My own family are half "Colonial Hispanic" - being natives of New Mexico, USA, which was colonized by the Spanish in the 17th century and achieved US statehood in 1912.
My grandmother's grandmother is known in the family as "La Mama" and much of my grandmother's childhood was spent with her. La Mama was the local herbalist and midwife in her locality. Folks in that part of the family tended to marry young, so her active period might not be authentically "Edwardian" - but her herbal health and beauty tricks were almost certainly nothing new for the region.
According to my grandmother, La Mama always had long, beautiful, shiny hair. Her trick? Every two days she would wash her hair with aloe vera gel, gathered directly from the wild-growing plants in the area. She would wet her hair with water then lather it with the aloe, and rinse. Aloe is famous for its moisturizing and healing properties and is often added in small amounts to modern hair-care products. Why not just wash with the material directly, without all the additives?
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