Rosemary Softening Rinse

[donotprint]In my continuing quest to make our own body care products, I recently made this hair rinse from a recipe in Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles. I used one of my favorite plants – rosemary, specifically lynda rosemary for this rinse. If you are wondering where we found lynda rosemary, well, that’s another story.

the original lynda rosemary still going strong

When hubby and I met five years ago I had two rosemary plants: one planted and one potted. I have no idea how long I had the rosemary, where I purchased it, or what type of rosemary it was, but the the pot rosemary moved with me to our present home three years ago. Since that move, this plant has grown and grown. When I first saw all of the new rosemary plants Dave had made from cuttings, I asked him what variety where these babies – maybe Arp or Tuscan Blue? No,  he had named them lynda since they came from my old plant. Whatever rosemary it really is, it is a hardy plant. If you would like to know how to grow rosemary from cuttings, check out his blog entry Rosemary Babies. [/donotprint]

The rinse is pretty simple and according to the book it gives any hair type body.

Rosemary Softening Rinse
Rosemary Softening Rinse [print_link]

(from Organic Body Care Recipes)

4 cups distilled water

1/2 cup rosemary

1 teaspoon borax

In saucepan, bring water to a boil and then remove from heat. Add the rosemary and borax, stir, cover, and steep for 2 hours. Strain and pour into storage bottles. Refrigerate for 7 days, then discard.

Use this as a final rinse after shampooing. Do not rinse out. Use 1/2 to 1 cup per application.

This is a nice rinse, smelled good, and seemed to give my hair a little bit more body. However, having to keep it refrigerated and used up in a week makes it a pretty high maintenance goodie. I’m off to continue my search.