Herbs For Hair - Sharing

Soapmaking Forum

Help Support Soapmaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Dec 10, 2019
Messages
1,081
Reaction score
1,046
Location
Colorado
Everyone has been so helpful that I wanted to share a little herbal knowledge.
These are various herbs that are good for hair with a little detail on what each does.
This is not all my own, but rather info I've picked up here and there over the last year or so. I just don't want to take all the credit. :)
Anyway, hope this helps someone.

Herbs for Hair
Aloe vera, Aloe barbadensis, makes hair more manageable, smoother, silkier, and healthier. Aloe conditions, moisturizes and creates a smooth shine. Mexican women have applied aloe vera for centuries to add luster and manageability to their hair.

Amla, Phyllanthus emblica, also known as the Indian Gooseberry, is an excellent hair conditioning herb, provides nourishment that penetrates the scalp and strengthens hair at its root to promote stronger, healthier new growth and helps with hair loss by normalizing blood supply.

Basil, Ocimum basilicum, stimulates hair follicles, increases scalp circulation and promotes hair growth. The magnesium in basil helps protect hair from breakage, and its anti-inflammatory properties help soothe the roots. Basil adds luster to dull hair.

Bhringraj: Hair growth, it adds deep moisture and acts like a multivitamin for hair to help strengthen the hair shaft, provide natural shine and may also help with dandruff.

Black Tea, as a hair rinse is good for premature grayness and darkening hair. It also helps decrease shedding.

Black Walnut, Juglans nigra, leaves infused are a great remedy for oily hair. The leaves and especially the hulls are a source of natural hair dye that can darken hair. It is often combined with henna to create brown hair dye.

Burdock, Arctium lappa, strengthens hair follicles, to promote healthy hair growth and improve the overall condition of hair. The silica and phytosterols in burdock help soothe irritated scalp conditions like dandruff, decrease breakage and repair hair while adding sheen, hydration & luster. The mucilage in Burdock Root also helps add “slip” to your hair to make detangling easier.

Calendula flowers – This naturally healing herb has many great properties to help soothe and heal all sorts of scalp issues and can be used to enhance blonde hair color.

Cassia, Similar to henna. The ground leaves look like henna but contain a golden yellow dye molecule that adds color to very pale blond or gray hair. An excellent conditioner, it strengthens the hair shaft, enhances volume, adds shine and may help improve dandruff. Cassia is often mixed with true henna.

Chamomile flowers – A naturally soothing and anti-inflammatory herb, chamomile is another great herb for scalp conditions and is also a great brightener for blonde hair color.

Cloves, Syzgium aromaticum, make great hair rinses to bring warm tones to browns and enhance red and auburn highlights. The warm clove scent is an added bonus.

Comfrey, Symphytum officinale, soothes and stimulates the scalp, and enriches lifeless hair. Comfrey tea, made from root or leaves, poured over hair as a rinse, makes hair soft as silk.

Dandelion, Taraxacum officinale, a root rich in iron, helps treat dandruff and dry hair issues. Dandelion leaves are loaded with minerals and vitamins, especially vitamin A, that help balance sebum. Dandelion infusions have been used to add sheen and light highlights to hair.

Elder Flowers, Sambucus nigra, are mildly astringent and help soothe a dry, irritated scalp. Hair-softening elder flower also helps dry damaged hair.

Fenugreek, Trigonella foenum-graecum, or Methi, provides natural proteins for the nourishment and health of hair, stimulates blood flow to the root of the hair, and was used to combat hair loss. Used as a treatment for dandruff, thinning hair, and damaged hair, it is said to preserve hair's natural color and keep hair silky.

Eucalyptus leaf – Just like peppermint, this naturally antibacterial/antifungal herb has fantastic scalp stimulating properties for hair growth, cleansing, and scalp issues.

Flaxseed or linseed, Linum usitatissimum, comes from the flax plant, an annual herb. It is rich in mucilage, a complex mixture of polysaccharides that form a soothing gelatinous substance when water is added. The mucilage provides slip like a conditioner that helps detangle hair. Flaxseed, very rich in Omega-3 essential fatty acids, strengthens the hair shaft and may help with hair loss.

