Why I stopped buying my daughters shampoo for hair loss - and went back to the nettle field instead
What really happens under a thinning scalp, why the pharmacy shampoos failed us, and the two herbs we now grow against it.
By Veselina Ralcheva, founder of InaEssentials · 4 min read
- Me, in our family fields above Panagyurishte in our 1st year of production in 2001.
The beginning of a family worry
Dear reader, let me tell you a story about our family :)
A few years ago both of my daughters started finding hair everywhere. On the pillow. In the shower drain. Wound around the hairbrush in little nests.
They are young women, and I could see what it was doing to their confidence.
We tried what everyone tries: the 'anti hair loss' shampoo from the pharmacy, the vitamins, the expensive serum in the tiny bottle.
Some helped a little, for a while. None of it lasted.
I have grown herbs for a living with my husband since 2001, starting with 3 hectares of lavender and roses.
So when the shampoos failed, I did the only thing I really know how to do: I went out to the field, and I started reading.
- Maria and Elena, my two daughters, with my husband Nikolaj in our nettle field.
What is actually happening under a thinning scalp?
Here is the thing nobody told my daughters at the pharmacy counter.
Hair does not simply 'fall out'. It starts months earlier, at the root.
Every hair grows from a follicle - a tiny pocket in the scalp that feeds it.
When the skin around that pocket is calm, balanced and not inflamed, the follicle quietly pushes out a strong hair for years.
- From my notebook: the three stages I kept seeing in the research. Most people only notice stage 3.
But what goes wrong?
The scalp is skin, and skin reacts. These are the things that irritate it, day after day:
❌ Harsh detergents - sulphates and silicones that strip the scalp's natural balance.
❌ Stress and hormonal changes - after pregnancy, in menopause, in a hard year.
❌ Dandruff that keeps coming back - flaking and itching right where the hair grows.
Irritated skin means excess oil, flaking and low-grade inflammation around the follicle. The follicle is starved, and the hairs it makes get thinner and shorter.
And eventually it does something quieter and worse: it falls asleep and stops producing at all.
'The hair you find in the brush today left its follicle weeks ago. Whatever you do for your scalp now, you will see in the mirror in three months.'
Why the shampoos did NOT work for us?
Once I understood the follicle, the shampoos made sense - and so did their failure.
🔴 60 seconds on the scalp - then you rinse the actives down the drain.
🔴 The same harsh ingredients - many 'anti hair loss' shampoos are built on the sulphates and silicones that irritate the scalp in the first place.
❗️ Vitamins work slowly - from the inside, and only if a deficiency was the cause.
What we needed was something that STAYS on the scalp - calming the skin and feeding the follicle for hours, not seconds. And gentle enough to use every single day.
The two herbs we grow against it
How do these herbs work?
🌿 Wild Nettle - the feeder
✔ Naturally rich in silica, iron and minerals that hair needs
✔ Fights excess oiliness on the scalp
✔ Strengthens the hair follicles to control hair fall
Every Bulgarian grandmother will tell you nettle is for hair - and for once the folk wisdom is right.
We do not dilute an extract into a cream. We distil the wild plant into pure nettle water - our Hydrolina - and that water is the base of the whole product.
🌿 Organic Clary Sage - the peacemaker
✔ Calms scalp irritation and itching
✔ Fights dandruff and seborrhoea
✔ Supports the overall health of the scalp
Clary sage is the herb for the skin of the scalp. It settles the flaking that keeps a follicle in that inflamed, starved state.
- Maria and Elena in our Clary sage plantations.
Nettle feeds the root. Clary sage makes the ground it grows in liveable again. Together they do what neither can do alone.
There is a third piece: FermentHair, a fermented complex of nettle, oak bark and liquorice with a postbiotic.
In testing, FermentHair reduced hair fall and the number of resting hairs - and the improvement held even after the treatment stopped.
OUR HYDROBIOTIC FORMULA CONTAINS NETTLE + CLARY SAGE + OAK BARK + LIQUORICE POSTBIOTIC COMPLEX.
99% of herbal products on the market are ineffective due to the wrong extraction method. They contain the scent but not the therapeutic and healing properties.
How we keep the herbs alive
The active compounds in nettle and clary sage are extremely sensitive. They must be:
✅ Picked by hand, early in the morning
✅ Processed within 4 hours of picking
✅ Distilled at a specific low temperature
✅ Stored in a specific way
So we made a spray you do not rinse out
That was our answer to the sixty-second problem.
Hydrobiotic - Nettle & Clary Sage is a leave-in.
You spray it into the roots, massage it into the scalp for ten seconds, and you leave it there. Wet hair or dry, morning and evening.
