So in my quest for bottle-less conditioner I can report a couple of successes. My first success was using this recipe. My hair was soft and not greasy or stringy and quite curly. However, it was a bit 'fly-away' as my mother used to call my hair when it had static electricity. And the very fine hairs at the nape of my neck were not conditioned quite enough. I did rinse my hair with baking soda and water before applying the banana conditioner. And it does have the added problem of bananas not being grown anywhere near here...
This week I tried a recipe that I can't find the link for now. But it was:
2 Tablespoons of honey
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon of almond oil
1 Tablespoon of yogurt
I melted the honey and then poured all the ingredients into the food processor. I rinsed my hair first with baking soda and water as usual and then applied this mixture and wrapped my head in a plastic bag for half an hour and rinsed out this concoction in the shower and then rinsed my hair with the juice of one lime in a gallon of water.
Again my hair is soft and very shiny and curly. The little hairs at the nape of my neck are better than the previous recipe. I think it is the lime juice that makes my hair so shiny. And this recipe is mostly available from very local ingredients (except the almond oil or the lime!).
I thought Amy would like the fact that these both include honey! And they taste great if you accidentally get any in your mouth!
Showing posts with label Hair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hair. Show all posts
Monday, March 02, 2009
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Kicking the Bottle Habit
So after publishing my 'hair routine' I have completely changed everything. As I said in that post, I wanted to learn how to make my own conditioner. And about a month ago, I decided to just stop buying conditioner and force myself to figure something out. I just couldn't justify all those plastic bottles coming into my house.
So... since then, my hair has not quite been the same. First I tried a recipe out of Organic at Home. It was an egg, 2 drops of castor oil, 2 drops of lavender essential oil and 2 drops of rosemary essential oil mixed with enough powdered milk to make a paste. Well... no. That didn't really work. My hair dried to an enormously huge 'big hair' state and it felt like there was something in my hair. (later my hair dressing friend told me that the milk protein is far too large to be absorbed by hair).
In the meantime I simply rinsed my hair with baking soda and then sprayed it with apple cider vinager. Which does get it clean but has no humectant for happy curls.
The next thing I tried was a recipe from this website - the avacado homemade conditioner. Although with my previous experience, I only mixed up half a recipe - half an avacado and 1 egg yolk. And I rinsed it according to the instructions, with apple cider vinager and the juice of one lime. My hair was really shiny and very soft.... but stringy and I had to brush it a lot to get rid of the stringy-ness. So I poured a bucket of baking soda and water over my head followed by a bucket of apple cider vinager and water... And we are back to square one. Although I might try that recipe again sometime when my hair needs deep conditioning - like in the super dry summer.
Next I am going to try this one. Although the problem I have found with most of these recipes is that they call for you to wash your hair with shampoo after you have done the treatment. The other problem is that most of the ingredients are definitely not available in a 100 mile radious - most being tropical fruits.
I'll keep you posted... Suggestions welcome!
So... since then, my hair has not quite been the same. First I tried a recipe out of Organic at Home. It was an egg, 2 drops of castor oil, 2 drops of lavender essential oil and 2 drops of rosemary essential oil mixed with enough powdered milk to make a paste. Well... no. That didn't really work. My hair dried to an enormously huge 'big hair' state and it felt like there was something in my hair. (later my hair dressing friend told me that the milk protein is far too large to be absorbed by hair).
In the meantime I simply rinsed my hair with baking soda and then sprayed it with apple cider vinager. Which does get it clean but has no humectant for happy curls.
The next thing I tried was a recipe from this website - the avacado homemade conditioner. Although with my previous experience, I only mixed up half a recipe - half an avacado and 1 egg yolk. And I rinsed it according to the instructions, with apple cider vinager and the juice of one lime. My hair was really shiny and very soft.... but stringy and I had to brush it a lot to get rid of the stringy-ness. So I poured a bucket of baking soda and water over my head followed by a bucket of apple cider vinager and water... And we are back to square one. Although I might try that recipe again sometime when my hair needs deep conditioning - like in the super dry summer.
Next I am going to try this one. Although the problem I have found with most of these recipes is that they call for you to wash your hair with shampoo after you have done the treatment. The other problem is that most of the ingredients are definitely not available in a 100 mile radious - most being tropical fruits.
I'll keep you posted... Suggestions welcome!
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Update 2: Hair Routine
So, I promised Pea and Bean this post in the summer. I don't know if it will work for you. Although we have similar curls, I think mine are drier than yours. But here it is. I have been doing the "Curly Girl" routine since shortly after Sarah's wedding when Katie told me about that. When was that? 4 or 5 years ago? Since then, shampoo has not come near my hair.