Ginger Root, Zingiber officinale, helps increase scalp circulation which stimulates hair follicles and encourages growth. The fatty acids composition of ginger root is great for thinning hair. Ginger also has antiseptic properties that work to help with dandruff.

Green Tea, Camellia sinensis, has antioxidants which benefit the hair and scalp by decreasing hair loss and soothing hair conditions like dandruff and psoriasis. It contains natural vitamin C which helps guards against damage from UV rays, vitamin E which helps dry or damaged hair and panthenol which helps strengthen and soften hair and prevents split ends.

Henna, Lawsonia inermis, is a desert flowering plant. The powdered leaves have been used since ancient times as a natural dye. Henna gives hair a reddish tint and, when mixed with other botanicals such as indigo and cassia, can create a variety of beautiful warm colors. Henna, a deep conditioner, coats the hair shaft, seals in moisture, tightens the cuticle, increases body and luster and makes hair silky soft.

Hibiscus flowers- This naturally conditioning herb is rich in vitamins and antioxidants, and can even be used to enhance red colors in your hair.

Horsetail – Horsetail is rich in silica, and has been scientifically proven to help with hair growth and strength. I use this herb in all my hair recipes.

Hops, Humulus lupulus, help heal and repair damaged hair. They contain a nourishing oil that is an effective hair conditioner and thickener. Hops help stimulate scalp circulation and encourage growth. Its antiseptic properties help with dandruff.

Indigo, Indigofera tinctoria, leaves are harvested, dried, and ground into a powder that contains a deep blue dye used for centuries in textiles, arts, and as a natural jet black hair colorant. Indigo was the original blue dye in Levi Strauss jeans. Indigo is often combined with henna to produce rich dark brown to black shades.

Lavender buds – One of my all-time favorite herbs, lavender is fantastic in hair care. It's naturally antibacterial, antifungal, antiseptic, and even anti-inflammatory; making this awesome smelling herb a great multi-purpose herb to use for all your hair care needs.

Lemon Balm, Melissa officinalis, a mild astringent, makes a very good rinse for those with oily hair. The toning properties of Lemon Balm help balance and refresh hair and scalp.

Licorice root – This awesome root is another moisture and slip giving herb but it's also fantastic for many scalp conditions and hair loss issues. Licorice root is a favorite hair growth herb of mine!

Nettle leaf – Rich in vitamins and minerals, nettle is a fantastic herb to use to help stimulate the scalp for hair growth and strengthening.

Oatstraw – Oatstraw is a nutrient dense herb, rich in silica, vitamins A,C, & E, and magnesium. This is another herb that I always use in all of my DIY herbal hair care recipes.

Peppermint leaf – Naturally antibacterial and antifungal, mint leaves add a refreshing cool boost to hair care products. This growth stimulating herb is also fantastic for most scalp issues too. Spearmint can also be used!

Pine needles – Rich in vitamins, pine needles (and cypress, fir, cedarwood, and more!) have natural astringent and antiseptic properties. When used in hair care, pine needles can help with many scalp issues, have been proven to aid in hair growth, and to stimulate the scalp.

Rosemary leaf- A well-known herb for hair growth and strengthening, rosemary is great for use against dandruff as well as many other scalp type problems.
 
Flaxseed or linseed, Linum usitatissimum, comes from the flax plant, an annual herb. It is rich in mucilage, a complex mixture of polysaccharides that form a soothing gelatinous substance when water is added. The mucilage provides slip like a conditioner that helps detangle hair. Flaxseed, very rich in Omega-3 essential fatty acids, strengthens the hair shaft and may help with hair loss.
This reminds me of the time I made DIY Flaxseed Gel. Fun if you don't mind putting mucus on your hair~ :D

 
But - did it work? lol
Yes! It does! Leaves your hair silky. With a short shelf life it's too time consuming to make every time I need some hair gel. Fun though, Deb. You should try it.

