more.
Now all I have to do is get the daktarin near his bonce :D
I let my hair go too long beween washing this time, just over a week because I was not feeling well.
I am fine now (a mild stomache bug) and used more shampoo than I usually do.
No problems though doing that. I squeezed the extra water out of my hair, and applied the catnip as usual, a little at a time, cupped in my hands. I held it on my hair a few seconds on each area applied (repeatedly), before bagging my hair and before the the cool down time. Result? shiny, soft, conditioned hair, covered grey/white and almost no static.
Houston, we have a problem:p
What did I do wrong? I washed my hair tonight with a poo bar that I've used in the past with fine results, followed with a catnip tea rinse bagged for 50 min. and rinsed well, but the dried results are awful:( My hair at my scalp is super greasy looking ( my hair never looks greasy) and my ends are way crunchy, like cheesy poofs. Was the concentration not acidic enough for the poo bar? The catnip dilution is normal, and the poo bar is one I have used before in my shampoo rotation. ( I love using different smellies so I rotate between shampoos, I use natural poo bars and baby shampoo.) But these results are not typical.
The only things I can think of are that I either need to make the dilution stronger, or that maybe using the more alkaline poos are better suited to wetter weather.
I'm stumped.
I have not needed to follow a poo bar wash with a separate acid rinse before, the catnip was plenty, and I won't use vinegar as it makes me itch.
I really hope that this isn't a result of eating so much pie:p
Pie? not that I know of, lol.
Making the catnip solution stronger will make it more astingent, IMO and you will not get the same conditioning. Catnip does not do well over some conditioners. I think that the problem is 2 fold. 1. Catnip does not have the same properties as vinegar, including its pH. 2. Catnip cannot remove or get through shampoo bar residue, this shampoo bar in any case.
Perhaps tomorrow I will clarify with baby shampoo, I have been using poo bars for the last 4 washes (one month) so maybe it is build up.
While the smell of vinegar is less than appealing( as far as hair smells go) thee itchies that I get from vinegar are what keep me from using them. I may try a very diluted lemon juice rinse if I have to. Thanks:D
You are wonderful ktani:D
Sense I shampooed today I think I'll let my hair rest for a day or two or three then do a catnip rinse. By then I'll need a rinse and catnip will be gentle cleaning and conditioning, yah catnip:p
Back with questions...
If my catnip infusion has pH 7, and is enough astringent... how to get lower pH into hair and scalp, without getting the whole thing too astringent?
I lowered my catnip infusion's pH last time, by dropping a bit of ACV in it. It became too astringent (I think anyway, hair became dry as from too much or too strong ACV rinse).
catfish
I have been shut out of the boards from 12:40 am till just now.
Ok, first I want to qualify my last post on catnip not being cleansing. It does not contain saponins.
However, I do wash my face with it and I do find it cleasing on my skin (I just apply it, rub it on and rinse), in the morning (I shower at night with liquid soap).
I have not tried to wash my hair with it. Have you?
How cleansing do you find it for that and how do you use it for that?
iris tried using catnip on her length repeatedly, without washing her length with shampoo during that time (a few days at least) and found (using it rinsed out), that it left her hair oily.
Too much catnip on my length, following shampoo on my length, can leave my hair "piecey".
When I experimented with adulterating catnip back when, I added small amounts of acv and I also found that too astringent for my liking.
I know that catnip is acidic but I cannot find an exact pH for it online. My water tests acidic, and my catnip solution is about pH 5 (my water is about pH 5.5).
What is the pH of your water?
How does your catnip solution as is, work for you?
This link I trust. The owner of Kooky Kat is a scientist I spoke to at length about catnip, and how I use it for colour. The yellow dye in catnip is a tannin!
While I do not support DEET in terms of it possibly being toxic at certain concentrations, it appears that natural alternatives to it are not doing too well as insect repellents (for mosquitoes).
I applaud the integrity of this catnip wholesaler, for posting the latest reseach and details about catnip oil as an insect repellent, on their website.
http://www.kookykat.com/catnipessentialoils.htm
My pH right now is 6.5.
Maybe it varies, cause catnip shouldn't make pH higher?
I will test better next time I make the catnip infusion, compare the same water before and after. I wash on Saturdays, so not before then.
I think the catnip works rather good. But I have to oil my hair after wash still. Maybe not totally necessary, but feels good and make hair softer.
Hair is easier to comb after wash (but not last wash...).
I also think that my catnip isn't the best, maybe just leaves. Next time I buy, I will ensure to buy with flowers, or at least a better label.
I also are testing soapnuts at the same time :-S
Before catnip, I used CO and then the hair wasn't as easy to comb out after wash. That were before soapnuts, I used decyl glukose for wash the first tries.
