Catnip for split ends?

**Cania** · March 27th, 2014, 04:35 PM

hypersensitive - You need to let it brew for at least 5 hours before application so that the oils are released properly. The normal recipe is 1tsp to 300ml

People also generally leave it on for an hour for best results.

Sounds like you might prefer the spray method - I know I could never be bothered letting my hair sit dripping wet for an hour! I let the above ratios brew overnight, sprayed and damp bunned. Results were great for me

**CraftieKittie** · March 30th, 2014, 02:29 PM

I am going to try catnip - I've ordered some and it's on its way. But I have a few questions.

I have extremely dry hair - my scalp produces almost no oil. No shampoo has touched my hair for at least five years - I've been doing CO. For over a year I did WO and really liked it, but we moved to a place with really hard water and I couldn't do the WO any more - my hair got really sticky, coated with gunk and was really horrible. So I've gone back to CO. Lately I've been experimenting - I have done SMT several times and I have tried Shikakai - altering the recipes a little each time. The SMT makes my hair very shiny and defines the curls. But my hair is very dry after. Same with Shikakai. I've tried adding oil but that didn't seem to help.

I also have very brittle hair - it keeps breaking off around my face. I have not been able to wear my hair up or use any hair toys because of this. I want to go back to WO but my hair still is very brittle when I do this. So I am going to try the catnip.

My questions are:

1. Can I use catnip while doing WO, or do I have to wash my hair before I use the catnip rinse? Would the catnip be able to penetrate through my own sebum? I know I wouldn't technically be WO if I'm using catnip. But I want to stop using the conditioner because it strips all my naturally produced oil from my hair and I need every bit I have.

2. What things coat the hair and don't let the catnip get to it? Oils? AVG?

3. Would the Shikakai have coated my hair? If so how do I remove the coating?

I'm sorry if these questions have been answered somewhere here. I'm trying to read this thread as fast as I can but I can't get through it soon enough. I appreciate all answers you can give me.

**veryhairyfairy** · March 30th, 2014, 07:19 PM

Originally Posted by CraftieKittie

I am going to try catnip - I've ordered some and it's on its way. But I have a few questions.
<snip>

My questions are:

1. Can I use catnip while doing WO, or do I have to wash my hair before I use the catnip rinse? Would the catnip be able to penetrate through my own sebum? I know I wouldn't technically be WO if I'm using catnip. But I want to stop using the conditioner because it strips all my naturally produced oil from my hair and I need every bit I have.

2. What things coat the hair and don't let the catnip get to it? Oils? AVG?

3. Would the Shikakai have coated my hair? If so how do I remove the coating?

I'm sorry if these questions have been answered somewhere here. I'm trying to read this thread as fast as I can but I can't get through it soon enough. I appreciate all answers you can give me.

Goodness, I sympathize with your struggles.

I hope you find something that makes your hair happy!
I don't have all of the answers to these questions, but I can chime in with my own minimal experience.

1. I think you can use catnip with water only, but you may have to do a conditioner wash once in awhile to remove potential catnip buildup. I believe that the catnip will give you benefits over your sebum as I use catnip over hair that has been conditioned (my conditioner mix has at least 1/4 teaspoon of safflower oil in each application) and it works very well.

2. A heavy oiling would stop catnip from penetrating, but I'm not sure there is any other product that forms a total (or even substantial) barrier to catnip. Like I said, I've been using it over my dry, conditioned hair (conditioner is said to leave behind a film of conditioning agents even when you fully rinse) with very good results.

3. I have no idea on this one.

I'd love to suggest a few things to try;
1. Add oil to your CO conditioner. It sounds counterproductive but it should stop the surfactants in the conditioner from removing all of your sebum. (I've added as much as a teaspoon to a 'serving' of conditioner and still not had greasy hair, you may be able to add even more)

2. Try the catnip tea as a leave in spray on dry hair. I have been having great success with moisturizing my dry strands by doing just that, and it is much easier for me than leaving the catnip dripping off my head for an hour.

