This post was a cross post from a blog I had on hairlista December 4, 2010 9:03 am. It is still relevant today!
HI Ladies! I did something today that gave me the most awesome results ever: it was a BLACK TEA RINSE!Now I know that there have been other listas who have written about their experience so bear with me because I am about to tell you about mine!
I prepooed with Beaux Cheveux essentials Honey cream moisturizing pre-poo overnight, I shampooed with Carol’s daughter Tui herbal shampoo, and then applied my Black tea rinse to my towel dried hair. In preparing the rinse I boiled 24 oz of distilled water (measured with a measuring cup!) and then turned it off WITHOUT removing the pot from the eye of the stove. The bags were pretty small so I used eight and left them in the water over the stove to sit overnight. I used decaffeinated orange pekoe and pekoe black tea. The next day I poured as much tea into an applicator bottle that would fit and used this to pour the tea all over my head while standing over the sink. ( I refilled the bottle with the remaining tea in the pot and stored it in the refrigerator). I do all washing and rinsing in the shower but did this rinse over the sink as to not get tea all over my body, and I also had to let it sit! I patted my hair slightly so that it would NOT be sopping wet all over me, then put a small towel around my shoulders to catch the extra tea.
The first thing I did experience was HARD HAIR, like brittle straw! Unlike most, I wanted to allow my hair to fully dry with the rinse in it so that I could apply my conditioner to dry hair which I prefer. Let me add that as my hair DRIED, IT BECAME EXTREMELY SOFT, FULL, THICK AND BOUNCY, and I was tempted to just go as is! It also dried extremely quick. SO after leaving the dc in for a few I rinsed it out and yes, it was a miracle! My hair was extremely soft and manageable and I am 8 weeks post. I had little to no breakage and was very impressed!
I am so thankful for my friend Dee who is a hairlista, as she encouraged me to retry this experience which I did not like at first and did not give a chance. Ironically, I believe it is supposed to be mainly the caffeine in the black tea that stimulates growth and reduces shedding but I used the only black tea I had and didn’t realize until hours later that it was DECAFFEINATED TEA!!! I am now convinced that there is something in the black tea itself that also helps ….who knew??? I am definitely going to try caffeinated, along with nettle tea, regular tea, and the beaux cheveux essentials black tea spritz to see if there is a difference.
Along with henna, a black tea rinse is definitely a fine-haired girl’s dream come true.