Herbal hair rinses are easy to make and pleasant to use. They are like a strong herbal tea and are used to rinse out soap residue—leaving your hair shiny, clean, and smelling pleasantly herbal. If your hair is damaged from the sun, or from bleaching and coloring, this is a good rinse for healing it. Don’t worry, stinging nettles don’t sting when they’re cooked and they are especially good for damaged hair.
• 1 cup stinging nettles (Urtica dioica)
• 4 cups boiling water (spring, well or bottled)
Add nettles to the boiling water, remove from heat, cover pan with a lid and let cool completely. Strain and discard the nettles.
Warm the liquid to a comfortable temperature and shampoo hair normally. Pour the rinse through the hair, catching any excess to reuse. Don’t rinse out. Wrap hair in towel and dry as usual.