So last week I finally tried the homemade natural conditioner I promised to make. The conditioner consists of flaxeed gel, 4tbsp sunflower oil, 1tbsp shea butter and glycerine. Last week my hair was still braided at the roots so I had a pretty easy wash day.
After shampooing thoroughly I deep conditioned with the flax conditioner for an hour without heat. To begin with I didn’t think that the conditioner was doing much of anything but on rinsing I could tell that there was a huge difference in my hair.
If you have ever washed your hands when they are greasy you will know what I mean. The water washed away the excess conditioner but also seemed to just run off the surface of the hair without penetrating as if my hair was water proof. Essentially, the oil in the conditioner had created a seal! It actually put me in mind of how my hair feels after an oil rinse.
It was pretty cool and afterwards my hair was very malleable and it stretched much easier while braiding for my braid out. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this allowed me to achieve the most defined braid out I’ve ever had without having to use any gel. I mean look at the shine on those curls!
The seal was so good in fact that when I applied more oil after my wash while braiding my hair for the night, the oil was just sitting on top of my hair not being absorbed, I really shouldn’t have bothered! It felt so wrong but I didn’t bother to moisturize and seal for the rest of the week, my hair just didn’t need it.
This week’s wash day, I wanted to see if I could improve on the recipe by reducing the oil. Big mistake. I did the recipe again but I left out the shea butter and brought the oil down to just 2 tablespoons. I also added 1/2 teaspoon of hydrolyzed keratin (must maintain my moisture protein balance) to the recipe. I took my braids down, finger detangled and washed my hair in braids with Pantene clarifying conditioner to get a good naked hair baseline to test the conditioner. This time I deep conditioned for 40 minutes with heat and rinsed.
My hair was soft right after the wash but somehow this time I felt like something was missing . . . . Even after moisturizing and sealing with oil, it didn’t have the smoothness of last week, I definitely went too low on the oil in the conditioner, I was closer to perfection with last week’s version. I will redo the recipe again next week, adjust the oil and add more conditioning agents. Anyway, I braided my hair as always after my wash and this was the resulting braid out.
Despite appearances my braid was not great at all, it was big and fluffy instead of smooth and defined. This is the kind of braid out I try to avoid because it doesn’t last for more than a day.
I had to go out as well and the dry winter air stole every last bit of moisture from my hair in just a few hours. My hair was not moving in the wind like it usually does, for me this is a sign of very dry hair. It also felt like it was starting to tangle, take a look . . . no that’s not short hair, it’s shrinkage plus dry tangles.
Tonight I’ve had to spray my hair with water and re braid with curls unleashed curl cream (it’s a pretty heavy product so will help with sealing). Results later in the week.
