Ah, summer. Barbecues and cold beers with friends, butterflies and flowers, long afternoons spent poolside … and oily hair.
If you’re like me, your scalp starts working overtime during the summer, and your hair ends up looking a little like chunky strands of muck.
Want a super-easy, homemade solution to the oily hair blues? Use a hair rinse.
The one I made recently uses rosemary, lavender, and apple cider vinegar, but honestly, straight-up ACV (Bragg’s brand is my fave) diluted in water works as well as anything.
How To Use a Homemade Hair Rinse
You can use a hair rinse one of two ways: It can be your only “hair product” in your bath or shower – just simply rinse through right before you get out (perfect for days when you’re in a rush); or you can use it as a final rinse after shampooing (or not, if you go ‘pooless) and conditioning. I prefer the latter, because I’ve never particularly liked my hair without at least a slight bit of conditioning.
Most likely, once you’ve rinsed your hair with your prepared rinse, you won’t need to wash it through with plain water.And while it may seem a little scary to leave the smell of apple cider vinegar in your hair, trust me, it goes away as your hair dries. If your rinse contains any essential oils or other herbs (like the recipe below), those yummy smells will remain, but the vinegar smell disappears before you know it.
Now a little about the ingredients (and why you want them in your hair):
- Rosemary. Rosemary is both a cleanser and a strengthener, but my favorite reason to use rosemary? It darkens your hair and helps cover the grays. I was using it regularly for a while last summer, and definitely noticed a darkening of the now overwhelming scant gray hairs I had. Plus, the smell of rosemary (natural smell, from the plant or essential oils) is linked to improved memory. And the more the gray hairs show up, the more the memory seems to need a little help.
- Lavender. Oooh, heavenly lavender. Not only does it smell like angels made of candy, but it’s antibacterial (which helps with dandruff, if that’s an issue) and softening.
- Apple Cider Vinegar. By now, the entire world knows about how beneficial ACV is for myriad health issues, household cleaning, and skincare. But it’s also fab in a hair rinse. It helps balance the pH of your scalp and hair, which is great news for people with oily or greasy hair. Again, if you don’t like the smell, don’t worry. It’s fleeting.
- Borax. Okay. Honestly, this was a new one for me. It seemed a little strange to put something called “borax” on my scalp. But the word is (and so I learned afterward), borax is super duper amazing at softening your hair. And it’s not dangerous at all! (Except you probably don’t want to breathe in the granules, just because it’s yucky tasting). I’ve made this rinse before without the borax, and I can honestly say that the addition of this salt/mineral took it to a new level.
I adapted this recipe from one of my most treasured homemade body care recipe books: Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles. If you ever see it in the bookstore, flip through. I daresay you’ll be tempted to buy (especially after all you’re learning here)!
Rosemary and Lavender Softening Hair Rinse
4 c. water
1/2 c. dried rosemary
1/2 c. dried lavender
1 tsp. borax
3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Bring the water to boil in a large pot. Once you’ve reached a rolling boil, remove the pot from the stove and add the borax and apple cider vinegar. Stir. Add the lavender and rosemary. Stir well (until all the herbs are wet) and cover. Leave the pot to “steep” unheated for 2-4 hours (or longer, even … the longer, the stronger).
After your liquid has reached a caramel brownish color, strain the herbs from the liquid and pour into a glass container. Refrigerate until use.
To use: After shampooing and conditioning, or as your sole hair product, pour the rinse over your hair, making sure to soak it through completely. Finish off with a final rinse of clean water, if desired (the liquid is a brownish “tea” color, so it may stain a light-colored towel if you don’t rinse with clean water). Or, simply leave the rosemary rinse in your hair and dry and style as usual.
One more little tip: I let my rinse steep overnight before straining out the herbs. This makes for a VERY potent rinse. If you do this, you could extend the amount of hair rinse you have by adding half of the rinse and half water to a separate container, diluting the rinse (but not the efficiency).
