Beautiful Hair

[shelley]

My hair has a tendency to get very very dry. And of course it's all my fault! LOL!

Hair is dead tissue, mostly proteins. It's pretty similar to leather, in that it can remain supple if it is protected from the elements. If it is unprotected, damage takes place, it gets brittle, loses its shine.

My hair regime has both natural, at-home stuff that I throw together, and store-bought stuff. Today I'll post about the cheap and natural stuff you may already have in your kitchen.

The steps to natural hair are the same to a healthy body - cleanse and rinse out the dreck first, then fortify with good nutrients, then protect and moisturize.

First of all, try not to wash your hair every day. If you don't work out, don't sweat, it doesn't need it. If you like to shower all over every day, you still don't have to use soap. You can instead in between soapings simply moisturize it and rinse, or rinse with apple cider vinegar to clarify your hair.

Clarifying your hair is the first step to beautiful hair. I clarify my hair (gets rid of rancid oils very nicely) with an ACV rinse about every two weeks.

Next step is rebuilding and fortifying, which means protein. When my hair is breaking, I do a protein pack or two.

Then comes the most important step, moisturizing. I do this one the most.


ACV Rinse Recipe:

Take a plastic juice container - about a quart/liter - and fill with water. Add about a tablespoon of ACV. You can substitute with fresh lemon juice but it will bleach. After getting your hair wet, dump on the clarifying solution. Dry as usual, or moisturize/oil pack. Do this whenever your hair looks dull due to buildup.

Remove Wax Buildup/Increase Circulation:

If you have a bad buildup of wax and need to do deep cleansing - perhaps your hair is not growing like it should (take Biotin too) or is growing very thin. Simply get out your spices and mix a tablespoon each of lavender, sage, rosemary and parsley with four ounces of Castille soap and one quart of water. If you have dry or brittle hair, you can also add two drops of almond oil. Work in, leave on, massage thoroughly, rinse.


Homemade Hair Ingredients for Moisturizing:

Olive Oil
Castor Oil
Almond Oil
Jojoba Oil
Mayonnaise
Wheat Germ Oil
Honey
Coconut Oil
shea butter
Vegetable Glycerin (available at health food stores.)

Protein:
Raw Egg Yolk
Mayonnaise
store-bought peptide or silk moisturizers (peptides are very small proteins. They have to be small to penetrate the hair and scalp.)

So for a protein moisturizer, mix an egg yolk and mayonnaise with any other moisturizers and leave on for 10 minutes.

For moisturizing only, mix any number of the above without eggs with your regular daily hair conditioner as a base and leave on as long as you can.

For the occasional hot-oil treatment (it should just be ocassional, the hair can only absorb so much) mix coconut oil, olive oil and almond oil. Heat to a nice and warm temperature and apply to clean wet hair.

For dry scalp, get Jojoba oil. It is most like natural sebum (the oil the skin produces).

Take a spray bottle and put in distilled water, a teaspoon of olive oil and any scent you like, or use peppermint tea instead of plain water. Mist your hair each night before bed or first thing in the morning. It will keep it protected, moisturized, without being too heavy.

Avoid Pantene products and any products with silicone (look for long chemical words ending in "one"). It destroys hair over time. Looks great for a little while then ... grossness. Just like Armour-all does to cars.

To grow hair faster, be sure to get enough Biotin and drink Green Tea.

[shelley]

If you want to go with Store bought products - the convenience is nice - the very best one for damaged, easily broken, dull, overprocessed hair is from Philosophy, called Shear Splendor. This bio-peptide conditioner (meaning proteins) is so strong a little goes a very long way, and too much can clog your drains! Beware!

I also like Queen Helene's Cholesterum. Cheap and full of good fats!

For clarifying (stripping off old, rancid fats and product), Neutrogena with or without the addition of baking soda just can't be beat.

[LILA1963]

Hi Shelley !!
Hope that u r well

Can u or anybody recommend a hairgel that will keep ur style in
place and won't ruin/break ur hair; one that's natural and gentle ??

Thanks very much

[little monkey]

This one is good

http://morroccomethod.com/conditioner-gel.shtml

[LILA1963]

[shelley]

You can make your own - I think I posted a recipe - but it's a bit of a pain. Just be sure to clarify your hair after several uses of any hair gel (lemon juice rinse, or ACV, or baking soda, or clarifying shampoo...) and it shouldn't do any damage.

[LILA1963]

[obarrera]

Does the ACV rinse make the hair a lighter color?

I tried it and my hair looks color looks for light brown instead of dark brown.

Is there a way to prevent this??
Or something that makes hair darker(naturally, no hair dying)?

[shelley]

If the concentration of ACV to water is too strong, it can lighten hair. Not as much as lemon juice but a bit.

Only way to darken hair is with some kind of dye, such as henna. If you use plant-based dyes like Henna or Aveda products they are not toxic. But if you use henna you can't use commercial dyes. Aveda has moisturizers that have a bit of henna and will make brown hair more brunette.

[obarrera]

[shelley]

the color stays in until your next hair wash.