Rosemary Body Wash & Hair Rinse - UPDATED!

Rosemary plant looking puny for winter!

I love my rosemary plants. The large rosemary bush in my herb garden was started from a clipping from my mom's plant and it has been here now for about four years and gets heftier year over year. Since mom moved to the beach, I also inherited a large potted rosemary of her's. This perennial  is quite hardy here in NC (I cover if well under 20 degrees) and we are able to harvest & use rosemary year round.

Rosemary Hair Rinse

The hair rinse is a very simple tea. Steep rosemary clippings in boiled water until it's cool enough to use. Strain the leaves out and funnel tea into plastic bottle for the shower. Shampoo and condition your hair as usual. Soak hair especially ends and scalp with the cooled rosemary tea. Wrap in plastic or shower cap and a towel. Leave in for at least 20-30 minutes. You may rinse it if you like or just leave it in. Your hair will smell rosemary-licious, feel softer, thicker, fuller, and be oh-so-shiny! I plan to use this every time I wash my hair because of the shine, softness, and volume!

Rosemary Body Wash 

Ingredients

• 2-3 sprigs of rosemary (optional - to infuse)
• 1 sprig of lemon thyme (optional - to infuse)
• 1/4 cup steel cut oats (optional - to infuse)
• 1 cup water
• 800 iu vitamin E (2 tablets, I cut the end off and squeeze out the contents. This is a natural preservative and also great for your skin! You may use vitamin C or citric acid, too).
• 1 Tbs coconut oil and 1 Tbs almond oil (can swap out with olive, grapeseed, almond, jojoba, apricot kernel or any other oil)
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1/2 Tbsp aloe gel
• 1/2 Tbsp vegetable glycerin
• 1/2 Tbsp shea butter
• 1/2 c. liquid castile soap (I used Dr Bronner’s)
• Your favorite essential oil (Optional, I let the rosemary be the only scent)

Directions

1. Boil water in a kettle and once boiling pour over the  rosemary, lemon thyme, and oats (or whatever herb you decide to infuse). Cover and let sit for an hour, then strain to remove rosemary bits from your infusion.
2. In a bowl or glass jar, whisk your oil, honey, herb-infused water, vitamin E, aloe, glycerin, & shea butter together.
3. Heat the jar in the microwave in 10-second intervals until the shea butter and coconut oil melt & blend with the other ingredients.
4. Whisk in the castile soap  until blended and smooth (I simply use a mason jar with a lid, and shake it really well).
5. Drop in your essential oils and fold in with a spoon or spatula. Allow to cool a little. Store the mixture in a bottle that you have sterilized (opaque is best) out of direct sunlight and shake well before each use.

This is runnier than regular commercial body wash so be careful not to waste it. I just use a little tiny squirt on my poof. Remember this doesn't have the chemicals and sulfates in it that body washes from the store have so it isn't going to lather as much as store-bought stuff. And everything in this cleanser is all-natural and good for you, you are going to be clean, soft, and feeling good! Although I do not recommend it, you could eat the stuff and not die! lol 

Can you say that for your other body wash? The store-bought body wash I've had in my shower for the past year has a long list of ingredients including methylisothiazolinone and methylchloroisothiazolinone. 

Both of these multi-syllabic words are widely-used preservatives which helped my body wash last that year in my shower without getting mold, mildew, or bacteria growing in it. But this stuff is associated with allergic reactions especially contact dermatitis and lab studies on the brain cells of mammals also suggest that this methyliso stuff may be neurotoxic.  

Methylchloroisothiazolinone is found in many water-based personal care products and cosmetics; it is also used in glue production, detergents, paints, fuels, and other industrial processes. (Um. Yes, please lather me up in that! Ooh. No thank you.) Studies are all inconclusive, but if given the choice now that I'm aware of this, I would not chose to use this ingredient on my skin or my children's skin. The worst ingredient in most of our personal products though is fragrance. It irritates skin, eyes, nasal passages, and companies don't even have to list the multiples of chemicals and ingredients that form this "fragrance". It never dawned on me to read the ingredient labels on my bath and body products!  (METHYLISOTHIAZOLINONE and METHYLCHLOROISOTHIAZOLINONE)

It's good to be aware of what exactly we're putting in & on our bodies!