Herbal Tea Rinses For Your Hair

In addition to healthy dieting and exercising, drinking herbal teas and doing herbal rinses will assist in restoring you hair’s natural beauty and luster. Natural herbal teas are rich in nutrients that can help rejuvenate, strengthen, nourish, and tone your hair and skin. There are many health benefits to drinking herbal teas. Depending on which variety of herbs you choose, you can naturally highlight, lighten, or darken, prevent dandruff, and deep clean your hair. Natural herbs will help to tighten your pores which protect your skin from excess oils and dirt. Although we should exercise caution in consuming excessive amounts of caffeine, tiny amounts of caffeine in tea rinses has wonderful benefits for hair. Caffeine aids in prevention of hair loss, and will not damage your hair if left in for a short periods of time (be sure to rinse the caffeine out thoroughly). The main benefit of caffeine is that it blocks the DHT, which is the main culprit of hair shedding. Scientific studies have shown that caffeine can stimulate hair growth when used in small amounts. Scientific studies have also shown that applying too much caffeine to the hair follicles can actually stunt growth. The key to using caffiene for hair growth is to use herbal teas instead of coffee, which usually contains a significantly larger amount of caffeine. Also be sure to dilute the herbal teas with enough water (0.001% caffeine in water) to avoid stunted hair growth. If you are nervous about using caffeinated teas, opt out and choose a caffeine-free tea, which will still have several healthy nutrients for your hair. There are many different types teas or rinses that you may use for you hair. Here are a few: • Nettles is a type of herb that helps with hair loss, mineral deficiencies, helps the body to remove waists that may clog up our bodies and prevent nutrients from absorbing properly. Nettles also prevents dandruff and stimulate blood flow and circulation to the scalp. This tea is also a rich source of iron, folic acid, vitamin B, silica and other essential minerals for hair growth and strength. • Rosemary is also a stimulating herb that regulates scalp circulation. Rosemary is effective in preventing hair loss and helps with hair regrowth. Rosemary rinsing helps with product buildup. It leans the hair follicles and promotes healthy hair growth. You may drink this often or rinse once a week to obtain strong, healthy, thick and clean hair and a healthy scalp. • Chamomile is effective in reversing baldness and hair loss. Chamomile rinsing can be used as an alternative to Henna for lightening the hair or bringing out natural highlights. Chamomile is gentle and safe enough for kids hair as well. • Sage rinsing is also a natural and effective alternative to Henna for hair darkening. You may use this infusion once a week for best results. • Calendula tea contains beta-carotene which is also found in many greens and carrots. This flower is high in vitamin A and contains essential oils and sugars that stimulate our immune system. Calendula’s bright yellow color helps bring out the highlights and auburn of medium colored hair. • Black tea is also great tea rinse to strengthen hair and prevent hair loss. Rinsing your hair with black tea can also help darken the hair, bring out natural highlights, and add shine to it. The tea rinse also helps increase bulk of hair, by slowing down hair shedding and enhancing hair growth. Tea infusion process for cleansing and rinsing hair: Items you will need: 1.)Tea leaves or 2 tea bags of your choice 2.)Large jar 3.)2 cups of boiling water Begin by washing your hair. For tea bags: Boil 2 cups of water, pour it in a jar, add the two tea bags. Allow mixture to steep for 45 min - 1 hr. For tea leaves: Boil 2 cups of water, and add a handful of leaves or flowers. Allow mixture to steep for 20-30 min. Directions: After steeping, strain the mixture and allow it to cool. Take the cooled infusion and pour it over your your wet hair and scalp. Rub the mixture into your scalp and keep it in for 10-15 min allowing it to penetrate your hair shaft and follicles. Next, add a small amount of conditioner, rinse out, and style as desired. Drinking natural herbs and herbal infusion rinsing are effective and beneficial to maintaining healthy hair and skin. Adding a drop of honey to your teas will give your hair an extra boost of shine and help smooth cuticles for better hair manageability. Herbal rinsing can be done weekly, and can be used in place of deep conditioning which will help when wearing braids, and twists. There are many different brands and types of natural herbal teas.

