The aromas of herbs have many therapeutic affects from relaxation to helping keep our minds in the present. Over the years I have used essential oils for both of these reasons and also for cosmetics - rose essential oil makes a very luxurious addition to lip balm and I couldn't imagine a DIY deodorant without tea tree or sage E.O.
For years I dreamed of making my own essential oils with the herbs that grow abundantly here. As I researched the process, however, I felt disheartened, making true essential oil requires a distiller and pounds of plant material just to make one tiny bottle of essential oil.
One day when scrolling across YouTube I viewed Alanna's Video on making homemade hydrosols. The process was so simple and I already owned the required materials so I decided to give it a try!
First, I want to explain the difference between essential oil and hydrosols. An essential oil is, of course, oil - it is the distilled oils that come from an herb. And although water is used in the process to distill, no water is in the remaining product. It takes a couple of pounds of a plant to make an fluid ounce of essential oil. One day I hope to make essential oil with pine or eucalyptus, plants that have so many leaves that collecting pounds would be easy. Other herbs like rose, however, would require my whole year's worth of harvest just to create one bottle.
Hydrosols is a combination of the essential oils and the water distilled out of a plant. A true hydrosol doesn't separate with time and last much longer than a few drops of essential oil in water. As I learned from the video, a homemade hydrosol requires only a stainless steal steamer pot and of course, the herbs!
After thoroughly cleaning my kitchen I went out to collect my desired herbs. It was about 10 am, mid morning, and an ideal time to harvest herbs as the dew from the morning has dried from their leaves but the scorching summer sun hasn't withered their essential oils. One option is to make a hydrols with just one herb - and I will certainly do that soon - but this day I had a clear intention in mind. My hair has been through a lot with the stress of last year, processing grief, and working in a very thorny area where my hair is constantly being pulled despite my bandana. To compensate for all that my scalp has been through I wanted to make a "hair spray" with all follicle healing herbs that promote hair growth and combat dandruff.
My herbs of choice were rosemary, two types of mint, self heal, and yarrow leaves. I gathered up a basket and headed indoors to strip the leaves from the stems and begin to fill my steamer. At the same time I had a kettle on to boil a liter and a half of water.
A steamer pot usually comes with two baskets in which to steam veggies, or in this case, herbs. I used the bottom most basket, filled it with my harvest of herbs and then placed a clean, ceramic bowl in the center of it. This bowl is meant to hold about a cup of water.
With the herbs and small bowl in the basket I poured over the liter and a half of boiling water, immediately put the lid on upside down, and put the whole pot over a very low flame. Use a heat disperse-r if needed as the water should just barely simmer and never form a rolling boil. Some steamers have a tiny hole where steam is supposed to escape. In this operation the steam contains the essential oils we want to capture and thus filling up that hole with a bit of cloth or a corner of a paper towel is necessary. And finally, I added a block of ice, or several cubes to the concave lid.
There is a lot to explain here. You may be wondering "why the upside down lid?" and "why the ice?" Well, to make essential oil or hydrosols we need to distill the plant matter. The simmering water rises up, comes into contact with the herbs and then carries a bit of their essential oils and healing aromas up to the top of the lid. If the lid where off, the vapor and medicine would escape. But with the concave, ice-covered lid, the vapor hits the top of the lid, is cooled and then floats down to the bottom where it collects in the bowl.
The whole process took about a half an hour. It is recommended not to open the lid until the flame is turned off, the pot and water cooled, so that the essential oils do not escape. I like to use a pot with a glass lid in order to keep an eye on everything. For example, if the bowl seems to be filling really quickly, the flame might be too hot.
After about half an hour I turned off the flame and let the whole pot cool down another half an hour before opening the lid and removing the bowl. The bowl was halfway full of deliciously minty smelling water which I put into a sterilized jar and later into a spray bottle.
Since the day of distillation I spray my hair and scalp with this lovely hydrosol once or twice a day. The mint and rosemary are amazingly refreshing, and I feel like a mythical Rusalka, keeping my locks humid during my long days of homesteading.