Catnip for split ends?

[Alley Cat]

Yes, with lots of little round bits.

Hmm I can't see any round bits at all. Just lots of leaves, stems and what appears to be flowers perhaps.

[Kazazi]

Ok, I think I have freezer bags similar to the ones you describe. Will give this a try! By the way, my hair is quite good this morning having last washed it Sunday night and not having rinsed the catnip out. I didn't give it a very fair trial down because I had slept on it damp, but it's definitely not bad now and possibly less greasy than after having used condish.

[ktani]

Hmm I can't see any round bits at all. Just lots of leaves, stems and what appears to be flowers perhaps.

It should look like this.
http://www.twenga.co.uk/offer/41457/...779340640.html

Here is another picture.
http://www.cattoys.com/cacutlebu.html

Not all of the catnip I have used has had as many buds in it. It still worked and I stopped getting split ends. The pet store catnip seems over all, to have more buds. I would not be too concerned. I did have some poor colouring results from some health food store catnip that was leaves and flowers and looked nothing like my catnip now but I still got good conditioning from it.

I just get better colour and conditioning now, with the Hagen catnip and I believe that part of that, has to do with it containing more catnip buds.

Catnip flowers, to get the most out of them, according to the catnip farmer I spoke with, should be harvested before the buds open. Not all vendors sell catnip harvested the same way. When I started using catnip, I just bought catnip and could not find just the leaves for sale. It said catnip leaves and flowers, on all of the labels. Only later, did I learn that catnip flowers contain more oils. Catnip still worked for me then and does now. Because it is a natural product, there is going to be a variation in quality but that happens with conventional products too.

[ktani]

Ok, I think I have freezer bags similar to the ones you describe. Will give this a try! By the way, my hair is quite good this morning having last washed it Sunday night and not having rinsed the catnip out. I didn't give it a very fair trial down because I had slept on it damp, but it's definitely not bad now and possibly less greasy than after having used condish.

It takes a bit of time to get used to preparing it as well as seeing how well it works. It depends on your hair and what was on it, how long you leave it on etc.

[scalawaggirl]

Okay, back w/an update. I purchased my catnip at Wally World in the pet section. It says its organic and my cats do love the stuff so it appears fresh.

I've been using the catnip tea according to ktani's recommendations both as a final rinse in the shower (then bag it while I finish). So, it stays on my hair maybe 5-10 minutes. I have also done two deep treatments by applying the tea to damp hair, bagging and then sitting under a heat cap for awhile (about an hour).

After testing w/out any conditioner, I decided to add back a no-cone conditioner only on the ends. So far, it's been fine as I have no build up from the conditioner so it doesn't seem to have inhibited the tea's ability to penetrate well, which was a concern of mine.

The results have been extremely good for me. My hair is crazy soft and so much so that it reminds me mildly of the texture of rabbit fur (a stretch, yes, but I can't pinpoint anything else that can express it properly). Since my hair is 2b/M/C/iii, this is fairly significant because it normally does not feel "soft and light" but rather course/thick with some softness, if that makes any sense!

I have been in the habit of oiling w/avocado oil layered w/another oil so that helped a lot with keeping my hair in healthy shape. However, w/the catnip tea, I am foregoing the oils for now as I want to give it a full chance to show benefits. I wish I could skip leave-ins and gels but my wavy hair just doesn't look nice when I leave it to its own devices. So, today, I did a test w/shea butter and then Boots Curling Cream. It was a disaster. My hair (like my skin) hates shea butter and I applied way too much of the Boots. I COd it to get the stuff out and could again feel the softness of the tea's benefits (whew)! Then, I put a little bit of the Boots on after emulsifying well (about 1/16 the amount I was using!) and then some strong gel.

We shall see how this turns out...

[ktani]

Okay, back w/an update. I purchased my catnip at Wally World in the pet section. It says its organic and my cats do love the stuff so it appears fresh.

I've been using the catnip tea according to ktani's recommendations both as a final rinse in the shower (then bag it while I finish). So, it stays on my hair maybe 5-10 minutes. I have also done two deep treatments by applying the tea to damp hair, bagging and then sitting under a heat cap for awhile (about an hour).

After testing w/out any conditioner, I decided to add back a no-cone conditioner only on the ends. So far, it's been fine as I have no build up from the conditioner so it doesn't seem to have inhibited the tea's ability to penetrate well, which was a concern of mine.

The results have been extremely good for me. My hair is crazy soft and so much so that it reminds me mildly of the texture of rabbit fur (a stretch, yes, but I can't pinpoint anything else that can express it properly). Since my hair is 2b/M/C/iii, this is fairly significant because it normally does not feel "soft and light" but rather course/thick with some softness, if that makes any sense!

I have been in the habit of oiling w/avocado oil layered w/another oil so that helped a lot with keeping my hair in healthy shape. However, w/the catnip tea, I am foregoing the oils for now as I want to give it a full chance to show benefits. I wish I could skip leave-ins and gels but my wavy hair just doesn't look nice when I leave it to its own devices. So, today, I did a test w/shea butter and then Boots Curling Cream. It was a disaster. My hair (like my skin) hates shea butter and I applied way too much of the Boots. I COd it to get the stuff out and could again feel the softness of the tea's benefits (whew)! Then, I put a little bit of the Boots on after emulsifying well (about 1/16 the amount I was using!) and then some strong gel.

We shall see how this turns out...

I am getting a little confused about 1 thing, from this post http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...8&postcount=20, to the 1 here.

I understand everything except the cleansing part. Did you try catnip, on its own to cleanse your hair?

