I’ve tried catnip twice and I’m not sure what to think, I would welcome any advice!
The first time I got the dilution a bit wrong, I did a heaped teaspoon to around 250 ml water. I realised while it was brewing so I topped it up to 400 ml. I kept it on for 35 minutes as I didn’t have time to do the full hour. My hair was tangled when I rinsed so I used conditioner and my usual extras (leave in, curl cream, flaxseed gel). Result - nice waves, my scalp was fine.
The second time (next wash) I clarified/chelated and got the dilution right
I left in on for an hour under a shower cap. When I rinsed the ends were slightly tangled but not too bad. I needed something extra to avoid damage. I didn’t use rinse out conditioner but I did use leave in, curl cream and flaxseed gel. Result - lovely defined waves, lovely shine...but then my scalp started to itch.
I never get an itchy scalp so this has baffled me a bit. The dilution was more or less the same each time (by the time I added water to the first batch). Maybe the chelating shampoo was too much, because I didn’t get an itchy scalp when I used a sulphate free shampoo. The chelating shampoo has never given me problems before though.
The obvious answer would be to keep the catnip away from my roots, but the hair that would really benefit is right at the roots, around the hairline. Hairs that usually break off at around 4-6 inches are forming curls with catnip, much better than they do when I use oil on them. I don’t know any way to get catnip onto those short hairs without it getting onto the scalp.
ETA: I used hard water the first time and soft water the second. I am not the Queen of controlled experiments
Maybe the second batch was too acidic for my scalp.
Any ideas on how I could use catnip in the future?
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