Ecofriendly Air Filters for Your Furance

I found a great alternative to those throw away air filters for your furnace. It's call NaturalAire Cut to Fit made with Natural Fibers and it is produced by Flanders. This filter is washable, reusable and biodegradable. It is effective agains dust/lint, dust mites debris, pollen and mold. It lasts up to a year. I purchased 2 of them so one can throughly dry after rinsing. So for the 1 year price of filters I have 2 years worth. Bonus is less to put into the landfill. If you do not have a permanent frame ask the next time you have your furnace cleaned if the technician can build one for you. Mine did at no cost. This filter runs less than $10.00 per filter at your local Do It Best store.

We're Back!!!!

Ok folks - the stress is gone and I'm feeling much better. Amazing how we let things get to us. I read a great quote today - if you allow someone to make you angry, you have let him or her conquer you. So true! If you aren't happy look around you to see what is wrong and what you can change. Sometimes it's an easy fix sometimes it takes awhile to accomplish (even then maybe a little sad because a part of your life is ending) but it is worth it.

The difference between fragrance oil, "essense of" oils and essential oils

It has frustrated me for a long time that some makers of soaps and lotions will put "all natural" soap or lotion when they use a fragrance oil. Ok I give them credit that maybe the soap base or lotion base may be all natural but once you add a fragrance oil or "essense of" oil the product you are buying is NOT a all natural product. Fragrance oils can containup to 4,000 manmade chemicals. Chances are if you had a reaction to a product is most likely the fragrance oil added. I ran into this frustion at the Johnny Appleseed Festival (love that fest and go every year!) here in Fort Wayne today. Like many home business people I love to check out the competion. I learn a few things and so do they thru conversation. I wondered into a soap tent there today and was reviewing the ingredients on a homemade soap. I spyed a Honeysuckle soap that had essense of honeysuckle listed. I asked the person that made the soap where did they find a essense of honeysuckle when I hadn't been able to find any natural honeysuckle oils. What I was told was that they do put essential oils in the soaps but somethings can not be found such as the honeysuckle in a natural state. I stated "So you add a fragrance oil to this supposedly all natural soap" and the answer was "yes". I told them the label was very misleading - it is worded to make people think they are getting a all natural product when they really are not. The soapmaker replied - these people don't care about that. They just want something that smells good. When I asked what would they do if a person that has a fragrance allergy had a reaction their response was "Everybody is allergic to something"

It seems that it truly is the consumers responsibity to watch out for yourself. Questions to ask when buying a "natural product" is if there is a fragrance oil or essense of oil added. If it is a liquid lotion there has to be some type of preservative added. While a advocate all natural products as a intensive care nure I am also a realist. We do put a commerically produced preservative in the pump lotion because it does have water but it is the closest thing to natural and is what is used in the vaccines given for flu, pneumonia, etc. The difference is we point this out right away to prospective customers. We are all about education and safety. You will never find a fragrance oil in our products. The soaps, lotion bars and lip balms do not require a preservative as they do not have water in them.

Makin soap...old school

Ok, so I haven't figured out this whole blog thing, and posting pictures with comments and such, but I can make soap! If you look at the previous pics in order, First, you chop the frozen hunks of suet or porcine fat. This works best when it is frozen. You also don't have to do 26 lbs of it at a time, like I did this time! You can make soap with virtually any amount of fat or oils. Next, heat the fat until it is completely liquid. For this large of a batch, yes, I used my big turkey cooker outside. After the fat has been purified and deodorized, I pour it into 5 lb. batches. The impurities stay in the water, and the pure tallow solidifies at the top. Rinse these tallow hunks off, and they are ready to be made into soap or candles!!! This batch was used for soap. It made about 120 bars, 7 different kinds. These are curing on racks for 3 to 6 weeks until ready for use. If you have ever used natural tallow soap, I KNOW you're goin...oooo baby! If you never have, well, you just have to experience the softness and lather of it to appreciate it. No worries about damaging ph levels on your skin, either. I will post a couple of recipes using beef and or pork fats later this week. (yes, sally, I promise)