CO + SMT + leave in Camellia didn't niether seam to condition my hair as good as soapnut + catnip + leave in Camellia.
From everything I have read on soap nuts, they contain a "fabric softener", a laundrey reference, used in describing how they work for that.
I know that they contain mucilage and that coats hair and from my experience, can build-up. It may be that it is not allowing catnip to access the hair directly.
As to the pH, it will vary slightly with your dilution.
Catnip flowers contain more oil than the leaves. I have only used a mix of the two, leaves and flowers, dried.
Just to clarify, it depends on how much mucilage is in a plant and how often it is used without clarifying.
I found one only source that said catnip contains mucilage, so if it does, it is a very very small amount and shampoo is able to remove it each time I wash my hair, with no problems, because I have no catnip build-up on my hair, while I most certainly did have build-up with linden tea, which contains a fair amount of mucilage (about 3 %).
"Linden contains flavonoids .... caffeic and other acids, mucilage (about 3%), tannins, volatile oil (0.02-0.1 %) ...."
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_linden.htm
Original post by ktani
My hair must be super dry as I have yet to get oily from catnip. :pQuote:
I have been shut out of the boards from 12:40 am till just now.
Ok, first I want to qualify my last post on catnip not being cleansing. It does not contain saponins.
However, I do wash my face with it and I do find it cleasing on my skin (I just apply it, rub it on and rinse), in the morning (I shower at night with liquid soap).
I have not tried to wash my hair with it. Have you?
How cleansing do you find it for that and how do you use it for that?
iris tried using catnip on her length repeatedly, without washing her length with shampoo during that time (a few days at least) and found (using it rinsed out), that it left her hair oily.
Too much catnip on my length, following shampoo on my length, can leave my hair "piecey".
I have 'washed' with catnip on many occasions by dumping the tea (normal dilution about a teaspoon to 300ml water) on my head (already soaked with hot shower water) and srubbing my scalp to message the tea in good. I make sure that my length gets covered with the tea, then I pop on a shower cap, let it sit while I continue bathing, then rinse well.
I do this when my scalp gets a little oily and it needs to be washed, but isn't 'dirty' or itchy enough for a shampoo. I do this as often as twice a week between shampoos.
I know for a fact that catnip is moisturizing as I have been using it now for 6 months and it has replaced my need for conventional conditioner. Yet it is at the same time a little cleansing for me. I notice that if I shampoo and then catnip in the same wash, my hair is a bit dry and my ends a little straw like, but if I use catnip alone then I have soft and less tangly hair.
Maybe catnip is my CO:p
It isn't perfect, and my hair is far from being slippery like it is with conditioner, but it is as good as I have had it in a long time. My hair is less dry now than it was when using conditioner everyday, and my skin is very happy.:D For me, any amount of conditioner on my skin produces a rash, I hate rashes:demon: so the good effects of catnip for me far outweigh the bad.
sorry the really long post:o
__________________
No need to apologize and thank you so much for the details.
I have searched in the past for a natural shampoo for me with no possibilities in sight that I would like and if it was in front of me all along lol, that is great.
I did not have great results (a huge understatement) with both yucca and linden tea (both contain saponins) and I am reluctant to try soap nuts for a number of reasons (it can strip colour and it contains mucilage).
I may just get up enough courage, lol, to try catnip as a shampoo.
catfish
Catnip for me has eliminated split ends (I had to cut the ones off I did have but I do not get them anymore and haven't seen one one a a very very long time (I lost track of time with that. I think I found one, 18 months ago or more) and reduced breakage.
The thought of using it as an all in one, shampoo, colour and conditioner is "too much to ask for" but I really love the idea.
I do not know if catnip is cleansing enough for a really oily scalp but mine is far less oily now than years ago.
I can use some conditioners and in the past 2 years, I have cheated lol, and tried some but gave up when I increased the catnip timing and got what I always wanted hair condition wise, without conditioner, from catnip alone.
It would be great hu?:D
Right after my chemical accident, I used nothing but water, catnip tea, and oils for weeks. My skin was too tender for shampoo, got rashy and tingly from conditioner and just about said yeah...right..to acid rinses.:hatchet:
Now months later, conditioner still = rashes and vinegar = itchies.
The weeks with no shampoo were not bad, my hair felt and looked pretty good as long as I went easy on the oils, and my scalp wasn't super greasy, but it did itch and it did feel better once I got to shampoo. Maybe a more astringent dilution on the scalp and a weaker dilution on the length would work? I'm a pretty dry person by nature though too.:shrug:
I agree about being hesitant about trying soapnuts, I know it works wonders for some and thats great.;) I know mellie loves them, but she did mention that they sting the eyes if it comes in contact, that is enough to shy me away as I am a weeny about my eyes:o
Let us know if you experiment:D