First of all, I now only clean my hair about twice a week. Sometimes it is only once a week but it is never more than 3. (see mom, in the end, it turns out you were right!) I found that using only conditioner was leaving a real build-up on my hair. For the first time in my dry-haired life, I was getting greasy hair. So my friend and hairdresser when she failed to talk me into using shampoo occasionally, told me to rinse it with baking soda and water.
Step 1: So before I get into the bath (I almost never shower) I hang my head over the shower and pour either a yogurt container with 2 Tablespoons of baking soda in it or for more greasy/sweaty weeks I use a gallon bucket and 4 Tablespoons of baking soda.
Step 2: after rinsing the baking soda out of my hair I use a scrub made of a rich conditioner (Riche by Curelle made in Vancouver) and brown suger. I use about half the amount of conditioner I usually do and then add 2 - 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar. I scrub my scalp with this. This is a recipe from the "Curly Girl" book.
Step 3: after risning the scrub out of my hair, I apply the light conditioner I use (Whenever by Kiss My Face) mixed with 1/2 a lemon (about 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice). Again I use about half the amount of conditioner that I usually do and add the lemon juice. If my hair has be especially tangly, I might apply some of the Riche just to the ends of my hair. Then I rinse it all out. This lemon juice recipe is also from the "Curly Girl" book.
If I wash my hair in the middle of the week, I will use just the light conditioner either by itself or mixed with lemon juice - whatever I think my hair needs. I don't use much product in my hair unless I am going out somewhere that requires dressing up on the evening. I also don't do much to help it dry curly, either unless I am going out. I am just more of a wash-and-go kinda girl. I'm not much into fiddly-farty kind of stuff. However, using the techniques in the Curly Girl books, I have got my hair to look pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. But most of the time I like my hair soft and flowy. And I must admit that I do occasionally use a hair pic kind of comb on my hair when it is just too knotty for my fingers.
What I would really like to do is learn how to make my own conditioner. All that packaging just seems so wasteful. And my grandmother who was known for her beautiful curly auburn hair didn't use any store bought products. How is it that in the space of 2 generations we have become so dependant on manufactured goods? My Gram once told me that she washed her hair once a week with an egg in the trough. I wonder what she did in the winter? I have actually tried an egg rinse a long time ago in the late '70's but I am just not so up for the cold rinse needed to get the egg out of the hair without cooking it... But that is my next step. Make my own conditioner. How hard can it be?
First of all, I now only clean my hair about twice a week. Sometimes it is only once a week but it is never more than 3. (see mom, in the end, it turns out you were right!) I found that using only conditioner was leaving a real build-up on my hair. For the first time in my dry-haired life, I was getting greasy hair. So my friend and hairdresser when she failed to talk me into using shampoo occasionally, told me to rinse it with baking soda and water.
Step 1: So before I get into the bath (I almost never shower) I hang my head over the shower and pour either a yogurt container with 2 Tablespoons of baking soda in it or for more greasy/sweaty weeks I use a gallon bucket and 4 Tablespoons of baking soda.
Step 2: after rinsing the baking soda out of my hair I use a scrub made of a rich conditioner (Riche by Curelle made in Vancouver) and brown suger. I use about half the amount of conditioner I usually do and then add 2 - 3 Tablespoons of brown sugar. I scrub my scalp with this. This is a recipe from the "Curly Girl" book.
Step 3: after risning the scrub out of my hair, I apply the light conditioner I use (Whenever by Kiss My Face) mixed with 1/2 a lemon (about 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice). Again I use about half the amount of conditioner that I usually do and add the lemon juice. If my hair has be especially tangly, I might apply some of the Riche just to the ends of my hair. Then I rinse it all out. This lemon juice recipe is also from the "Curly Girl" book.
If I wash my hair in the middle of the week, I will use just the light conditioner either by itself or mixed with lemon juice - whatever I think my hair needs. I don't use much product in my hair unless I am going out somewhere that requires dressing up on the evening. I also don't do much to help it dry curly, either unless I am going out. I am just more of a wash-and-go kinda girl. I'm not much into fiddly-farty kind of stuff. However, using the techniques in the Curly Girl books, I have got my hair to look pretty darn awesome, if I do say so myself. But most of the time I like my hair soft and flowy. And I must admit that I do occasionally use a hair pic kind of comb on my hair when it is just too knotty for my fingers.
What I would really like to do is learn how to make my own conditioner. All that packaging just seems so wasteful. And my grandmother who was known for her beautiful curly auburn hair didn't use any store bought products. How is it that in the space of 2 generations we have become so dependant on manufactured goods? My Gram once told me that she washed her hair once a week with an egg in the trough. I wonder what she did in the winter? I have actually tried an egg rinse a long time ago in the late '70's but I am just not so up for the cold rinse needed to get the egg out of the hair without cooking it... But that is my next step. Make my own conditioner. How hard can it be?
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