Homemade hair treatments are incredibly easy to do, and one of the easiest is a DIY hair rinse. Hair rinses give hair natural shine, deepen its color and condition the hair and the scalp. They are cheap, too: if you grow rosemary in your herb garden, you have all the ingredients you need for an herbal rinse.
Herbs for Homemade Hair Rinses:
- rosemary for dark hair – or for general hair health, it also boosts circulation in the scalp
- nettle for dark hair, or for general hair health
- sage for dark or grey hair
- chamomile for blond hair
- hibiscus for red hair – I have not tried this, but hibiscus is used widely in Asia in homemade shampoos and hair rinses.
You’ll need
- about 2-4 cups of water depending on the length of your hair
- about one tablespoon of dried herb for each cup of water, or if using fresh herbs, use three times as much as dry herb
- if using fresh hibiscus flowers, a flower for each cup would be a good general estimate!
Place the herbs in a jar/jug/bowl, bring the water to boil and pour it over the herbs. Leave to steep until the water cools down (but they should be left to infuse at least for half an hour). Strain well before use, so that you don’t end up with bits of herb in your hair. It’s really not that different from making herbal tea, but check that the infusion has cooled down enough before you use it.
Wash your hair and condition as usual. Then pour the infusion over your hair. Comb it into your hair if you wish. Some people use an herbal hair rinse as the last rinse after washing their hair, and simply leave it on until the next wash. Alternatively you can leave the infusion in your hair for 10-15 minutes, and then rinse one more time with water.
Lemon Juice Rinse: Natural Hair Color for Blond Hair
Lemon juice gives blond hair more shine, and it can even make the hair a little blonder. I used to comb lemon juice through my hair, and then go in the sunshine for a few hours to get my naturally blond hair to go even a bit blonder. Mix
- half a cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice
- approximately 4-6 cups of water
and use the blend to rinse your hair after shampooing and conditioning. Leave on for about ten minutes and then rinse with water. Lemon juice can be drying, so if your hair is dry or damaged to begin with, you could combine the lemon rinse with an oil treatment.
Photos: morguefile.com