Herbal Treatments for the Hair

Herbal Hair treatments

Organic Hair Conditioner

This is rich in nutrients which will encourage hair growth, and help your scalp and hair to remain healthy. The combination of oils in this recipe are particularly beneficial to the hair roots, as well as to the hair follicles. 
Mix together: 20 ml almond oil, 20 ml of wheatgerm oil, 20 ml of glycerine, 10 ml apple cider vinegar, 3 drops of rosemary oil, 3 drops of carrot oils,
plus 2 eggs. Apply to hair after shampooing. Leave on for half an hour. Rinse off with warm water.

Rosemary Hair  Rinse
This helps darken the hair and helps keep the scalp free from dandruff.
It also puts a wonderful shine to the hair, and will stimulate hair growth when used regularly. Simmer a cup of fresh rosemary, stalks and all, in a litre of water for half an hour. Cool.  Apply about a half cup to the scalp as a final rinse after washing the hair. Massage well into the scalp.
Keep in the fridge for a week, then make up a fresh lot.

Chamomile Hair Rinse  This is a good rinse for people who have fair hair, as it helps to lighten the hair coloring. The chamomile hair rinse will give your hair shine and provide some nutrients to your scalp, which will benefir your hair roots. There is a certain amount of silica in chamomile. It has a soothing effect on the nerves. Using chamomile as a tea to drink, and as hair rinse will give you a slow-release of those soothing nutrients to your hair roots and your nervous system.

To Make Chamomile Hair Rinse: You can make up a tea as for drinking, and use this on the hair. However,  you will  get the best benefits, as seen in a great shine to the hair, by using  a double  strength mixture of the tea  and applying this externally,  after washing the hair.

Oat-Straw Hair Rinse:  Drinking oat-straw tea is very good for the hair, as oat-straw is especially high in silica. You can also use oat-straw tea as a herbal rinse to use on the hair after washing. To Make Oat Straw Tea:  Put two teaspoons of dried oat-straw in a small saucepan. Add two cups of water and simmer for 10 minutes. Add honey to drink as a tea. Let the mixture cool if you are going to use it as a hair rinse.

See merrilyn’s other  posts about hair health, entitled Regrow Hair; Iodine Scalp Hair Remedy; Best Vitamins for Hair Growth

to be continued tomorrow

Herbs for Hair Growth


Herbs for Hair Growth

Apple Cider Vinegar

IMG_6820Photo taken by Merrilyn on Holly’s camera, 25th December, 2012.

 

Herbs which have a high silica content are extremely beneficial for the hair, skin, teeth, bones and nails.
Silica-rich herbs can be taken internally as a tea, which will help your general health.  They can also be applied directly to the scalp to good effect, as minerals from these tea solutions are absorbed into the hair tissues so that your hair roots will benefit.
Silica-rich herbs also have the effect of making the hair shiny when used as a final rinse after shampooing. This is because a fine layer of silica is imparted to the hair which thus evenly covers the scalp and all hair strands. The effect of having this silica remaining on the hair and head is very strengthening, not only to the hair, but to the cells of the whole physical body and also to the auric body.


Silica-rich herbs for hair growth are:

Borage

Comfrey

Hollyhock

Nettle

Oat Straw

Rosemary

Yarrow
Other herbs which are good for the re-growth of hair are:  calendula or marigold, juniper, lavender, maidenhair, nasturtium, onion, sage, soapwort, sweet flag, watercress, white birch, and white willow.

Oat- Straw Tea.
This is one of the highest herbal sources of silica, which means it is very beneficial to the health of your hair, bones, teeth, skin and nails. It will also put a shine to your hair. The tea is very palatable, and soothing to the nervous system.
To make oat straw tea: Boil up a heaped tablespoon of oat straw in a pint of water for ten minutes. Apply the  cold tea  to the scalp and hair after washing, and drink some oat straw tea every day for good health. Keep the tea in the fridge for up to two days, and then make some fresh brew up.

Nettle, Urtica dioica, or stinging nettle.
Nettles used to grow naturally in New Zealand. You would often find patches of nettle in the bush, and they were always to be found growing around the edges of a chicken coup.They are great at finding nutritious, lime-rich soil to make a home in, which is why their calcium/silica content is exceptionally high. Unfortunately, nettles are rare these days, and this is because we are too keen as a nation to spray out, with toxic chemicals, anything which looks like a weed. Also, the small allotments of land which allowed people to keep chickens and grow vegetables have almost become a thing of the past: Land is nowadays very expensive to buy, or rent, and if you are lucky enough to have a plot of land, it is likely the local council will prohibit you from the keeping of farmyard animals if you live in or near a town. So bang- there goes your manure-rich, enhanced soil where your nettles might have grown.
Nettles have been regarded simply as weeds by most people, and their true medicinal and nutritive value has been largely ignored. Nettles, like oat straw, rank very high in their silica content, iron and other minerals.