@Chris Veer That's quite a list of herbs. I'm wondering if there's anything in particular that you've made and use on a regular basis that you wouldn't mind sharing? o_O Please. :D
 
I have really very very baby fine hair, so the only thing I use on a regular bases is what I now use as shampoo.
1 tbs dried Rosemary, 1 tsp sage and a dash of cinnamon. Put in a tea ball, pour 1/2 cup boiling water over it and steep until cool. Add 1 tbs rye flour and mix well. I sometimes put it into a squeeze bottle or sometimes just leave it in a coffee cup. Sometimes I add horsetail and/or calendula to the tea before steeping. After mixing with the rye flour I sometimes add tea tree oil. I use it as a shampoo and leave it in my hair while I finish showering, then rinse really well at the end. I use a tiny tiny bit of coconut oil on the ends to stop fly aways. Using this, my hair actually has body and feels full. It's shiny with a lot of bounce. No more "real" soap on my hair ever again. :)

I do mix up the herbs here and there a bit, but I always use the rosemary, sage, and cinnamon. For anyone with graying hair ... those are the best. :)

I make this for my kids on occasion. But I don't use it.
upload_2019-12-30_16-32-33.png
 
Last edited by a moderator:
WOW! I'm so impressed. Who knew. I dont have rye flour... would rye bread work? hahaha Just kidding. I need to have a look in my stash of herbs to see what I've got to play with. Hmmmm.
 
lol, I like to buy herbs in bulk at Vitamin Cottage (now Natural Grocers), what I can't get there I get online but they have a good selection.

I've been trying to come up with a shampoo that can be made shelf stable (kids!) that doesn't use the Decyl Glucoside. I've tried Soapwort, and soapnuts but haven't been happy with the results. Arrow root/xanthan gum help to thicken ... but its kinda gelatinous ... so still a work in progress. Although I do like EcoMulse, but haven't tried it in shampoo yet. There's just never enough time. lol

If anyone has a recipe for a natural surfactant shampoo and willing to share, let me know. :)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Old-time waveset was actually made from flax seed and was used for finger waving, and roller setting hair. It actually was quite nice except I was quite allergic to it.
Wow, I had no idea! Now that you mention it though ... Thinking that would give a little viscosity in my rosemary tea. Thanks for the info and giving me another idea! :)
 
Argan is also another good one to add to this list :) I mix this with amla & a few others which I infuse using my own wild picked herbs for my conditioning hair oil that I use myself, with a good dash of my favourite essential oils. Really love it on freshly washed hair, just before blow drying. Leaves my hair very soft & silky for days.

Nope, I am not an every day hair washer as I have found this absolutely destroys my hair & scalp. Besides that, my racoon kids and deer boyfriend don't care 😁
 
Argan is also another good one to add to this list :) I mix this with amla & a few others which I infuse using my own wild picked herbs for my conditioning hair oil that I use myself, with a good dash of my favourite essential oils. Really love it on freshly washed hair, just before blow drying. Leaves my hair very soft & silky for days.

Nope, I am not an every day hair washer as I have found this absolutely destroys my hair & scalp. Besides that, my racoon kids and deer boyfriend don't care 😁
I really like adding Amla as well. This post was from 4 years ago and I've made minor changes to the tea I use. Funny how it hasn't changed much though. I've added Amla and on occasion a little flax.
I haven't tried Argan after the wash, but I bet it works great. I'll have to give to give it a try.
During Covid I had a really hard time finding Rye flour, couldn't even get it online for a while. So, I ended up trying some other things. Rice flour, and tapioca starch to name a couple ... needless to say, they didn't work. I still have no idea why rye flour works. Would love to find someone someday that has the answer. lol

You should check out Fo Ti root. It is a Chinese herb that has been found to switch on the growth phase of the hair follicles when used topically. Great for those of us with thinning post-menopausal hair.
Wow! Very interesting herb! Definitely going to give this a try. Thanks for the info. :)
Do you use it and if so, has it made a difference?
 