3. Most importantly, are you doing anything in your routine to counteract the hard water? Mineral buildup on hair can lead to fragile, breaking hair (I know this from personal experience), so you may want to add a chelating agent somewhere along the line. This thread is about miracle water, which was literally a miracle for me when I had liquid rock for water. (I used about 1-2 teaspoons of lemon juice to 1 gallon of water)

HTH!

**Lindseyh** · April 6th, 2014, 05:52 PM

Where exactly would I find catnip for rinsing? I don't have any growing here abouts anymore.

**kdaniels8811** · April 7th, 2014, 06:51 AM

Catnip is available in the pet aisle at Walmart and such, it is used to stuff cat toys. It is a dried herb, I buy the Hartz brand for about $1 and it works great.

**veryhairyfairy** · April 7th, 2014, 08:02 AM

Update:

I tried a longer steep time for the catnip tea (8-9 hours instead of 5-6) and I didn't like the results on my hair as much. It didn't seem to give the same slip, and almost made my hair feel kind of grabby and coated. Longer steep times might be best for a rinse out treatment for me.

I've also been freezing half a batch at a time to prevent mold, and I haven't noticed any difference in the frozen tea versus the fresh.

**CraftieKittie** · April 7th, 2014, 03:22 PM

I finally tried the catnip rinse. I used the standard recipe of 1 tsp catnip to 1-1/4 cups water and left it on my hair for 1 hour. I was impressed with the results. My hair came out shiny and with better defined curls. I'm going to keep trying it once a week - when I wash my hair. I hope it keeps working at least as well - or maybe gets better. Today I just wet my hair in the morning and it is not quite as nice as yesterday, but maybe after I've used the catnip for a longer time it will stay nicer.

veryhairyfairy - thanks for answering my questions. I don't think I can use a catnip spray on dry hair because spraying my hair just makes it frizzy - I need to wet it completely to restore the curl. I might try adding oil to the SMT or even just my conditioner if I feel that I need it. As for the hard water - I have a water filter in the kitchen - so I am going to use that water to wash my hair and not let the shower water touch it. Then I won't get mineral build-up. It won't be as convenient, but if it works it will be worth it.

**hypersensitive** · April 7th, 2014, 10:48 PM

So I tried the spray method. It's not very convenient. I think I might as well let my hair sit wet for 1 hour and do the conventional soak. Round 2!

**CraftieKittie** · April 21st, 2014, 02:17 PM

I just used catnip on my hair for the third time. I'm not very impressed with the results. I've been trying to use catnip with WO washing. Normally I CO my hair - however in my reading the first 50 pages of this thread ktani stated over and over again that catnip does not work over conditioner. My hair is waaay too dry to use shampoo. After using catnip 2 times my hair was starting to feel kind of heavy and stiff. This time when I wet my hair - even before putting the catnip in it felt tacky. Now as it is starting to dry it is frizzy and not shiny.

Also, every time I wet my hair and comb it I lose tons of hair - more than I used to when I was just CO washing my hair. I think catnip has to be washed out every week.

Has anyone else experienced this with catnip? So now I'm trying to decide if I want to go back to shampoo so I can continue to try catnip, or if I should try something else.

**CraftieKittie** · April 21st, 2014, 02:19 PM

I just used catnip on my hair for the third time. I'm not very impressed with the results. I've been trying to use catnip with WO washing. Normally I CO my hair - however in my reading the first 50 pages of this thread ktani stated over and over again that catnip does not work over conditioner. My hair is waaay too dry to use shampoo. After using catnip 2 times my hair was starting to feel kind of heavy and stiff. This time when I wet my hair - even before putting the catnip in it felt tacky. Now as it is starting to dry it is frizzy and not shiny.

Also, every time I wet my hair and comb it I lose tons of hair - more than I used to when I was just CO washing my hair. I think catnip has to be washed out every week.

Has anyone else experienced this with catnip? So now I'm trying to decide if I want to go back to shampoo so I can continue to try catnip, or if I should try something else.