UPDATE! Shampoo and THE BEST hair conditioner

Hi lovelies,

Hope you are enjoying summer as it inches closer in its fullest. It has been a busy year already with so many good things planned going forward and so many positive changes and opportunities, I can’t help but continuously give thanks.

All that to say, I have one more reason to give thanks.

In a previous post I had mentioned my “no ‘poo” hair care using apple cider vinegar. Well, there is a huge transition period in doing this because your hair is so used to being stripped of it’s natural oils that it wonders what the hell is up when you dump something natural on it so it creates more oils causing your hair to be more oily for a while. Well during this transition period I hated everything about my hair. It made my hair create a build up and felt like I stuck my head in a oiled frying pan and then rubbed it to dry against brick walls.

So then I switched to just using Dr. Bronner’s castile soap. It was the condensed bar wrapped in paper that I melted down, mixed with water and poured on my hair. I avoided using the apple cider vinegar as a rinse because my hair already felt like straw and I experimented with using coconut oil on my hair as a conditioner. My hair absorbed the coconut oil and made it really greasy and again I hated it so I stopped using the coconut oil.

So then I just used the castile soap and did nothing after. My hair felt better after washing it with the soap with no oil or build up but because I wasn’t using anything to balance the levels or smooth out my hair, my hair was still like – what the f? and hated me and told me I should go back to using normal shampoo and conditioner like a normal human being.

I almost shaved off my hair.

I knew my hair created build up really easily so I wasn’t sure of what to do for conditioner other than put a tiny bit of grapeseed oil in it. Grapeseed oil is the lightest oil to use and I use it a lot to moisturize my skin because it doesn’t make you feel like a grease bag.

Then I went to Lush to check out the shampoo bars but despite rave reviews from everyone, I discovered their products are made with ingredients that make my skin itchy and are actually not that great for you. I used to get eczema really badly. Like reallllly badly until I stopped using products and ingesting foods with specific ingredients similar to the ones in some Lush products. Same with products at Terra20, they were either in plastic or had crap ingredients, including their shampoo and conditioner refill station which made me really sad because once again I feel like the “green trend” is all about the profit rather than the actual care for the environment and the people.

I just wanted to find something that I wouldn’t have to buy online, that I could buy local or make locally and could be natural.

I also considered coconut milk, avocado, banana or eggs like some recipes I’ve seen but I just couldn’t get over using food in my hair because I really like to eat my food and putting it in my hair felt like a huge waste. What would I tell my son? Hey babe, Mommy buys food not to eat it but to put in her hair because her hair is more important than feeding you. Uh, no. 

Then recently about a few weeks ago, my friend made me a soap bar – using olive oil making it a castile soap with essential oils. I could use it on my body and in my hair too. My hair felt way better but still not that great because I still hadn’t found a conditioner.

Then just yesterday the heavens opened up and light shone down on my face with angels floating all around and choir music played simultaneously: my same friend (who was also having the same problems) had discovered a GOOD conditioner recipe. SAY WHAAAT?!

The conditioner recipe is sourced from Easy Aromatherapy Recipes: HERE, but we made conditioners to match our hair type.

The total time to make this conditioner took about 10 minutes.
I know right?! You look at everything listed below and it can be a little intimidating but it was SO simple.

Because of the state of my hair, I created a conditioner for dry/damaged hair. I also have leftover colour in my hair from last year that I am slowly growing out and cutting. Here is what mine was comprised of:

**Please note that you will have to source the website for the proper amounts***

We first did an herbal infusion with:
– Water
– Dried Rosemary
– Lemon Thyme and Thyme (from her garden)
– Black tea (we opened up black tea tea bags)

We heated everything up and then strained the herbs and allowed the liquid to cool slightly. We sped up the process slightly with the help of the freezer for a few minutes.

14/10/2015 – Update – We no longer do the herbal infusion. We just do the second parts below. We find it to have a longer shelf life. 

The second part is a mixture of:

– Emulsifying wax – (we used Lanette wax – a derivative of coconut oil from Planet Botanix)
– A carrier oil  – (I chose olive oil because it’s one for dry hair and we had that on hand. I didn’t want to use – coconut oil in case it made my hair too oily)
– Vitamin E – (just because it’s so good for your hair)
– Glycerin – the binding agent

And the scented part I chose (these are also based on hair type):
– Tea Tree Oil
– Lavender
– Ylang Ylang

We melted the second mixture together with the scented oils, removed it from the heat and then poured the herbal infusion into the pan and stirred until it mixed all together and became the texture of pudding. As it sits it thickens to a “real” conditioner texture.

—

We were both so happy! And I was SO excited that I took my son and I home, put on a movie for him and took a shower. I washed my hair using the soap bar she made and I only used a small dime size of this conditioner. When you initially put it on your hair, let it sit and rinse it, it doesn’t feel like it’s done much at first, but as it dries it feels OH SO FABULOUS. We aren’t sure how long it would last but we feel like the glycerin and oils helps it to last longer. If you’re worried you can always store it in your fridge. I don’t shower every day, but I think the amount I made will last me at least a month.

I love this conditioner. LOVE. It smells SO amazing and makes my hair feel super soft again. I am so happy to have found a real conditioner I can use and to have a beautiful friend to help me create it.