How To - Hair Rinse with Horsetail

I promised you at the beginning of this year that we were going to get busy making a few final rinses. Today, we begin!

For our first final rinse, I've chosen an ingredient with a hair-loving reputation: horsetail (INCI: Equisitum Arvense).


This is quick and easy to make, and doesn't even require a lot of equipment.

You'll Need

• Dried Horsetail 
• Demineralised Water
• Preservative (I use this local Danish one for all of my infusions. The closest equivalent I can find is sold under the name 'phenonip')
• Scale
• Suitable container to infuse
• Empty teabags
• Stapler
• Container for your final rinse

You Probably Already Know, But ...

Working with botanicals and water is pretty much an open invitation for a bacteria rave party, so it is important to keep a clean work space, use sterilized equipment, wear latex gloves while working, and use nothing less than broad spectrum preservation.

You might think this is overkill for a simple herbal infusion, but unless you use your infusion within 48 hours and keep it stored cool in the interum, it is not overkill.

Trust me, you do not want to be rinsing your hair with a bacteria bomb.

OK, end of speech.

Let's make a hair rinse!

Formula

• 96 % Demineralised water
• 3,2 % Horsetail
• 0,8 -1% Preservative (depending on which preservative you use)

Method

1. Weigh up your herb and place into teabags (leave room for herbal expansion). Staple the bags shut
2. Boil the water and pour over the bags
3. Add preservative (Some preservatives are added at cool-down, some need to be added during a heat phase.)
4. Cover and let steep for 10-15 minutes
5. Strain
6. Bottle

I always test the pH (because otherwise there will be a blank spot in my notebook where the pH is supposed to be).

The pH of this batch of final rinse was 5.5

Notes

Admittedly, I haven't done a lot of research on this ingredient yet (another one for the to-do list), but horsetails reputation as a hair-loving ingredient hasn't disappointed so far.
I've been using this final rinse for a couple of months. It has a pleasant, tea-like scent, doesn't stain hair, bathroom, or towels, and leaves my hair soft and smooth. It's been enough of a positive experience for me to make several repeat batches.

Do Tell

Have you used horsetail in any of your products? What were your experiences with it?

Mores About Final Rinse and Horsetail 

About Final Rinse
Read what WebMD says about horsetail
Read what Naturally Curly says about horsetail