Nettles – a natural ally in your backyard
Why compromise during the “credit crunch” with cheap, ineffective beauty products when you can unleash your creativity and make your own?
Nettles — growing wild almost anywhere
The market is inundated with expensive natural lotions and potions, but you only need to look in your own backyard to find some of the most useful, nourishing ingredients for a home prepared facial ointment or hair tonic.
Take nettles, for example. One of the nine sacred herbs in the old Wessex dialect of the tenth century, “wise women” have been using them for as long as we can remember. Although they are best known for the tiny, stinging cilia on the leaves that give an itchy rash after even the slightest encounter, when used in beauty preparations, nettles high levels of vitamins, minerals and amino acids are extremely effective.
Susun Weed, author of Healing Wise states: “Glossy, thick, vibrant hair, healthy hard nails and clear, lustrous, smooth skin are yours when sister spinster stinging nettle becomes your ally.”
To thicken the hair and eliminate dandruff, pour two 8oz cups (500ml)of boiling water over 1/2 oz (15g) of dried nettles in a jar and leaves it covered tightly overnight. The next morning, this tonic can be strained into a bottle and used as a leave-in hair rinse after shampoo and conditioner.
A weekly Face Saver preparation can also be made to prevent skin blemishes, oily build up or loss of elasticity.
Just simmer 2 cups of fresh nettle leaves in a covered pan for ten minutes, chop them and lay them out on a cloth. Steam the face and apply the warm leaves like a face pack for about 10-15 minutes. Finish with a refreshing rinse of water containing the juice of a lemon.
Source: Susun Weed — Healing Wise
Rhian Gibbings