Wow! Very interesting herb! Definitely going to give this a try. Thanks for the info. :)
Do you use it and if so, has it made a difference?
I had a lot of hair loss during menopause and did some research. I do two things with my hair each week. One is an oil mask and the other is a rinse.

The oil mask is basically just Castor Oil as a carrier with 3% Moroccan Rosemary, applied to my hair and left on as long as I can, I work from home so it is easy to put it on in the morning and wash it in the afternoon. I found that there are three different types of Rosemary in regards to their chemotype. It is the Moroccan Rosemary with the chemotype Cineole that was used in a comparison study against Regaine/Rogaine (the stuff they use for hair loss). It was during this study where they found that the Moroccan Rosemary (ct cineole) showed the same results as Regain. So I have been doing the following for the past 8 months.
Weekly application of Moroccan Rosemary in Castor Oil to my hair.
Twice a week I use a concoction that was posted on this forum in another similar discussion as this - rice water fermented with grapefruit rinds where I also add Fo Ti root (also known as Fleeceflower root), let it ferment for a few weeks and I use it as a rinse in my hair 2 times a week.
I have definitely got new growth, especially noticeable around my hairline where it was receding. My hair has also grown a lot longer than it has in years. It is growing faster and has less breakage on the ends.

So to answer your question, I do use it but I don't use it alone. So I am not sure if it is working but something absolutely is. I will not be changing anything. The concoction with the rice water is the stuff used by the Red Yao women in china. I have linked a video that gives some good info about it.

 
It is the Moroccan Rosemary with the chemotype Cineole that was used in a comparison study against Regaine/Rogaine (the stuff they use for hair loss). It was during this study where they found that the Moroccan Rosemary (ct cineole) showed the same results as Regain. So I have been doing the following for the past 8 months.
Weekly application of Moroccan Rosemary in Castor Oil to my hair.
Twice a week I use a concoction that was posted on this forum in another similar discussion as this - rice water fermented with grapefruit rinds where I also add Fo Ti root (also known as Fleeceflower root), let it ferment for a few weeks and I use it as a rinse in my hair 2 times a week.
I have definitely got new growth, especially noticeable around my hairline where it was receding. My hair has also grown a lot longer than it has in years. It is growing faster and has less breakage on the ends.

So to answer your question, I do use it but I don't use it alone. So I am not sure if it is working but something absolutely is. I will not be changing anything. The concoction with the rice water is the stuff used by the Red Yao women in china.
Amazing. I haven't seen that comparison study but will be looking for it very soon. :)
I know that all Rosemary contains ct. 1,8 cineole and as an essential oil it is highly concentrated. In the essential oils it is (for some reason) referred to as Cineol (no e?).
Here is a link to a page showing all the chemical compounds in Rosemary. LOVE this site for plant chemical compounds! :)
I'm going to buy some Fo-ti and add it to my "shampoo" :)
Going to check out the fermented rice water as well. I wonder if it is more on the acidic side of the ph spectrum making it somewhat like vinegar? I don't know, but going to do some research to find out. :)

Thank you so much for sharing! :)
 
I had a lot of hair loss during menopause and did some research. I do two things with my hair each week. One is an oil mask and the other is a rinse.

The oil mask is basically just Castor Oil as a carrier with 3% Moroccan Rosemary, applied to my hair and left on as long as I can, I work from home so it is easy to put it on in the morning and wash it in the afternoon. I found that there are three different types of Rosemary in regards to their chemotype. It is the Moroccan Rosemary with the chemotype Cineole that was used in a comparison study against Regaine/Rogaine (the stuff they use for hair loss). It was during this study where they found that the Moroccan Rosemary (ct cineole) showed the same results as Regain. So I have been doing the following for the past 8 months.
Weekly application of Moroccan Rosemary in Castor Oil to my hair.
Twice a week I use a concoction that was posted on this forum in another similar discussion as this - rice water fermented with grapefruit rinds where I also add Fo Ti root (also known as Fleeceflower root), let it ferment for a few weeks and I use it as a rinse in my hair 2 times a week.
I have definitely got new growth, especially noticeable around my hairline where it was receding. My hair has also grown a lot longer than it has in years. It is growing faster and has less breakage on the ends.

