Share a Cuppa With Your Hair

Tea is rich in antioxidants that fight free radicals and keep our bodies healthy, but it also can be therapeutic for your hair and scalp. Break out the tea pot, and brew these tried and true do-it-yourself hair treatments:

• Fight dandruff and add shine with 1/4 cup of dried lavender simmered in two cups of water. After cooling, saturate hair and scalp and leave on fifteen minutes before rinsing.
• Help stimulate hair growth by steeping 1/4 cup of dried rosemary in two cups of water until it reaches room temperature. Massage onto scalp, cover hair with a shower cap, and leave on as long as you’d like, even overnight, to tone and clarify.
• Add subtle, natural looking highlights to blonde hair with a rinse made from 1/3 cup dried chamomile flowers steeped in one quart of hot water until cool. Strain well, and pour over hair, repeating if desired. Leave in hair for fifteen minutes, then rinse.

Nettle for Dandruff and Hair Loss

Looking for a more natural approach to your hair and scalp woes? Anti-inflammatory Stinging Nettle has been known to stimulate hair growth and reduce dandruff. While it’s more gradual than some of the commercial hair loss treatments, taking Stinging Nettle supplements (with a doctor’s approval) such as those from Nature’s Fingerprint ($8.99) may be a good option for those who want to prevent additional hair loss. As an added bonus, Stinging Nettle is rich in calcium and iron. It’s suggested that users will notice a change in hair and scalp over time, taking 250 mg three times per day.

Overnight Sensation

 

 

 

 

We’ve all heard of hair products that cost an arm and a leg. Add another to the list: Frederic Fekkai Overnight Hair Repair checks in at a whopping $195 for just over 3 ounces!

Directions are to apply to dry hair just before bedtime (one consistency in the reviews we’ve seen is that it does indeed absorb quickly and doesn’t mess up your pillow). Shampoo and condition as usual when you wake up in the morning.

It’s recommended to use every other night for 2-3 weeks, then about 3 times a week thereafter for its cumulative benefits (read: you need to use it several times before you see results).

How about it, reader? Tell us your experience. Fact or folly?

Win a Molton Brown Hair Collection!

This month, enter to win $800 worth of luxurious beauty products from Molton Brown! In addition to the new line of shampoo, conditioner and hair treatments, the haul will include body washes, lotions, scented candles and more!

Even if you don’t win, pick up Purifying Plum-Kadu Hairwash and Haircondition ($28.00 each). Moringa seed and kaduku plum protect hair from free radicals and prevent environmental and smoke pollutants from adhering to the hair and wreaking havoc.

Condition Before You Wash!

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? How about the shampoo, or the conditioner? Now it can go either way, with hair treatments designed especially for application before you wash! These treatments deep condition without weighing hair down, and can be used by all hair types.

So why don’t the nutritious, nourishing oils get washed away when you shampoo? These treatments stay on anywhere from five to thirty minutes or more to allow your hair to absorb them. The conditioners work deep down to repair and protect, so there is no residue to make your hair limp and dull. Follow with your regular shampoo and conditioner and you’ll be left with soft, smooth, healthy looking hair!

If your hair is hungry for moisture, try feeding it with Burt’s Bees Avocado Butter Pre-Shampoo Hair Treatment ($9.95). Avocado butter is packed with vitamins and protein, and rosemary oil soothes tired scalps.