Hello lovely blog readers! Today I thought I would cover a blog topic I have talked about on my YouTube channel but have never devoted a blog post to. And that is DIY homemade treatments; in this blog I'll talk about the more common ingredients and what benefits they give the hair, as well as my favorite tools for doing the deed. While it's lovely for me to break open a tub of Curl Junkie Curl Rehab and go to town, it's rather expensive to ship to Dubai, and it's $20 a tub to start with. While homeade treatments aren't really going to measure up to professionally formulated ones, they can achieve some beautiful results and some people swear by them.
A little bit of background first. Most of the time if you're doing a deep treatment you want to consider if your hair needs moisture or protein. Balancing out your hair's moisture and protein needs is key to keeping it healthy.
Hair that needs moisture is
So with that out of the way, let's talk porosity for just a smidge before we get to the recipes. I have low porosity hair, which means that the scales on my hair strand lie very flat, and it's hard for moisture to get in. So I need to use heat or steam most times to truly deep condition my hair. BUT this is also helpful for those with normal and high porosity hair. I use a Heat Therapy hair wrap I got from curlmart.com, which is super convenient because you can warm it up in the microwave, but you can also just use a warm towel fresh from the dryer or try to use your blowdryer. Also, if you know you have high porosity hair, your hair should love protein by the way. To learn more about porosity, visit my blog post on the subject.
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| Image from http://shatterproofglassdolls.com/ |
A little bit of background first. Most of the time if you're doing a deep treatment you want to consider if your hair needs moisture or protein. Balancing out your hair's moisture and protein needs is key to keeping it healthy.
Hair that needs moisture is
- dry, frizzy, rough, tangly
Hair that needs protein is
- weak, quick to break or snap off, chemically processed hair, heat damaged hair, sun damaged hair, etc.
But don't forget that your hair can also get too much of either of these key nutrients!
Hair is is over-conditioned (too much moisture) is:
- soft, mushy, stretchy, frizzy
Hair that has too much protein is:
- straw-like, frizzy, stiff, dry feeling
If you find you have too much of one thing, either protein or moisture, the best thing to do is clarify with either sulfate free shampoo or a mix of lemon juice and water; apple cider vinegar also works. This gives you a clean slate to then impart what your hair needs. Generally over-proteined hair needs moisture, while over-conditioned hair appreciates some protein.
If you have healthy hair be careful with administering protein treatments, as they can leave your hair stiff and hard to manage as described above. Try combining moisturizing and protein ingredients to avoid adding too much protein to your hair, or do protein first, and then moisturizing the same day. If you have fine hair that doesn't need much moisture, be careful of over-conditoning your hair. I probably deep condition my hair once a month, but it's very healthy. Damaged or dry hair can require treatments as often as once per week.
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| From loveyourcurls.com.au |
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| The microwavable Hair Therapy Wrap |
Ok, onto the recipes! Now that you are armed with knowledge of ingredients and porosity it should be easier to pick which ingredients you want to use. As someone who always goes for moisture in her treatments, I am a huge fan of mayonaisse (smell gross but works), honey, agave nectar, jojoba oil, and olive oil. You really just have to do a bit of trial and error at first to see what your hair loves; but thankfully you can just eat the rest if your hair doesn't like it! I also like to add a conditioner to the base of any treatment so that it will be a nice consistency.
Popular ingredients for adding protein to the hair include egg (DO NOT heat unless you want scrambled egg hair), greek yogurt or regular yogurt, and gelatin. Some moisturizing ingredients I missed before include aloe vera gel, other oils like coconut and others, coconut milk, and banana (or baby banana food if you prefer not to blend). You can also use natural powders like henna (READ: dyes your hair red unless you do a gloss or have dark hair), cassia (strenghthening and glossing), or bentonite clay (clarifying masque). Really the sky's the limit!
Popular ingredients for adding protein to the hair include egg (DO NOT heat unless you want scrambled egg hair), greek yogurt or regular yogurt, and gelatin. Some moisturizing ingredients I missed before include aloe vera gel, other oils like coconut and others, coconut milk, and banana (or baby banana food if you prefer not to blend). You can also use natural powders like henna (READ: dyes your hair red unless you do a gloss or have dark hair), cassia (strenghthening and glossing), or bentonite clay (clarifying masque). Really the sky's the limit!
Below are some recipes I have compiled from my time perusing the hair boards. Blend it in the blender extremely well, makes plenty, you can freeze what you don't use for a few weeks or refrigerate for one week. Enjoy!
1/4 cup GVP conditioning balm or other conditioner
1 tbsp mayonaise
1 tbsp honey (or just 2 tbsp honey without agave)
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp jojoba oil
Moisturizing/protein:
1 can of coconut milk,
1 banana or container of banana baby food
1 avocado
2 tbsp of honey
1 tbsp olive oil
Moisturizing:
1 banana or container banana baby food
2 TBSPs Honey
1 1/2 TBSPs Olive Oil
1 TBSPs Mayo
1/4 cup coffee
Conditioner
Mostly protein:
1.5 cups plain natural yogurt
1 egg
half a banana or container of banana baby food
1/4 cup AVG
1 T olive oil
1/4 to 1/2 cup water (60-120 ml)
-1 packet Knox unflavored gelatin powder (0.25 oz, 7.2 grams, 2 1/2 teaspoons) or crumbled gelatine flakes or sheets
-1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (1/4 tsp with 1/4 cup water, 1/2 tsp. with 1/2 cup water)
-5 drops vinegar (1/16th teaspoon) or a tiny pinch of citric acid or ascorbic acid (enough to fill this typed letter "O").
Bentonite Clay Treatment (for clarifying) on CurlyNikki
Bentonite Clay (found in vitamin stores or Amazon)
Apple Cider Vinegar
Aloe Vera Juice (optional)
Cassia Treatment (strenghthening and glossing) - on CurlyNikki
WARNINGS: Make sure to blend any fruit very well. You don't want to get banana bits or anything else stuck in your hair. (This is why banana baby food is a time saving, easier ingredient.) Eggs and greek or natural yogurt are good sources of protein for the hair. If you use an egg, don't put hot water on your hair or you will end up with scrambled egg hair.
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! It one of those nice hair posts that anyone can benefit from reading. Let me know what you favorite DIY ingredients are down below in the comments and what your results are. Please feel free to leave any questions as well. You're now well on your way to becoming a mixtress in the kitchen!
I hope you guys enjoyed this post! It one of those nice hair posts that anyone can benefit from reading. Let me know what you favorite DIY ingredients are down below in the comments and what your results are. Please feel free to leave any questions as well. You're now well on your way to becoming a mixtress in the kitchen!
Wishing you a great hair day, @:-)
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