Hey y'all, I used to hate parsley with the capital H. The thought of the taste made me want to throw up. It wasn't until I started growing it that I fell in love. When I first planted parsley about a year ago, it grew really slow. There were so tiny and stagnant, I didn't even bother recording them. You can see a little bit of it in this clip. I left it alone and let it do a sting. It wasn't until after the weather cooled down a bit that it exploded. Parsley plants become so full because multiple branches sprout out of one main root section. It's kind of like a big bouquet. The type I have is the flat leaf parsley. The leaves are big and symmetrical. There's nothing random about this herb. It attracts all types of friendly bugs, and overall disease and pest resistant. Parsley repels harmful bugs, but from what I've observed, not in the same way plants like oregano do. If you missed it below was a link to a video on oregano. Oregano repels harmful bugs mainly from its strong scent, while it seems like parsley repels bugs more from its taste. So they taste it, but don't like it. I would describe parsley's personality as grand, well-rounded, and powerful. As long as you keep the soil from completely drying out and harvest consistently, it's pretty much an independent plant. Before we move on to talk about Parsley's great benefits and how to prepare it, I want to address a comment that was posted on the oregano video. I think this is a good opportunity to remind you why I make these types of videos. The last thing I want is for you to feel overwhelmed or feel like just because I posted a video on a new herb, that means that you have to use it right away. That's pretty much the energy of YouTube so I can understand the frustration. My goal is for us to use this content as a reference, like a visual encyclopedia for natural hair. That's why each video is so heavily researched. So rather than just giving you recipes, I chose to separate each herb into their own video, so you can get a more detailed understanding of each of them, and over time you'll be able to make your own recipes based on what medicinal benefits you're looking for. On that note, if oregano is a disinfectant, I would consider Parsley to be a rebuilder. Here's why. Parsley is another powerhouse. To be honest, most herbs are. They're so ancient they've had time to develop in ways that us humans don't fully understand yet. As of now, the formula that makes a plant cannot be duplicated, and how the ingredients work together is not fully understood yet. So it's less about extracting pieces of it and more about using them whole, because the combination of this ingredients and how they work and blend together is what really matters. This list of ingredients that make up Parsley is not even close to scratching the surface, but there are few that cut my attention. Parsley has a lot of antioxidants like Vitamin C and a chemical called Apigenin. So if applied topically, it heals wounds faster. It keeps your scalp in hair follicles from deteriorating and aging too fast. Think of it as an anti-aging treatment for your scalp in hair. Parsley also has a lot of chlorophyll. Think of chlorophyll like a plant's melanin. So it's healing, cleansing, anti-aging, eff, and protective. If you use it consistently directly on your scalp, it can help literally rebuild your hair follicles. So this is a really good treatment for new naturals that recently stopped using relaxers. It'll help speed up the healing process. Just keep in mind the darker, the better. So whether you're growing it or buying it at a store, always pick the darker greens. Another thing that cut my eye about Parsley is its copper content. Copper has strong hair growth and hair strengthening properties. Copper is also a major component in the production of melanin, so it can help enhance and darken your natural hair color. I harvest parsley fresh from my garden, but you can also find fresh parsley in most grocery stores. If you're interested in growing it, the best time to harvest plants is in the morning. That's when the oils are most abundant. Parsley has a high water content compared to herbs like oregano, so it doesn't dry too well. It takes forever to dry and will most likely end up molding, so it's best to use parsley fresh. Here's how I prep it for my hair. Boil a pot of water, then turn off the heat. Then put the parsley in the hot water. Make sure it's fully submerged. Cover the pot and let it sit until the water cools down enough to touch it. For me, it took about an hour for it to cool down. So I usually just use the tea because my hair is dense as hell, so it's almost impossible for me to avoid flakes, but for the video, I'll go ahead and try the paste as well. To make the paste, take the parsley out the pot. The stems create guaranteed flakes, so chop them off and throw them away. Next, we're going to use a blender to mix up the parsley leaves. Add some parsley tea to it so it can blend into a smoother paste. Blend it well. You may have to add more parsley tea, little by little, until it's a consistency you're looking for. The parsley paste has most of the color fill compared to the tea, so I'm going to make sure to coat my scalp really well with it. Fun fact, you know how to take vitamin C with a supplement helps it absorb better into your body? The same principle applies topically. Adding just a few drops of lime or lemon juice to your water-based herbal treatments will help it absorb into your scalp better and deeper. Here's how I use the treatment. On freshly washed hair, I coated my scalp with the paste and massage it in. I made sure my scalp was saturated with it. Then I mixed the paste with a conditioner and coated my hair strands with it. I wore a shower cap and let it sit overnight to give it more than enough time to penetrate. After rinsing it out, I coated my hair and scalp with the parsley tea and did not rinse it out. Yup, even though it's called a tea rinse, it's always best not to rinse them out. Just in case you're curious about what I'm doing with my hair in this clip, I'll be posting the video soon on how I stretch my hair without to eat. As expected, the parsley paste created a lot of flakes in my dense hair. You can see them clearer on my shirt and on my skin. I'm showing these clips so you can avoid making the same mistake. I plan on doing parsley treatments often for the next few weeks. So, next time, I'm going to soak fresh parsley in hot water, wait for it to cool, put the parsley leaves with the stems and tea into a more powerful blender. Strain out the fibers and use it as parsley juice. Here are a few extra tips. You can also use parsley essential oil. Just make sure to dilute it in a carrier oil. The best way to store fresh parsley is immersed in a cup of water on the kitchen and counter. All the benefits mentioned for your hair also applies to your whole body if you eat these herbs. So, if you eat oregano regularly, it'll disinfect you internally. And if you eat parsley regularly, it'll help build and strengthen your blood, which is really good if you're a unique. As always, thanks for watching. See you in the next video!