HIBISCUS FOR HEALTH, SKIN AND HAIR CARE

Hibiscus tea has many utilisation in medicine and beauty cares. According to many studies hibiscus tea can PREVENT HEART ATTAKS, TREAT THE BLOOD PRESSURE and HIGHT COLESTEROL, treats INFLAMATION and IMMUNE SYSTEM problems. It helps the DIGESTION, cures of LIVER DESEASE, reduces the RISK OF CANCER, it can speed up the METABOLISM (helping in the weight loss), it s also rich in vitamin C, minerals, and antioxidants, and helps in the treatment of hypertension and anxiety.

But today I want to focus on other benefits, such as benefits for HAIR and SKIN.

ANTI-AGING
Hibiscus is rich in anti-oxidants that help in reversing the damage caused by UV rays, dust, pollutants, and diseases, etc
Owing to its powerful anti-oxidant and skin repairing action it canalso prevent tumour formation.
HAIR GROWT
The leaves of Hibiscus can be crushed and applied on hair root to promote hair growth.
Alternatively, you can make hair regrowth oil by dipping 10 to 15 leaves of Hibiscus in coconut oil completely then leave the mixture for 3- 6 weeks in cool dark place.
Strain the coconut oil to remove leaves.
This oil can now be used for massaging the hair. For best results, you can add curry leaves in this mixture.
CLEANSING:
Hibiscus has natural surfactants called as saponins that can cleanse your skin in a natural way.
The natural saponins and organic acid in Hibiscus promote not only cleansing but also shedding of dead skin cells. Therefore, it can be safely used as a natural cleanser.
The faster and easier wayto use it is to boil the flowers or leaves, let the tea get cold and use it to wash the body or face. Then rinse with cold water.
EXFOLIATION:
The organic acid in Hibiscus helps in the shedding of dead skin cells just like your scrub.
It can be added to any homemade scrub (like the coffe scrub that I talked about in the last post).
WOUND HEALING:
Several studies have proven that extracts of Hibiscus promote healing of the wound.
Fights the HERPES ZOSTER and other INFECTIONS:
In China, herpes zoster is commonly treated topically and orally with hibiscus.
Hibiscus also has anti-bacterial properties and besides promoting healing it might also prevent infection if applied to wounds.

Attention: Hibiscus is irritant and might cause burning and redness in sensitive skin type.

DIY YOUR HAIR WITH HIBISCUS

Hibiscus flowers can be used as a natural herbal method to add or accentuate red colors and highlights in your hair.
Hibiscus flowers can come in a variety of colors ( white, yellow, pink, red...) but you're going to use red flowers.

If you're not looking to make a big change or a big commitment, another advantage of using hibiscus compared to chemical dyes (or even other natural agents such as henna that is permanent) is that the hibiscus is less drastic and less permanent: it will enhance color more than completely change it, and will fade and wash out over a week or two.

How to diy your hair with hibiscus:

1- Boil 2 cups of water and remove from heat;
2- Add hibiscus flowers depending on how much color you want to add to your hair;
3- Let it steep for 5-10 minutes and then remove the flowers from the water using a strainer;
4-Let the water cool to room temperature;
5- One of the easiest ways to apply the color to your hair without getting it all over everything else is to use a spray bottle. If you want to color all the hair you can just throw the liquid on your hair.
6- Leave it in for 30-60 minutes (more time if you want more color) and then rinse out in the shower. If possible, allow your hair to dry in the sun, or blow dry it to help bring out the highlights even more.

Observation: it shows up more on light hair, it will probably have not much effect on dark or black hair.

If you search for a stronger natural purple/red diy, you can try with beet root, or red gabbage, that I will probably talk about in my next posts ;)

In future I will also talk about other natural colors, and, possibly, I will try to show you the results after the self-experiments that I will do on my hair (I already did alot!).
I tried hibiscus before but the color didn t change much. Next time I will mix it with beet root or red gabbage.

Don t worry if you don t have great color change, with natural colors you must be patient, and even if you don t get a coloration, it will be good anyway because your hair will get alot of good vitamines and minerals!

Thanks for reading :)