Happy National Herb Day!!!
It has been a few years since a medicinal herb has been the herb of the year for us to celebrate National Herb Day. This year is one of The Dancing Herbalist’s favorite herbs: Ginger, Zingiber officinale. Our winter 2023 newsletter had a great mini monograph on ginger and you can get that through our website but let’s talk about a fun recipe you can make with ginger.
There are lots of fun recipes you can make with ginger: add it to your apple sauce, make a salve, use it fresh in fire cider. The options of fun projects with ginger go on and on. My favorite action of ginger is as a blood stimulant. In this way it can be one herb to consider when making a hair oil to nourish, hydrate, and stimulate blood flow to your scalp. This can encourage your own body to stimulate more hair growth while reducing a dry scalp due to the additional blood flow. This is also a great oil to use on your hands if you have poor circulation in your hands such as with Raynauds’s Syndrom.
This is a very simple recipe. Because you do not need much when you use it, the recipe is for a small batch.
Ingredients & Instructions
In a small jar, place 1/4 cup of oil of choice. I recommend olive oil because it is easily available but other good options are apricot oil or jojoba oil. You do not want to use an oil that is easily damaged with heat, meaning it has lower cholesterol and will be a lighter oil on the scalp.
Add one tablespoon of ginger powder to your oil. Mix so that the ginger is well combined in the oil. let this sit, covered, in a dark area of your home for 1-2 weeks. You will notice that the ginger will settle over time and you can choose to shake it so that the beneficial compounds in the ginger will more fully infiltrate the oil. If you forget your oil, it is okay. As long as the oil has not gone rancid (it will feel sticky and smell different) you can still strain and use the oil.
You can choose a few different ways to strain your oil. If you have a muslin cloth you can use this. Put the cloth on a funnel over a new jar and pour your oil into the cloth. Use your hands to squeeze the oil through the cloth. Be aware that this oil will be hot due to the ginger and may sting your hands if they are exposed for a long amount of time. Using a coffee filter is possible but will take a long time because oil does not easily transfer through coffee filters. You cannot squeeze these easily because they may rip so using gravity is the best option. You can also allow the ginger to settle and pour the oil off the top. You may lose some of the potency this way but if you do not have another option for straining this is possible.
How to use your oil
Once you have strained your oil you can put it into a bottle with a dropper top of some sort. I like to use orifice reducers for easier application. 15 minutes or so before you wash your hair (with soap), apply a few drops onto the crown of your scalp and massage the oil into your scalp. Allow it to sit for 10-15 minutes and then wash your hair. You will not want the oil sitting on your scalp for long periods of time and the oil will not look amazing on your hair so be sure to wash it out. 10-15 minutes is plenty of time to encourage additional blood flow to your scalp for moisturizing your scalp as well as encouraging additional hair growth.
Jillian Carnrick is the owner/operator of The Dancing Herbalist, LLC which specializes in clean, natural, and simple topical herbal medicine products.
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