Beautifying Hair Washes

The mixing of beauty products--especially for African Americans--has always been a part of the hoodooist's bag of "tricks." (pun intended) Here are descriptions of traditional hair washes, made the way they were mixed up in grandma's day.
Beautifying Hair Wash #1

When the summer sun has damaged dark hair, someone can beautify those raven locks again by pouring a rinse of black tea (Camellia sinensis) through her/his hair as a final rinse after shampooing.

Beautifying Hair Wash #2

A woman, who wishes to make her black hair glossy and rich, should mix one teaspoon each of allspice (Pimenta officinalis), cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), rosemary (Rosemarinus officialis), and sage (Salvia officialis), plus 1/2 teaspoon cloves (Syzygium aromaticum, syn. Eugenia aromaticum or Eugenia caryophyllata), which she will bind up in a cheese cloth. She will pour 3 cups of boiling water over the bundle and allow it to steep until cool enough to use as a rinse after a shampoo. Ideally, she will allow her hair to hair dry naturally, rather than use an electric blow dryer.

Beautifying Hair Wash #3

This wash is good for dandruff and leaves hair glossy.

2 cups fresh sage (Salvia officialis)
1 cup fresh rosemary (Rosemarinus officialis)
2 quarts spring water
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar [Vinegars take their name from the material used to make the vinegar; thus apple cider vinegar comes from apples (Malus domestica)]

Heat 5 cups spring water to boiling on stove. Pour boiling spring water over herbs in crock pot and set on low. Simmer for five hours. Turn crock pot off and allow to steep in pot overnight. In the morning, strain out and remove herbs. Add apple cider vinegar. Add spring water to this mixture so that it totals 5 cups. Bottle mixture and use as a final rinse after shampooing.

Black Girl With Long Hair, 6 Ways to Use Apple Cider Vinegar, 2011, accessed 5/28/12.

Savey Brown, Why I Love: Tea Hair Rinses, February 1, 2011, accessed 5/28/12.

Nikisha, UrbanBushBabes, Benefits of black tea on the hair, 2011, accessed 5/28/12.

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