Natural Hair Care From Your Garden

Beautiful, glossy, thick hair was a sign of good health and youth when disease reduced the average life span to just 35 years.

Whether it was to brighten blond hair or make brunettes look shiny, the sources of nearly all hair-care products were plants. If you're looking for a more natural path to beautiful hair, plant a garden and harvest what you need to look your very best without spending very much at all.

Rosemary

Maybe you think that all tea is for drinking. Strongly steeped teas made of fresh herbs were valuable hair rinses. They cut the tallow soap residue down with natural oils that left recently washed tresses light and bouncy. Rosemary was the most favored herb for brown hair and is still found in some hair-care products. It is said to help hair remain curled even in damp weather. Pour a pint of boiling water over a cup of freshly chopped leaves. Allow it to stand until cold. Then bottle it and rinse hair after washing.

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Sage

For darkening lighter shades of brown hair or dealing with gray without a guillotine, garden sage was used. Create a rinse by steeping a half-cup of freshly chopped sage in a quart of boiling water for 20 minutes. The longer it is boiled the darker the rinse will be. Strain liquid and pour over hair. Allow it to remain for 15 minutes, and rinse with clear water.

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Black Walnut

In the same way, American pioneer women steeped hulls, not the nut of black walnut, for a very effective darkening rinse. It was effective at toning down gray and should be treated as a real hair dye. Hulls of walnut, pecan and shagbark hickory are old-time natural dyestuffs used for centuries to color yarn, cloth, leather and baskets.