Last week I visited my dad who put me on to this wonderful concoction of ginger, lemon and cayenne that he blended in water and pleaded for me to drink. As he put everything together in a cup of room temp water, I looked at the blend not at all excited about what the final product would taste like.
Boy was I completely wrong. Not only did it taste amazing, it's super good for you. I've since then, I've adopted this tonic as my own. Except that I've stepped it up a notch by turning it into a beauty tea + hair tonic.
It's winter and internal circulation is at an all time low. What are we going to do about it? Promote increased blood flow by consuming healthy foods that stir things up. Ginger has the amazing ability to jump start our circulation which can help promote healthy hair growth. Of course you can also use ginger topically to warm the scalp and stimulate it directly. For now, I'll stick to using it internally so my entire body can experience the benefits.
What circulation conversation would be complete without the inclusion of cayenne pepper. When my dad was mixing the concoction, he put ample amounts of cayenne because he knew just how effective it is for internal circulation. Remember that circulation = life. Babies and children have high circulation. As we get older, circulation slows. The poorer the circulation, the more the body is prone to ailments. When it's cold out, our bodies want to preserve internal heat to keep our organs warm so it restricts blood flow to extremities. Could this be the reason why our hair grows slower this time of year? Either way, taking cayenne pepper, in either pill form or adding it directly to your tonic, is an amazing way to stir things back up again.
Without lemon, our beauty tonic would not reach its full potential. When stress builds in our body, it takes on an acid pH. Adding an alkalizing ingredient, like lemon, is perfect way to end a stressful day/weekend. Did I mention the fact that adding lemon increases the vitamin C content of your beauty tonic which makes it even more powerful. Lemon water also detoxifies and purifies. I like to think of lemon water as an aid to help mitigate the potential consequences of eating greasy, fattening foods over the weekend.
Instead of plain water like my daddy made, I decided to take it one level up by brewing bamboo tea as the base for this tonic. Ever since offering bamboo tea on Amazon, I've had the pleasure of reading the various accounts of how many of you are experiencing longer hair, stronger nails, beautiful skin, joint pain relief and even weight loss! With every review I read, it makes me want to be even more consistent with drinking my tea. Thank you all for the inspiration.
I drink this hair + beauty tonic unsweetened but if I wanted to add a little sweetness, I'd probably add some manuka honey because of its antimicrobial properties and many other benefits.
I'm gonna go on a limb and say that this nightcap is darn near flawless. Perhaps I may add a little powdered collagen to it to make it just a tad better. The collagen works synergistically with silica in the bamboo tea and the vitamin C from the lemon to really promote healthy skin.
What a perfect way to unwind after a long and wonderful weekend.
