Old-Fashioned Herbal Hair Rinse for Shiny Hair

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If you've ever tried to use store bought shine-boosting serums, you've probably found that they tend to be on the pricier side and that they can also turn your hair into a sticky, greasy mess if you use too much. That's why I love using this really simple and natural herbal hair rinse because it gives your hair a nice shine without weighing it down like using too much of a serum can do. 

I also love the fact that this herbal hair rinse recipe can be as simple as just one ingredient (or two or three if you want to add in some optional additional ingredients.) If you look at the ingredients list of any store bought shine serum, you'll probably see a dozen or more ingredients, many of which are usually hard-to-pronounce chemicals. But this recipe is completely natural and good for your hair too.

And it's also really, really cheap! With using just a small amount of herbs, an optional splash of apple cider vinegar, and water, you can have a homemade shine-boosting hair rinse for a fraction of the cost of a store bought serum. 

This easy DIY herbal hair rinse recipe is based off of old-fashioned 19th century tips for healthier hair found in advice books and ladies' magazines of the period. Rosemary was often mentioned as being good for promoting healthy, shiny hair, and vinegar was mentioned frequently too. Both were often used in 19th century hair care and shampoo alternatives.

If you like to play around with herbs, you could also add other herbs to the mix besides just the rosemary. A couple of herbs that are great for promoting healthy hair are nettle, horsetail, lavender, oatstraw, sage,  etc. But if you want to keep things simple then even just using the rosemary by itself will help to give your hair an extra boost of glossy shine.  

Here's the easy recipe and the process that I use to make this herbal hair rinse:

Easy DIY Herbal Hair Rinse for Shiny Hair

Step 1) Make the Rosemary Tea

Making this herbal hair rinse is really as simple as just brewing a cup of tea! You can either use pre-made rosemary tea bags or if you want an even more frugal option you can buy rosemary in bulk and (or grab some sprigs from your garden if you grow it) and use tea filters to make your own tea bags. Another option would be to put the rosemary leaves straight into the pot with your hot water and then strain the rosemary leaves out with a sieve or strainer afterwards.

What I usually do is to boil some water and then add in the rosemary leaves (either in a tea filter or just straight into the pot to strain out afterwards.) And if you'd like to add in an additional herbs besides just the rosemary you can add them right in and steep them all at the same time together.

I like to let the herbs steep for a little while do draw out the beneficial properties of the herbs and since the tea needs to cool down enough to be able to pour it over your hair anyways it's good to allow a bit of time for it to steep. Around 15-20 minutes is usually a good amount of time, but you can let it steep for longer if you want. Or if you're short on time you can steep it for less time and add a bit of cool water if needed to make it a comfortable temperature for pouring over your head. Keep in mind, though, that the rosemary tea will have some more time to cool off while you're washing your hair in the shower, so even if it feels a bit too warm after steeping it might be just the right temperature by the time you're actually ready to use it.

Once herbs have steep long enough, you can remove the tea filter or strain out the leaves from your herbal tea. And then you can pour the tea into a cup or a jar or an empty bottle or something that will be easy to bring into the shower to use for pouring over your hair.

Step 2) Add Optional ACV

To boost the shine even more you can add a spoonful of apple cider vinegar to the cup of rosemary tea. Since the apple cider vinegar can be a bit drying if you overuse it, though, I don't use it every time I wash my hair. I usually only use it once or twice a week. 

If you want to add some apple cider vinegar to your rosemary hair rinse, you can simply add a spoonful of it straight to the rosemary tea after you have finished steeping the tea.

Step 3) Wash Your Hair as Usual and then Apply the Rinse

It's best to wash your hair first before you use the herbal hair rinse because otherwise you'll just end up washing it away when you shampoo your hair. And if you find that the hair rinse has gotten too cold after letting it steep for awhile and washing your hair, you can hold the cup under the hot shower water for a couple of seconds to add a bit more warm water so it's not freezing cold when you pour it over your hair. (It's definitely no fun pouring icy cold water on your head and having it run down your neck!) And, if you added any apple cider vinegar to your hair rinse than it's a good idea to shield your eyes with one hand while you're pouring the tea on your hair to make sure that it doesn't get into your eyes. 

Step 5) Rinse Your Hair with Water (Optional)

This step can be optional depending on your hair type and your preference. I find that if I'm using apple cider vinegar that it can make my hair almost a bit too shiny/slippery and it makes it harder for me to do things like braid my hair or pull it back with bobby pins because it keeps wanting to slip out of the pins. So I usually like to give my hair a quick rinse with water to wash away the extra vinegar, and I've found that, for me, it works well to rinse it out and I still end up with plenty of shine even with rinsing my hair with water afterwards. 

What I usually do to give the hair rinse more time to stay on my hair is to wash my hair first thing when I get in the shower, then apply the herbal rinse, then finish up with the rest of my shower, and then I rinse my hair as the very last step before getting out. That gives it the maximum amount of time on my hair while still allowing me to rinse with water.

If I'm only using the rosemary or other herbs, though, I don't feel like rinsing is necessary. I have found, though, that, even if I do rinse my hair after using the rosemary, that it still makes it look shinier anyways. I think that leaving the herbal rinse on your hair without rinsing it off would probably allow more of the beneficial properties of the herbs to absorb into your hair and scalp, though, so I typically don't rinse my hair afterward if I am using just the herbs without apple cider vinegar. Whether you decide to rinse or not rinse your hair is really a matter of personal preference, though, and what seems to work the best for your hair. 

(Lori Elliott is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.)

The information in this post is not to be taken as medical advice and is not intended to diagnose or treat any disease.