The horsetail herb has many medicinal and body care uses. Here we will focus on the exceptional blessings for hair care. Herbal hair rinses can be used in place of conditioner, as a monthly hair boost, and are wonderful for those who are sensitive to, or prefer to avoid, commercial hair products, perfumes, and chemicals.
Harmonious Horsetail Hair Rinse Recipe – let your hair sing horsetail’s praises!
8 cups of water
2 cups fresh or 1/2 cup dried horsetail
Optional: 2 drops of organic essential oil of your choice- lavender, tea tree, or eucalytptus
In a large pot, bring water to boil. Remove from heat. Add the horsetail to the water. Cover. Let steep 20 minutes. Strain and compost the horsetail. Cool horsetail rinse water to comfortable use. Add essential oil (optional). Stir. Then, choose the best method for you:
While Bathing:
Wash hair as usual. Then pour the horsetail rinse thoroughly hair, lovingly massage in, continuing until entire pot of herbal rinse is used. Leave on for 15 minutes while enjoying the rest of your bath. Towel dry and style as usual.
Or the Double Bowl Method:
Wash hair as usual. Take the herbal rinse and another large bowl to a sink or the bathtub. Bend over and place the empty pot under your head. Pour the rinse over your hair. If hair is long, you can let it sit in the rinse in the bowl beneath you. Switch containers and pour the rinse over your head several more times, then towel dry hair. Style as usual.
Nourishing Action
Horsetail is a fantastic herb to use for natural, glorious hair care because it contains more than 35% silica (an important compound that helps to strengthen connective tissue including bones, cartilage, skin, hair, nails, mucus membranes and arteries) and is also high in other minerals, nutrients, saponins, and flavonoids. As such, horsetail strengthens weak, brittle, and/or damaged hair, maintains strong hair, helps the skin regenerate, nourishes the scalp and hair follicles, and improves the elasticity of skin and hair; giving hair vitality, shine, and luster. It aids scalp circulation and hair growth. It has even been reputed to repair pattern baldness. This gentle astringent herb also helps eliminate excessive oiliness for those with oily scalps, and also aids in removing styling product build up. Horsetail is a useful remedy for dandruff, eczema, psoriasis and other troubling skin ailments.
Harvesting Horsetail
Horsetail grows wild and abundant throughout the world, it is most easily found in damp open woods, on low open ground, meadows, along backwater channels, and embankments, often in dry sandy soil. Be sure to pick in a clean, uncontaminated area away from roads. The best time to harvest horsetail is mid-spring (early June) when the feathery-like stems are pointing upward as opposed to downward. This is when the nutritive value is at its prime and is ideal for internal use; however horsetail can be harvested anytime throughout the growing season for use as an external herbal hair rinse. To harvest, kindly ask and give thanks to the generous plant, then simply pinch off or cut with scissors 2 inches from ground. A basket works great for collecting.
Excess can be dried on a rack for a day, finely chopped, and then stored in a glass jar in the freezer for future use. Alternately, make a very large batch of herbal hair rinse and freeze in individual use sizes to conveniently pull out, thaw, warm, and use once per month (the first Sunday of every month makes a wonderful self-love day; a great way to begin the month).
Two Additional Ways to Enjoy Horsetail
As a spring tea tonic
Prepare as stated above. Drink this as a tea warm 2-3 times per day with local honey for a max of 2 months. Taking the tea internally is believed to help the hair, skin and nails the same way as applying topically. There are many other wonderful, additional benefits and healing/medicinal reasons for drinking and utilizing horsetail. Always research prior to use. Horsetail is not recommended if you are pregnant, nursing, or have kidney inflammation. Certain drugs may also interact with horsetail.
A horsetail mineral bath
For this, use 1 cup of dried horsetail or 4 cups of fresh horsetail. Soak the horsetail for 8 hours in enough cold water to cover the plants. After which, heat and strain off the liquid. Add to a freshly drawn bath, enjoy a mineral-rich, relaxing soak! For athlete’s foot, soak in a foot bath for 20 minutes.
It’s easy to see why horsetail is one of the special herbal ingredients in our exceptional shampoo bars! See them here:
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