Catnip for split ends?

[WilfredAllen]

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 been using my metal steeper, but I've heard of people using coffee filters to steep tea, so maybe that would work. I'll try it next time. And I'll add vinegar too

[ladylowtide]

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!

[ravenreed]

I strain through a coffee filter-lined funnel.

[alishaxmarie]

It absolutely does not. I CO most of the time. I consistently use catnip rinses as a leave in after COing and doing an ACV rinse. The few times I have run out of catnip I have noticed an immediate increase in the number of split ends I get.

Does anyone else have experience with CO and catnip? I'm currently CO and have been wanting to try catnip for a few months now but wouldn't want to bother if it required going back to shampoo in order to get good results on my split-prone ends

[lunalocks]

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!

[Loviatar]

I bought some catnip years ago and promptly lost it 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.

[veryhairyfairy]

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!

[meteor]

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.

[veryhairyfairy]

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've been so curious to see how that would work, and I saw that one member was doing it, but hadn't posted any follow up.
I'll be sure to post an update when I wash my hair on Friday.
(still haven't used the spray, about to now)

[veryhairyfairy]

SNIP
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 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.