To make a nourishing hair and scalp rinse:

This recipe uses apple cider vinegar, which is a good tonic to use on its own to aid hair-growth. Here, it is combined with nettles, which gives a highly nutritious result. It is very beneficial for the hair:

Boil 4 oz of nettle leaves in 2 cups each of cider vinegar and water for ten minutes. Leave the leaves in the liquid for 24 hours. Bottle and keep in the fridge. Use after washing the hair. Rub some into the scalp each day, massaging well into the roots. Don’t wash it off, but leave on so that your scalp can absorb the nutrients. This tonic will put a shine to your hair.

See merrilyn’s other posts on hair health entitled Regrow Hair; Best Vitamins for Hair Growth; Iodine Scalp Remedy

Foods Rich in Iodine

Foods High in Iodine
It is important to eat plentiful amounts of iodine-rich foods in your diet.

 Iodine is one of the six most important minerals for body health, along with calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorous, and zinc. Of course, traces of the remaining dozen minerals are also necessary for the optimum  function of body organs and for the maintenance of cellular tissue. However, Iodine is the mineral featured in this article: iodine is so often deficient in people’s diets.

Why Iodine is Important:
Iodine is essential for healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth. A deficiency in iodine will affect your hair growth for sure.  Poor mental function, poor eye-sight, lack of energy, and slow growth in children are other symptoms likely to be suffered by people who are deficient in iodine.
Because two thirds of the body’s iodine is stored in the thyroid gland, a deficiency of iodine directly affects the thyroid function,  and this disturbance can result in your putting on a lot of weight.It can also lead to goitre and hypothyroidism.
Adults need somewhere between 80-150mcg daily, the guideline being 1 mcg for every kilogram of your body weight. Pregnant women and breast-feeding mums need to keep their intake on the high side of average.

You can over-do iodine if you take supplements, however, you cannot over-dose on iodine if you rely on food to give you your daily requirement of the mineral. It pays to remember, also, that iodine is often destroyed in the processing of foods which would normally hold iodine, and that over-worked soils are often deficient themselves in iodine, so that foods produced on these soils are also deficient in iodine and other minerals, like zinc.
Liquid iodine can be used on the scalp to supplement your iodine intake, and help your hair to regrow: see my posts on ‘Iodine Hair Growth’, ‘Iodine Scalp Hair Remedy’,  ‘Regrow Hair’ and ‘Iodine’.

Foods rich  in iodine are all those which come from the sea. Sea-water has high amounts of iodine in it, and this is absorbed by all sea life – all sea-water fish, shellfish, and sea-weeds. You absorb a little iodine as you swim in sea-water, and lie on the sand at the beach.

Living by the sea will increase your iodine levels minimally, as the salt spray will be breathed in and settle on the skin where it will be absorbed: this is one reason why sailors generally have excellent eye-sight.
Lobster, shrimp, crayfish, crab,oysters, mussels, abalone, sardines, mackerel and tuna are foods which are all extremely high in iodine.
Sea-salt also contains iodine. This is a more preferable way to take iodine than using iodized salt, which has sodium iodide added to it. The iodine in sea-salt is natural, elemental iodine, and is more easily assimilated than sodium iodide. There is much written on the subject of iodized salt which suggests this could actually be harmful, compounded by the fact that free-flowing agents, like aluminium, are also added to iodized table salt.
Kelp is a valuable source of iodine. Kelp could be substituted for table salt. It should be added to meals to ensure that enough iodine is acquired for the body, especially considering that many vegetables do not have the expected amount of iodine due to being grown on impoverished soils.
Onions, garlic, leeks, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are normally good sources of iodine, however their iodine content depends on how much iodine is in the soils where they were grown.
Root vegetables such as beetroot and carrots, turnips, swede, parsnips, dandelions and salsify, and other vegetables which are deep-rooted, like comfrey, and jerusalem artichokes, are normally high in iodine. The globe artichoke, which belongs to the thistle family, is a rich source of iodine and other minerals and vitamins. The common nettle, which can be boiled as a vegetable or made into a tea, also contains reasonable amounts of iodine.
Milk, butter, yogurt and eggs all contain some iodine.
But kelp is the king of all iodine providers. Just half a teaspoonful of kelp powder provides you with about 1700 mcg of iodine, which well exceeds the dietary standard.

Molybdenum

MOLYBDENUM
Molybdenum is found in several digestive enzymes: sulfite oxidase, xanthine oxidase and aldehyde oxidase.
Sulfite oxidase is used in the body to help detoxify sulfites which are found in protein foods.
All three enzymes are utilized in the body to process protein foods.
Xanthine oxidase aids the body in its production of uric acid.