Happy summer hair, crunchies! Big love!
Kimberly
I just started my no poo do! I have fine hair but lots of it, so it’s thick. I’m on Day 3…and yes, my strands feel like straw. I’m doing the baking soda poo every other day and then the ACV/water rinse. However, I’m seeing some people leave it in (could this be why I’m so straw-like?) and others are rinsing it out. Also wondering if you can use a hair oil to help in the meantime while hair is acclimating? Pure argan oil? Almond oil? I’m no quitter, so I’m sticking with it! Ever since I started your oil cleansing and deodorant, I’ve never looked back! LOVE that these products actually smell good and WORK!! Nothing more frustrating than a super expensive, non-working, all-natural product to steer me away and back into the salon aisle!! Going to make some body oil next, even though I LOVE coconut oil and it’s healed all of my scars from a car accident…I love sweet orange/ylang ylang scents. Thank you Crunchy Betty…LOVE your site and my boyfriend steals ALL my products I make, so I have to make QUADRUPLE! He’s a fan and we spread the word
K
I tried this tonight after shampooing out an olive oil mask. My end-of-summer hair looked more like straw but now it’s got life! The rinse locked in some super shine, took out much of the sun-pool-bleached brassyness out. And it smells positively divine. I’m in love.
Zi
I have some oils on hand, but not dried flowers at the moment (plan to try them as soon as I can, though!). Is it possible to use just the oils in this? I imagine that would remove the need for steeping. I’m not sure how many drops of oil to use for this, though. Any thoughts?
Sheri Neu
is this color safe? I’m guessing not because of the vinegar, but I really want to try it once my color fades.
Elle
Vinegar actually helps seal the cuticle which seals in color-so it’s good for it! It will help the color stay brighter and last longer
Claudia
Quick question… Does it have to sit in the fridge when not in use?
Saja
Can I use rosewater instead of the distilled water?
LeKyS
Is it necessary to put it in a glass container?
Caitlin
So I was wondering do you ALWAYS store this in the fridge? Like should I not keep this in my shower if I use it frequently?
Taylorkorrin
Where do you get borax? I am going poo free and need some help with the oiliness of my hair!!
Zi
If you’re still looking (I realize it’s been a year!), I find borax in the laundry section of the grocery store. I use it to make laundry powder for cleaning my clothes.
Ayla282
I know this is a really old post, but I’m on my 3rd week of no ‘poo and this rinse and I am SO ecstatic with the results!! I wash my hair daily or every other day with the baking soda mixture you mentioned in another post, and then use this rinse slightly modified with hibiscus because I’m a redhead and wouldn’t mind some extra depth to my color (I always rinse with water afterwards though, because I don’t want the hibiscus to stain anything).
Once or twice I’ve washed my hair with honey when I had time to stand under the hot water long enough for it to rinse out, and I will definitely be doing this more often!!
My hair has never been happier! It’s luscious and soft and shiny growing! which for me feels miraculous because my hair seemed to grow at a snail’s pace, but just after 3 weeks I’m already noticing a difference! mostly in the crazy flyaway baby hairs at the top of my scalp, they have multiplied like crazy (which is annoying, because I looked like I had a little fluffy mohawk for a while), but now they’re reaching ugly shaggy layers status as they grow out. hopefully they’ll keep growing and make my hair thicker (I have very fine hair, wouldn’t mind more of it growing in…).
so thank you so much for your ideas and willingness to guinea pig yourself. have you tried washing your hair with honey? It is incredible.
Annabel
I would love to try this recipe but I have no idea where to buy dried lavender or rosemary. :/ Where did you get yours?
Crunchy Betty
Actually, you can find dried rosemary at any grocery store in the spice aisle. But I get mine from a local natural foods store, where I can buy it in bulk. That also happens to be where I get my dried lavender.
