Spring is in full swing, and everywhere there are fresh, bright, almost neon green hues! Sprouts are growing before the eyes and even the lindens that are always the last ones to bloom, are now getting leaves. No more bare branches! Green, green, and some more green everywhere! Love it!
Now is also the time to steer the glance downwards and look for amazing wild herbs. Now I’ll be focusing on the stingy mischief that often gets overlooked, the beautiful and nutrient dense nettle (Urtica dioica L.)
I’m sure many are familiar with the superpower of stinging nettle. It’s great when consumed, but also works wonders on the hair.
I’m skeptical when it comes to catchphrases like hair thickening, or hair loss prevention, because there’s only so much a person can do versus genetics and hormones.
Nettle is said to be one of the oldest recorded remedies used for treating and preventing hair loss. This recipe has definitely earned a spot in the vintage beauty hacks!
Nettle has high amount of sulphur and silica which improve hair health by strengthening the hair shaft. It’s also said to relief an oily scalp
This recipe requires a little patience (sorry, you won’t be having this hair treatment right away) because we’ll use maceration as a way to extract all the goodness from the dried nettles.
Cold maceration
Maceration is a technique where dried coarse or powdered plant materials are soaked in solvent (water, oil, or alcohol) for a longer period of time. Such prolonged soaking time ruptures the cell wall and drives the bioactives into the solvent. After a week or so (doesn’t have to be exact) oil and plant materials are strained in a sieve. Once you have the macerated oil ready, it can be used in formulas as any oil and it will last according the expiration date on your carrier oil.
Gather up two handful of nettles. Remove stalks and lay the leaves loosely to dry on a baking sheet. Leave them to dry overnight. Once they are completely dry, break the nettles coarsely with your hands.
Fill a dark glass container with nettles and then top it off with oil so that it completely covers the nettles.
Put the lid on and place it in a warm place, on a sunny window sill for example.
Couple of tips
- Make sure the plant material is completely dry. Any moisture could feed bacteria and cause contamination.
- Oils are sensitive to light, so if possible, use a dark glass container.
- You can use any carrier oil you like really, but notice that there are differences on how easily the oil washes off from the hair.
- If you harvest nettle later in the summer, be sure to collect seeds as well
- Harvest nettle from a pure area, far from the roads and trails (car fumes and dog pee are not wanted ingredients!)
Recipe
approximately 150 ml macerated nettle oil
rosemary essential oil
Mix the ingredients and pour the oil into a pump bottle.
Apply nettle oil generously and massage into the hair and scalp. Leave it on for 15-30 minutes. Wash your hair a couple of times to make sure the hair doesn’t feel greasy afterwards.