It is a herbal water, not an oil, so it dries in minutes and does not make hair greasy.
My daughters were the first testers. My husband Nikolaj was the second, whether he liked it or not.
- Ten seconds, morning and evening. That is the whole routine.
Clinically proven results
I am a farmer, not a doctor, and I did not want to sell this on my word alone.
In 2021 we ran a clinical test in France, with 30 people using our products every day. After 90 days:
Why did we test for 90 days?
Because hair grows in cycles. A follicle that has been asleep needs time to wake up - the scalp calms down first, the new hair comes after.
Who this is NOT for
I would rather lose a sale than have you disappointed, so let me be straight with you.
❌ If you want results in a week, this is not it. Most people notice a calmer scalp and less hair in the brush around week 2-3. New baby hairs come later. Give it the full 90 days.
❌ If your hair loss is sudden or patchy, see your GP first. Some causes are medical.
❌ If you cannot stand a herbal smell. It smells of honest nettle and sage, and fades as it dries.
What people in the UK wrote to us
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Susanna G.
"I've been using the Hair Loss combo of shampoo, conditioner and hydrobiotic Nettle and Clary Sage spray for about 6 weeks. My dead straight very fine hair has great shine and movement, feels soft and healthy and looks a little fuller. ... Overall, I'm really pleased!"
Parting photos shared by one of our customers. Individual results vary.
These are real reviews from our UK store, word for word, including the ones that are not five stars. I read every one of them myself.
"Amazing products"
"Both products help me with my itchy skin problems & dandruff and I'm loving it!"
⭐⭐⭐ - Hefferman
"I had a bottle of this for free and I've used it once I thought the product overall was quite good however the scent was quite overpowering and wasn't for me"
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Denise M.
"Makes hair feel thicker & scalp feels really soothed. Love this"
⭐⭐⭐⭐ - Susan M.
"Only recently started using this product, seems ok so far."
"I received this product as a free gift and was interested to try it as my scalp is often sore. It has seemed to help somewhat and I enjoy using it before drying my hair."
The 30-day routine I give my daughters
1. Morning - On dry or towel-dried hair, 4 to 6 sprays into the roots where you notice the thinning. Massage for ten seconds with your fingertips. Do not rinse.
2. Evening - Repeat before bed. This is the one people skip - and the one that matters most, because the spray gets a whole night on the scalp, undisturbed.
3. Wash gently - Use a gentle, sulphate-free shampoo. Our nettle shampoo if you like, any gentle one if not. Do not scrub the scalp raw - you are trying to calm it, not punish it.
4. Take two photos - Your parting on day 1 and on day 30, same light, same spot. Memory is a terrible judge of hair. A photo is not.
5. Do not stop at day 30 - Hair works in 90-day cycles. Day 30 is when the scalp changes. Day 90 is when the hair does.
Questions people ask me
Will it make my hair greasy?
Will it make my hair greasy?
No. It is a light herbal water, not an oil or a serum. It dries in a few minutes. A couple of reviewers with very fine hair mention slight heaviness until they found the right number of sprays - start with fewer.
Can men use it?
Can men use it?
Yes. The formula is for every scalp, and plenty of our reviews are from men - or from wives who report that the bottle keeps disappearing.
Can I keep using my own shampoo?
Can I keep using my own shampoo?
Yes. The spray is a leave-in, it does not replace washing. Just choose a gentle, sulphate-free shampoo so you are not undoing the work.
How long before I notice anything?
How long before I notice anything?
Everyone is different. In the reviews, the earliest changes - a calmer scalp, less hair in the brush - tend to show around week two or three with daily use. The clinical test measured results over 90 days, so give it a full cycle.
What does it smell like?
What does it smell like?
Nettle and sage - green, herbal, honest. Most people love it. A few find it strong at first; it fades as it dries.
More about our family
- Our family in the nettle field, with the spray we make from it.
We are the Ralchevi family from Panagyurishte, Bulgaria. We have grown organic herbs since 2001 and make every product ourselves, from the field to the bottle.
In 2019, we started offering our products outside Bulgaria.
Today they are available in 28 markets, with more than 2.5 million customers.
✅ 25 years of experience in growing organic crops
✅ Own organic fields
✅ Clinically tested products
✅ Local delivery in the UK
Vasil Ralchev - Farmer of the Year 2024
Veselina Ralcheva - Organic Producer of the Year 2023
P.S. from Veselina:
"My daughters still take bottles from the warehouse without asking. I have stopped counting. If the spray does for you what it did for them, write to us. I read every review myself, including the ones that are not five stars - those teach us the most."
Veselina Ralcheva, founder of InaEssentials
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