Not sure if they have lavender and Whole Foods, but definitely try a local natural foods store – if you have any. If not, you can get it (and SO many other awesome things) from http://www.mountainroseherbs.com
If you don’t want to use dried lavender, you could always just use a little (more) lavender essential oil – if you have that (which you can get at Mountain Rose Herbs or at http://www.iherb.com or even Whole Foods).
Good luck!
Andrew
hello again, after reading pretty much every recipe you have posted onto your blog, you have inspired me to FINALLY go all natural! 😀 only thing i wont be going natural is hair dying haha but hey.
Lisa
Rosemary and Lavender are the best! I use natural hair products in my hair and I recently started shampooing with Castille Soap and then using Rosemary conditioner and Lavender as my deep conditioner. Rosemary also helps promote hair growth and thickens hair. It might just be in my head, but my hair has grown a lot in the last 6 months and everyone always makes comments about how my hair looks healthy…. its thanks to these ingredients.
I will have to try this recipe.
Lula Lola
Can you use fresh rosemary and lavender? I’ve got both growing in the yard and would like to do this tonight.
Crunchy Betty
Absolutely, you can use fresh. You just might need to use a little more than what the recipe calls for. The important thing is to let it set in the water for a good bit. Good luck! Let me know how it goes for you. PS – SO jealous about the fresh lavender!
Lula Lola
I’m going to pick some right now! Yay!
And the lavender smells so good! I love it when the kids brush against it when they’re playing. The whole yard smells good!
Crunchy Betty
I am fighting this deep, deep desire to come to your house and take a picture of kids running through lavender. The only thing that could make that more precious is a baby puppy.
Lori
Oooh…I’ve been dying for a good hair rinse. Ever since the Bed Head Shampoo/Conditioner Incident.
I may need to try this one.
Crunchy Betty
Y’know, if you don’t want to go through all the fuss of steeping herbs and need a quick fix, you could just use a rinse of about 3 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to about 5 cups of water (adjust however you see fit). It’ll fix you up in no time. (And I PROMISE you won’t smell like vinegar after it dries. Pinky swear.)
Kim
I dont know HOW I missed this one!
PS – thought you might be interested in this website
http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/
Crunchy Betty
I love this site! Except one time I was looking something up and saw that they gave a lower score for aloe vera, and thought that was a little odd.
Stephanie
I’m so excited that I have everything to make this rinse with (except for the borax – I don’t use it). Lavender and rosemary are my absolute hands-down favorite scents! To have a cloud of that scent wafting around my head all day would be heavenly: invigorating and relaxing all at the same time. And I might add that anything that counteracts gray hair and memory lapses is o.k. by me! How long will it keep in the fridge, btw?
Crunchy Betty
Yay! I’m so excited to hear how it turns out for you. And don’t worry about the borax – again, I’ve made these a million times, and this was the first time I ever used it. It did make my hair softer, but it’s perfectly fine without it, too.
If you really want the lavender smell, add more than half a cup (there’s no “too much” here, really). You can keep it in the fridge for up to two weeks (but you’ll go through it way faster than that)! The ACV should keep things really fresh for quite some time. But if, for some odd reason, it gets a weird film on the top, that’s when you should toss it.
Yay again! I can’t wait! Have fun!
stephanie
I made a batch of this hair rinse early in the week but didn’t try it until just before the busy weekend. I kept the jar of “hair tea” in the fridge, so let’s just say it was extra refreshing when I poured it over my head! I don’t really have oily hair issues (opposite really) but I had to try it for the lovely scent. It did make my hair soft though, and it smelled fantastic. I gave some to my hubby to use and he really liked it (and wanted me to be sure and let you know that)! Since the rosemary is so strong, he didn’t smell like flowers either, just herbs. I put the rest of it in a spray bottle and that’s made it really easy to use.
Crunchy Betty
This. Is. The. Best. Story. EVER. I LOVE that your hubby used it, too! I make Fiance try stuff once in a while, but he’s yet to put anything I’ve made on his hair. I’m going to have to tell him your man is beating him. There’s motivation for you!