Herbs Used in Hair Care

Herbs for Dry Hair:
Burdock root, comfrey, elderflowers, Lavender , marsh mallow, parsley, sage, stinging nettle.

Herbs for Damaged Hair:
sage, rose, calendula, chamomile, burdock, thyme, rosemary

Herbs for Oily Hair:
Calendula, horsetail, lemon juice, lemon balm, lemongrass, lavender, mints, rosemary, southernwood, witch hazel and yarrow.

Herbs to Prevent and Treat Dandruff:
burdock root, chamomile, garlic and onion bulbs (powerful but unpleasantly scented), goosegrass, parsley, rosemary, southernwood, stinging nettle and thyme.

Herbs that Soothe the Scalp:
Catmint (leaves and flowering tops), chamomile, comfrey, lavender, thyme, Yarrow

Herbs for Fine Hair:
chamomile, clary sage, rose, lime blossom, birch
Herbs for Curly Hair:
lemon, burdock, lavender

Herbs to Provide Luster and Body for Thin Hair:
Calendula, goosergrass, horsetail, Licorice, lime flowers, nasturtium, parsley, rosemary, sage, southernwood, stinging nettles and watercress.

Herbs for Hair Shine:
Horsetail, Parsley, Nettles, Rosemary, Sage, Calendula

Herbs for Hair Growth:
Aloe, Arnica, Birch, Burdock, Catmint, catnip, Chamomile, Horsetail, Licorice, Marigold, Nettles, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Southernwood and Stinging nettle

Herbs for Thinning Hair:
Burdock, Catnip, Nettle, Chamomile, Lavender, Rosemary, Saw Palmetto, Thyme, Yucca

Simple Ways How To Make An Herbal Infusion:

Method 1
Place herbs in a glass container. Pour 2 cups boiled water over the herbs to cover. Cover glass container with a tight fitting lid or a saucer to keep steam from escaping. Allow to cool then strain the herbs.
To use an Herbal Infusion:
Use as a final hair rinse after shampooing and conditioning.
Can be added to homemade shampoo

Method 2
1.)Place about 1/2 -1 cup roots, herbs or flowers in a teabag or tea ball before adding to 43 cups water.
2.)Simmer or steep in water for 20 minutes. Allow to cool. Drain herbs.
3.) Apply as a final rinse, AFTER shampoo and conditioner.
For a stronger tea, place herbs in a glass jar. Pour boiling water over herbs, cover and let sit for anywhere between 24 hours to a week

Cleansing Detox Herbs

Garlic–blood cleanser, lowers blood fats, natural antibiotic

Red clover blossoms–blood cleanser, good during convalescence and healing

Echinacea–lymph cleanser, improves lymphocyte and phagocyte actions

Dandelion root–liver and blood cleanser, diuretic, filters toxins, a tonic

Chaparral–strong blood cleanser, with possibilities for use in cancer therapy

Cayenne pepper–blood purifier, increases fluid elimination and sweat

Ginger root–stimulates circulation and sweating

Licorice root–”great detoxifier,” biochemical balancer, mild laxative

Yellow dock root–skin, blood, and liver cleanser, contains vitamin C and iron

Burdock root–skin and blood cleanser, diuretic and diaphoretic, improves liver function, antibacterial and antifungal properties

Sarsaparilla root–blood and lymph cleanser, contains saponins, which reduce microbes and toxins

Prickly ash bark–good for nerves and joints, anti-infectious

Oregon grape root–skin and colon cleanser, blood purifier, liver stimulant

Parsley leaf–diuretic, flushes kidneys

Goldenseal root–blood, liver, kidney, and skin cleanser, stimulate detoxification

Braid That Bind

This spell is intended to bind you to the one you love. You will need three long strands of hair (about 12 inches)from your head and from your loved one’s head, a strip of red ribbon, and a small cherry wood box.

Braid the strands of hair together as you chant:

Let thy thoughts be only of me,
None other shall you ever see.
By braid I bind thee forever,
That I shall lose thee never.
Thou art bound in wake and sleep,
Mine forever thou heart to keep.

Tie the braid off with the red ribbon. Place the braid in the cherry wood box and keep next to your bed.

Hair

Hair represents strength and energy.

Early Christians shaved their heads to show their devotion to the religion.

In some cultures, it is seen as an act of purity to have all body hair removed before marriage.

In the Middle Ages, cutting a person’s hair had symbolic value judicially and was done to dishonour the lawbreaker.

In cultures where magick was practised, a person’s shorn hair could signify the actual person and could be used accordingly.

Even hair colour was considered. In the Middle Ages, blonde hair was considered good or heavenly, and red hair was a sign of evil or Witchcraft.

Modern practitioners of Witchcraft still use hair to link a person to a spell.

It is believed that if you have a person’s hair, you have a part of them and that what you do with or to the hair will then affect the person directly.

Hair is often used in healing rituals and binding spells.

Hair and Nails

Nails have been associated with demons and evil; some Jews keep their fingernails as short as possible, and tribes in Madagascar believe the Devil lives under unpared fingernails.

Much Western magical lore about hair and nails can be traced to the Vendidad, a Zoroastrian liturgy written in the mid-5th century b.c.e. According to the Vendidad, hair and nails are instruments of evil because they grow with a life of their own and can be separated from the body, to be used by witches and wizards for conjuring the dead, bewitching and casting spells. Ahura Mazda gave Zarathustra specific rituals for the safe disposing of hair clippings and nail parings:

. . . thou shalt take them away ten paces from the faithful, twenty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, fifty paces from the bundles of baresma [holy twigs].

Then thou shalt dig a hole, ten fingers deep if the earth is hard, twelve fingers deep if it is soft; thou shalt take thy hair down there and thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting words: Out of his pity Mazda made plants grow.

There upon thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal around the hole, or six, or nine, and thou shalt chant the Ahuna Vairya three times, or six, or nine.

For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out of the house, as deep as the top joint of the little finger; thou shalt take the nails down there and thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting words: The words are heard from the pious in holiness and good thought.

The practice of burying cut hair and nails persists among many cultures. Aleister Crowley secretly disposed of his hair and nail clippings throughout his life. In Ozark lore, hair combings are buried, never thrown out. French peasants bury hair; Turks and Chileans stuff hair clippings into walls.

Sorcerers, cunning men and women and witches in many societies have secured the cut hairs of victims to cast spells and break spells. A bewitched victim’s hair thrown into a fire supposedly projects the pain of the flames back onto the witch. The hair of a dead man buried
under the threshold of an enemy supposedly will cause the enemy to develop ague. In parts of Germany, a small bag of smooth human hair placed on the stomach will tell someone if they have been bewitched. The answer is yes if the hair is tangled after three days.

Hair, particularly pubic hair, is considered a potent ingredient in many love charms. According to legend, John Fian, a 16th-century Scottish wizard, attempted to make a young girl fall in love with him by making a charm from three of her pubic hairs. However, someone substituted
three hairs from a cow’s udder, and the lovestruck cow followed Fian all over town. It is still common for lovers to carry lockets of head hair, and in centuries past, young girls often made hair bracelets to give to their lovers to keep them faithful.

red-haired persons are witches or sorcerers, according to one old belief. Evidence exists to indicate that some ancient pagan sorcerers dyed their hair red for certain rituals. Red hair was common among the Celts, whose traditions were steeped in magic. During the witch hunts
red-haired people were often suspected of being witches.

Witches were said to shoot hairballs into animals to harm them. These hairballs supposedly lodged in the beasts’
stomachs without leaving a mark on the skin.

According to superstition, the cutting of hair must be timed according to the phases of the Moon, depending on how quickly one desires the hair to grow back