So to answer your question, I do use it but I don't use it alone. So I am not sure if it is working but something absolutely is. I will not be changing anything. The concoction with the rice water is the stuff used by the Red Yao women in china. I have linked a video that gives some good info about it.


I have dealt with my own hair loss using cold pressed flax seed oil internally. Look for the stuff in your health food store's cooler. At least 3 TBSP a day. I normally put it in my smoothies, along with a whole lot of other stuff, including fruits, vegetables & supplements. It works, and doesn't take that long to notice a difference in the thickness & health of the hair.

Cooking flax is something I never do as it's an oil / seed which goes rancid VERY quickly. Even the seeds - which should always be bought whole & raw, not ground, as they oxidize & go rancid even more quickly (not to mention anything ground - including spices - often has hidden fillers in it) - should be kept in the freezer. To make my own flax seed gel, I simply added water to it, let it sit overnight, then strained it the next day, using the left over flax seeds in my smoothies. Preservative (whatever type you choose, I go as natural as possible) & essential oils, as well as other oils infused with hair-friendly herbs can easily be emulsified into the flax snot 😂 using a stick blender. It leaves the hair super silky, and works for skin really nicely as well. Love love LOVE anything related to flax, even flax snot :)
 
To make my own flax seed gel, I simply added water to it, let it sit overnight, then strained it the next day, using the left over flax seeds in my smoothies. Preservative (whatever type you choose, I go as natural as possible) & essential oils, as well as other oils infused with hair-friendly herbs can easily be emulsified into the flax snot 😂 using a stick blender. It leaves the hair super silky, and works for skin really nicely as well. Love love LOVE anything related to flax, even flax snot :)
Interesting. I hadn't thought to just let the flax seeds soak in water. I will give that a try!
 
Interesting. I hadn't thought to just let the flax seeds soak in water. I will give that a try!
I never did understand why people cooked their flax seeds when it's completely unnecessary. Doing the process 'raw' so-to-speak is so much easier. Just plop in the seeds. some water, give it a stir, cover to prevent evaporation, and strain the next day. I would sit it in the fridge overnight to delay the onset of decomposition. People who are vegan make 'flax eggs' simply by soaking flax seeds (usually ground AFAIA), actually, to use in baking & other recipes.

It's still the texture of slippery snot - maybe a new product name? Slippery Snot Serum - why not, they sell snail slime for the face & hair? let's get real LOL but if you refrain from using heat, you're less likely to destroy the active components of the flax seeds, which are so prone to rancidity in the first place. I never heat flax seed or oil, ever. I had a discussion about this with a friend whose father is an American biochemist living in Australia & he got into all sorts of issues regarding some oils (flax seeds have a lot of oil in them) becoming carcinogenic when heated. There's also the fact that heating oils destroys the antioxidant properties of many, if not most or all, oils. Would love to use flax oil in soap, but with the price of good quality flax seed oil - cold pressed - it seems like there's no point, unless using the stuff from the hardware store 😂 namely 'linseed oil', boiled or raw, and even that's not so cheap. The heat from the gel process is what concerns me.

This article gets into the fact that oils which are reheated - such as in restaurants / fast food joints - become carcinogenic as they develop polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH): Impact of consumption of repeatedly heated cooking oils on the incidence of various cancers- A critical review - PubMed Yes, this is different than heating flax seed oil OR the seeds themselves, but nonetheless, I find many interesting related facts when doing this kind of research. This is simply the way my brain works 😁

I will keep looking for more information regarding heating flax seeds / flax seed oil - despite the fact that we were originally talking about flax gel - and see if I can find anything specific online. And just because it isn't on the internet, doesn't mean it's not true. Sometimes we need to get back to good old fashioned books, and **** the so-called 'fact checkers' & corporate propagators of ignorance. I'm looking at YOU, Google haha 😂

Wow, that was a nosebleed response to a one liner 🙄 Take from it what is helpful & discard the rest :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top