Great Board - How About Nettle?

Hi,

I have tried Nettle. I guy the dried leaves only at Whole Foods in Dallas. I pour 1 pint of boiling water in a glass/boil proof pot to 1/8th of nettle, give or take a little more. I cover with a tight glass cover and let steep, like tea, for up to 10 hours. I always make on a weekend and keep it steeping for at least 2 hours and sometimes all day.

I strain into a plastic strainer w/ cheesecloth cover to make sure I remove all the herbs. I put in another amber bottle and cover tightly and keep out of direct sunlight or heat. If I am not going to use it right away I will refrigerate.

To use I heat the liquid on the stove until warm and then I use as a rinse. The best way to use this is to massage the liquid into your scalp after a shampoo and use a large bowl to catch the herbal liquid runoff. I take a large ladle with me into the shower and a tupperware bowl. As the herbs run off my head I just laddle them back on. This allows me to have several "rinses" of the nettle with great results.

I have also experimented with letting the nettle steep for 24 hours and pouring the liquid into my Giovanni 50/50 shampoo. This did not seem to work as well.

I also have added it to jojoba oil and used it as a hair oil for hot oil treatments. That seemed to work a little better than the shampoo mix but not as good as the pure rinse.

You can experiment and do all sorts of things with making herbal remedies.

Let me know what you try and how it works for you.

Best wishes,
Karen