Also keep in mind, that although the coneless conditioner may appear to be washing/rinsing out completely, like the oils and shea butter it may not in one shampoo. Tricky stuff that but at least you are still seeing the catnip benefits.

[scalawaggirl]

I am getting a little confused about 1 thing, from this post http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/...8&postcount=20, to the 1 here.

I understand everything except the cleansing part. Did you try catnip, on its own to cleanse your hair?

Also keep in mind, that although the coneless conditioner may appear to be washing/rinsing out completely, like the oils and shea butter it may not in one shampoo. Tricky stuff that but at least you are still seeing the catnip benefits.

Hi, ktani. Sorry about the confusion. I did try to cleanse once w/the tea but it didn't seem to work that well. However, I'm mid-experimentation so will give it another go now that I'm back to mainly CO w/an occasional CWC once or twice a week.

To clarify, I mean that I intend to mainly use catnip tea as my CO with my next phase of tests. Up to now, I used highly diluted natural shampoo on one occasion but my scalp freaked out. Today, I started over w/Nizoral on my scalp only, then did my tea rinse, then the no-cone condish on the ends as I was very wary of any residual Nizoral going down the length, which could have been drying.

If that part goes well (i.e. CWC wash once/twice a week depending on how my hair takes it), then I will just do the catnip tea rinse on the other 5-6 days of the week with a 1/week deep treatment thrown in after one of the CWCs. I should be able to tell, if the catnip tea will work as a cleanser during that time.

I'm also kicking around the idea of doing an ACV rinse prior to the catnip tea rinse at some point but have waited to give the tea a shot first without any other variables. Also, maybe I will try to do straight CO w/my Suave Natural Condish (no CWC) and then the tea rinse and see how that fares. So many things to test!

Right now, my hair remains damp but so far, it is still soft even w/the strong gel applied. I'm happy with that and hope it dries calmly. If that happens, I'll be quite pleased.

[ktani]

Hi, ktani. Sorry about the confusion. I did try to cleanse once w/the tea but it didn't seem to work that well. However, I'm mid-experimentation so will give it another go now that I'm back to mainly CO w/an occasional CWC once or twice a week.

To clarify, I mean that I intend to mainly use catnip tea as my CO with my next phase of tests. Up to now, I used highly diluted natural shampoo on one occasion but my scalp freaked out. Today, I started over w/Nizoral on my scalp only, then did my tea rinse, then the no-cone condish on the ends as I was very wary of any residual Nizoral going down the length, which could have been drying.

If that part goes well (i.e. CWC wash once/twice a week depending on how my hair takes it), then I will just do the catnip tea rinse on the other 5-6 days of the week with a 1/week deep treatment thrown in after one of the CWCs. I should be able to tell, if the catnip tea will work as a cleanser during that time.

I'm also kicking around the idea of doing an ACV rinse prior to the catnip tea rinse at some point but have waited to give the tea a shot first without any other variables. Also, maybe I will try to do straight CO w/my Suave Natural Condish (no CWC) and then the tea rinse and see how that fares. So many things to test!

Right now, my hair remains damp but so far, it is still soft even w/the strong gel applied. I'm happy with that and hope it dries calmly. If that happens, I'll be quite pleased.

Thank you for the clarification.

I think for the new experiments, new descriptions will need to be applied and defined, lol.

Catnip as "CO" for example or catnip "shampoo", depending on the method used.

I used a catnip "shampoo" - straight catnip applied to hair, post my regular shampoo, worked through hair and scalp and rinsed straight out, with no bagging or timing.

A catnip "CO", is more what you used, straight catnip applied to hair, left on the hair and scalp for a while and rinsed out, in keeping with a traditional CO.

Otherwise it is going to get very confusing to those trying to follow this, IMO.

[scalawaggirl]

Thank you for the clarification.

I think for the new experiments, new descriptions will need to be applied and defined, lol.

Catnip as "CO" for example or catnip "shampoo", depending on the method used.

I used a catnip "shampoo" - straight catnip applied to hair post my regular shampoo, worked through hair and scalp and rinsed straight out, with no bagging or timing.

A catnip "CO" is more what you used, straight catnip applied to hair, left on the hair and scalp for a while and rinsed out, in keeping with a traditional CO.

Otherwise it is going to get very confusing to those trying to follow this, IMO.

Oh boy, that's a good point! You're right. I did do more of a traditional CO with the catnip tea. It has proved so great for softness that I haven't had the inclination to do a catnip shampoo. What? Leave the tea on only for a minute??? No way! Maybe after 4 years, though. LOL

I do know that I will be keeping it in my rotation from now on. I'm super happy with how my hair's texture has actually seemed to change, which was unexpected. It is feeling and looking so nice and soft and I fully expect it to dry better than I'd hoped this afternoon but it'll probably take a few more hours.

[ktani]

Oh boy, that's a good point! You're right. I did do more of a traditional CO with the catnip tea. It has proved so great for softness that I haven't had the inclination to do a catnip shampoo. What? Leave the tea on only for a minute??? No way! Maybe after 4 years, though. LOL

I do know that I will be keeping it in my rotation from now on. I'm super happy with how my hair's texture has actually seemed to change, which was unexpected. It is feeling and looking so nice and soft and I fully expect it to dry better than I'd hoped this afternoon but it'll probably take a few more hours.

Ok, further clarification.

I shampooed my hair and used a catnip "shampoo" to follow, not timing or bagging it. Then I applied more catnip and bagged and timed that as usual.

I have not tried to do a catnip "shampoo" on its own yet. If I do though and it is in between deep conditioning previously done, no bagging or timing should be necessary, IMO.