The chemical Sulphite oxidase is used as a preservative in some foods and medicines. However, there are side effects:
When used as a food additive, sulphite oxidase can cause some people to develop asthma and other breathing difficulties
Supplementation is not thought to be necessary, as people rarely become deficient in Molybdenum.
The average daily intake from foods is 180 mcg.
500 mcg daily have been given to trial patients with no adverse effect, however, this is not advised: the time frame
of this experiment was not revealed in my source, but since it is known that Molybdenum can deplete the body’s
Copper resources. taking extra Molydenum over long periods could end up making you Copper and Iron deficient, and this would lead to anaemia. Supplements should contain no more than 250 mcgs. Between 75 and 250 mcgs is considered safe.
People with high uric acid levels in the blood, which gives rise to gout, should not take Molybdenum unless your health professional  advises you  to do so.

Iodine is essential for healthy hair, nails, skin and teeth. A deficiency in iodine will affect your hair growth for sure.  Poor mental function, poor eye-sight, lack of energy, and slow growth in children are other symptoms likely to be suffered by people who are deficient in iodine. Because two thirds of the body’s iodine is stored in the thyroid gland, a deficiency of iodine directly affects the thyroid function,  and this disturbance can result in your putting on a lot of weight.It can also lead to goitre and hypothyroidism. Adults need somewhere between 80-150mcg daily, the guideline being 1 mcg for every kilogram of your body weight. Pregnant women and breast-feeding mums need to keep their intake on the high side of average. You can over-do iodine if you take supplements, however, you cannot over-dose on iodine if you rely on food to give you your daily requirement of the mineral. It pays to remember, also, that iodine is often destroyed in the processing of foods which would normally hold iodine, and that over-worked soils are often deficient themselves in iodine, so that foods produced on these soils are also deficient in iodine and other minerals, like zinc. Liquid iodine can be used on the scalp to supplement your iodine intake, and help your hair to regrow: see my posts on ‘Iodine Hair Growth’, ‘Iodine Scalp Hair Remedy’, and ‘Iodine’. Foods high in iodine are all those which come from the sea. Sea-water has high amounts of iodine in it, and this is absorbed by all sea life – all sea-water fish, shellfish, and sea-weeds. You absorb a little iodine as you swim in sea-water, and lie on the sand at the beach. Living by the sea will increase your iodine levels minimally, as the salt spray will be breathed in and settle on the skin where it will be absorbed: this is one reason why sailors generally have excellent eye-sight. Lobster, shrimp, crayfish, crab,oysters, mussels, abalone, sardines, mackerel and tuna are foods which are all extremely high in iodine. Sea-salt also contains iodine. This is a more preferable way to take iodine than using iodized salt, which has sodium iodide added to it. The iodine in sea-salt is natural, elemental iodine, and is more easily assimilated than sodium iodide. There is much written on the subject of iodized salt which suggests this could actually be harmful, compounded by the fact that free-flowing agents, like aluminium, are also added to iodized table salt. Kelp is a valuable source of iodine. Kelp could be substituted for table salt. It should be added to meals to ensure that enough iodine is acquired for the body, especially considering that many vegetables do not have the expected amount of iodine due to being grown on impoverished soils. Onions, garlic, leeks, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, and brussels sprouts are normally good sources of iodine. Root vegetables such as beetroot and carrots, turnips, swede, parsnips, dandelions and salsify, and other vegetables which are deep-rooted, like comfrey, and jerusalem artichokes, are normally high in iodine. The globe artichoke, which belongs to the thistle family, is a rich source of iodine and other minerals and vitamins. The common nettle, which can be boiled as a vegetable or made into a tea, also contains reasonable amounts of iodine. Milk, butter, yogurt and eggs all contain some iodine. But kelp is the king of all iodine providers. Just half a teaspoonful of kelp powder provides you with about 1700 mcg of iodine, which well exceeds the dietary standard.
Excerpt

Revisions

Old New Date Created Author Actions
4 November, 2010 @ 23:47 [Current Revision] Merrilyn
29 June, 2010 @ 2:26 [Autosave] Merrilyn Restore
5 June, 2010 @ 11:38 Merrilyn Restore
3 June, 2010 @ 2:59 Merrilyn Restore
1 June, 2010 @ 22:45 Merrilyn Restore
1 June, 2010 @ 22:45 Merrilyn Restore

SOURCES
The best source of Molybdenum is in the dark green leafy vegetables: Spinach, silver beet, kale, comfrey
All beans, haricot, red kidney, green string beans, broad beans, are high in Molybdenum.
Whole grains, bran, wheatgerm, cereals and dairy products conatin Molybdenum.

Herbal Cosmetics

Herbal Cosmetics

Organic Lip-stick
2 tbsp alkanet root, 30 g beeswax, 60 ml almond oil, 3 drops tincture of benzoin
Crush alkanet. Put in glass jar. Add the warmed almond oil. Seal. Leave in sunlight for 14 days. Strain.
Melt the beeswax in double boiler. Stir in the warmed alkanet oil.Remove from heat. Add benzoin and beat until thick
and creamy. Store in small glass jars.
A gloss can be made using the above method: use 1 tsp alkanet root, 15 g beeswax, 60 ml almond oil, 3 drops benzoin