Catnip for split ends?

**Cania** · February 1st, 2014, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by veryhairyfairy

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.

Thanks for doing this, I always found catnip in the traditional way made my hair dry and tangly too. I'll definitely be trying this as a spritz for dry hair!

**alishaxmarie** · February 7th, 2014, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by veryhairyfairy

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've been sitting in my first catnip rinse for at least an hour now and, after reading the results of the Hairy Fairy's experiments, I'm not sure if I should even bother to rinse out the catnip tea? I just don't feel like dealing with my hair when wet, in general. I was mostly worried about the stickiness factor and planned to also test out using the tea as a leave-in next week. Hm...

**hairpleasegrow** · February 7th, 2014, 08:13 PM

From what I understand Ktani's method suggests to cover hair with plastic (saran or old plastic bag etc) for the hour , and not just letting it dry in your hair . For rinsing I think ktani rinses. that's what i've been doing her method seems to really work with my hair.

http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.ca/20...oaches-to.html

**KarpatiiSiv** · February 8th, 2014, 02:25 PM

Originally Posted by alishaxmarie

I've been sitting in my first catnip rinse for at least an hour now and, after reading the results of the Hairy Fairy's experiments, I'm not sure if I should even bother to rinse out the catnip tea? I just don't feel like dealing with my hair when wet, in general. I was mostly worried about the stickiness factor and planned to also test out using the tea as a leave-in next week. Hm...

I've been a catnip addict for years using Ktani's method and wouldn't want to give it up now as the results have been wonderful. In the beginning I did experiment with not rinsing it from my hair but my hair felt sticky and unnatural. However, I know there are others who do leave it in their hair and have been pleased with the results. I'd say experiment and see what works for you.

**veryhairyfairy** · February 8th, 2014, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by alishaxmarie

I've been sitting in my first catnip rinse for at least an hour now and, after reading the results of the Hairy Fairy's experiments, I'm not sure if I should even bother to rinse out the catnip tea? I just don't feel like dealing with my hair when wet, in general. I was mostly worried about the stickiness factor and planned to also test out using the tea as a leave-in next week. Hm...

What'd you end up doing and how did it turn out?
The way I've been using it as a leave in is to spray it into dry hair until just damp, so it's not like I'm soaking each strand in catnip tea. I've done this a couple of times now and I really like it!

**ladylowtide** · February 8th, 2014, 03:41 PM

I recently started catnip as conditioner, I found that it was softer if I didn't rinse the catnip out and just let it air dry.

**alishaxmarie** · February 8th, 2014, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by veryhairyfairy

What'd you end up doing and how did it turn out?
The way I've been using it as a leave in is to spray it into dry hair until just damp, so it's not like I'm soaking each strand in catnip tea. I've done this a couple of times now and I really like it!

Well I prepared 1 tsp of catnip to what I think was about 8 oz/237 mL of water (in a metal tea ball might I add) and let it sit (covered by a small plate/saucer) until it was about shower temperature because I'm impatient

lol. Most of the tea is in a spray bottle I have in the fridge, but I had originally planned to rinse out the portion in my hair. The results are super soft and super shiny hair which has taken forever to dry!

I bagged it for maybe 30 minutes but decided to braid it after that because I had company. My hair then remained braided for several hours and then in a bun for several more. I just put it in a french twist-braid and parts of it may still be a bit damp after nearly 24 hours. However, the weather is really wet and cold (but nowhere near freezing) here in Florida and my hair does take forever to dry when it's up.

Other benefits: added slip, feels thicker and smoother, and my ends look very healthy/moisturized.

**veryhairyfairy** · February 8th, 2014, 06:02 PM

Glad to hear it worked for you, alishaxmarie! Did you do your normal wash routine and just add in the catnip leave-in, or did you use the catnip instead of conditioner?

I still haven't tried using catnip tea as the water phase in my conditioner yet... I'm wondering if the heat necessary to dissolve the conditioner pellets will evaporate all of the good essential oils away.
I need to buy some more, I just used the last of my tea and yesterday the Butt-Butt Twins (my two cats) got into the 'nip and ate it all!!! It was old, though, so now I'll have fresh stuff.

**hairpleasegrow** · February 8th, 2014, 07:00 PM

I need to get a spray bottle.....maybe I could spritz my roots with the catnip when I'm not doing a full on soak. That stuff is very cold if it's been sitting in the fridge

**maskedrose** · February 9th, 2014, 11:14 AM

I recently decided to get serious about using catnip again, and I am really pleased with the results. Last week I did a cassia treatment, and decided to use it to jump start my catnip experiment. I brewed my catnip tea (2 batches, I use 2tbp per quart mason jar), clarified my hair, squeezed as much water out as possible, then dunked the length a couple of times into my tea and poured the remainder over my scalp and crown. I did not rinse out.

I air dried for about half an hour until my hair was damp instead of soaking wet, then applied my cassia. I used my second batch of catnip tea as the liquid element of my cassia treatment, and I think it REALLY made a difference. After leaving the cassia on for roughly two hours, I did a mermaid soak, followed with a brief shower rinse to get the remainder out. It rinsed out much easier than it has in the past, and felt smooth and slippery in the shower. While I had my cassia stewing on my head, I had brewed up yet another batch of catnip, so I used that as a final rinse. Again, I did not rinse the catnip out, just let it dry on my hair.

On my next wash day I shampooed with my non-SLS herbal shampoo and followed up with the catnip tea only. Again I did not rinse out. I've been detangling in the shower right after I dump the tea on it, and letting it drip dry. It feels a little odd about halfway through drying (kind of crunchy and coated, as others have mentioned), but once it is dry I have tons of body, a decent amount of slip and lots of shine. I've been lightly oiling with a little bit of avocado oil when it is nearly dry. I'm quite pleased, and I'm really hoping that my good luck continues with this. I would absolutely love to pare down my routine to gentle shampoo, catnip, and a light oiling...and it looks like it just might happen!