Unleash the Goddess - DIY Hair, Skin, & Nails Tea

There are many ways to beautify your skin, make your hair grow longer faster, and grow out strong beautiful nails, but they all entail healthy eating habits! One of my favorite ways to nourish my hair, skin, and nails, is through eating grass-fed gelatin.I love to make my own gummy fruit snacks, and Syfy and I munch on them ALL the time! One of my other favorite ways to get the nourishment that my hair, skin, and nails need, is through herbal teas!

Herbs for radiance, beauty, and hair growth

All of the nutrients needed to make your body healthier, with a radiant glow and even faster hair growth and longer nails, can be found in the foods that we eat and the beverages that we drink. Fruits, veggies, herbs, and lots of water can really help your skin to glow and your nails and hair to grow! These are some of my favorite herbs to use in my Hair, Skin, & Nails Tea:

• Green Tea - Naturally rich in antioxidants, green tea has been used for thousands of years and seen many awesome benefits to the body. The polyphenols in green tea help protect against UVB light-induced skin disorders associated with immune suppression and DNA damage. Drink green tea can also promote longevity, slows down premature aging, and reverses cell damage.
• Hibiscus flowers - Notoriously known as the botox herb and rich in antioxidants including a large amount of vitamin C, hibiscus is well known for its abilities to beautify hair, skin, and nails. Due to its high vitamin C and antioxidant content, hibiscus helps strengthen the immune system and acts as an immunostimulant to help fight off colds and infections as well.
• Citrus peel - Rich in vitamin C, orange peel has the ability to help improve your skin tone, color, and texture. Orange peels are also rich in Vitamin A, an antioxidant that protects your skin from sun damage and skin cancer. Oranges have been known to boost collagen in your body which helps in skin firming and prevents your skin from premature aging, as well as helps to reduce wrinkles and softens your skin for a much younger you.
• Rosehips - Another one of my favorite vitamin C rich herbs, one rosehip can have as much vitamin C as four lemons! Drinking rose hip tea daily will greatly benefit your skin. Rose hips are rich in vitamin A, commonly referred to as the "skin vitamin". It helps to regenerate skin cells, healing wounds and scars. It also helps to keep the skin elastic and nourished. This will not only prevent wrinkles but can actually help to minimize any that have already appeared.
• Oatstraw - Just like horsetail, oatstraw is very high in B vitamins and minerals, including silica, a mineral that is largely responsible for hair, skin, and nail health. Oatstraw, the dried milky tops from oats, has all of the anti-inflammatory properties that oats do, helping to aid in healing itchy or raw scalps, and even dandruff.
• Nettle leaf - Stinging nettle is a highly nutritious plant, rich in MANY vitamins and minerals, including vitamins A, C, E, and K, as well as B vitamins, and silica. Nettle is one of my favorite herbs to put in many of my vitamin-rich teas because nettle is practically the "multi-vitamin" herb.
• Dandelion leaf - Dandelion is a rich source of vitamin A, C, and E as well as B-complex vitamins. It also contains choline, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, biotin and calcium all of which play an important role in making your hair strong as well as stimulating hair growth.

Add a dash of gelatin to your cup

Have you read about the amazing benefits of gelatin for your hair, skin, and nails? I have written about gelatin a few times on the blog (here and here) and its many benefits. A healthy source of collagen, most people these days are not getting as much gelatin as our ancestors used to because we no longer eat all of the parts of the animals. The type of protein that is provided by gelatin is full of amino acids that are REALLY great for your hair, skin, and nails; not to mention digestive health.  Depending on how you take your tea (with or without cream) you would combine the cream (or a dash of room temp water instead) with a dash of grass-fed gelatin using a fork, in your cup, before adding your hot tea. Pour your hot tea over the gelatin/cream mixture and stir to fully combine. If you try to add gelatin to your tea (or coffee, you can use this same method to add gelatin to your coffee too!) after the tea is in the cup, it will not completely blend and will leave a ball of un-melted gelatin at the bottom of your mug.

Hair, Skin, & Nails Tea

You can add 1/4 part stevia leaf to this tea blend if you want to add an herbal sweetness to the tea! This tea is tasty and refreshing and absolutely fabulous over ice! If you would like to make this tea for children or pregnant/nursing women, you can substitute Raspberry leaf for the green tea to avoid the caffeine!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 part Green tea
• 1 part Hibiscus flowers
• 1/2  part Orange peel
• 1/2  part Lemongrass
• 1/2 part Rosehips
• 1/4 part Dandelion leaf
• 1/4 part Oatstraw
• 1/4 part Nettle leaf

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine herbs together in a bowl. Store in an airtight container when not in use. Label blend and date made.

TO USE

Combine 1-2 Tbsp. herb mixture to 8-12 oz. boiling hot water. Allow to steep for 5-15 minutes before straining and drinking. The longer you steep the tea, the more potent it will be. Drink daily to help improve your skin, hair and nails! My favorite way to make this is iced! I drink this throughout the day over ice! To make this iced, in a gallon jug, combine 4-5 Tbsp. of the loose leaf tea with four cups boiling hot water for 8-10 minutes. Strain tea and stir sweetener of choice into hot tea before adding ice cubes and cold water to the top of the jug!