Happy Monday! I’m here to start off a new week with another recipe. But this isn’t a recipe for your breakfast, lunch, dinner or dessert. It’s a recipe for your hair.
As I have mentioned before, I have very curly hair. Anyone with very curly, kinky, unruly hair knows that they have two souls 👯 sharing one body…yourself as a whole and then your hair. Seriously, our hair is an entity unto itself. There is Karen and then there is “Karen’s Hair”. Lol. Yeah, I know it sounds crazy, 😜 but it is definitely how it seems a lot of the time.
Luckily, after MANY years of fighting and hassling with my dry, frizz-prone, mind-of-their-own curls, there are now some great curly hair products on the market. Part of the problem with these great products is the cost, so I try to find inexpensive homemade remedies for some of my hair issues to save where I can. 💰
Even though we have these great, life-saving 🚒 (hahaha) products at our disposal, one of the problems I run into is product build-up. Another thing that anyone with curly hair knows is that it takes A LOT of product to achieve the look we desire for our curls. There’s just no way around it. And with all that product, we get build-up…and it’s not pretty. It makes our hair look dull, lifeless, frizzy and no amount of product helps. For a lot of us, our water source for washing doesn’t help the matter. With that said, we need to remove the build-up from time to time to bring the life, cohesiveness and bounce back to our curls.
For many years, I wouldn’t try any natural products on my hair because I bought (and I mean bought) into the idea that all these wonderfully “perfected” chemicals were what my hair needed. Yep, I’ve learned over the past several years that they were actually making it worse for the most part. I still consider leave-in conditioner and mousse as gifts from heaven 👼 for my hair…along with sulfate-free shampoo and conditioner.
The first thing I decided to try on my hair that didn’t come from the hair product aisle was a deep conditioning mask that contained eggs. Ewww. I don’t care all that much for eggs for eating to start.🍳 Well, I don’t like them in my hair even more. Sticky and smelly is all I can say. Just try having rough, course hair and trying to get something sticky out. I’m sure you have the idea. Next I tried an avocado-sour cream mixture. It worked okay, but I still wasn’t sold. Then, as I researched, I discovered coconut oil and I was sold. It works wonderfully, doesn’t smell and leaves my hair shiny (big deal, here) and manageable. I’ve used it for years and have never considered going back.
So, when I needed to find a build-up remover, I didn’t head to the hair product aisle like I used to do all the time. I headed to the internet and Pinterest. As usual, there were so many helpful ideas to get me started.
Two of the main ingredients I was seeing everywhere were baking soda and vinegar. I have come to love both. They have what seems like an infinity of uses in our daily lives. Upon more research, I learned that I didn’t want to use baking soda with my hair being so dry and course, so that left the vinegar. I know what you’re thinking…the smell. 👃 I thought the same thing! Then I read further (amazing what we learn when we read). 😄
What I learned was to add some essential oil to the vinegar and it would help take away the stench. Great! I had some lavender essential oil in the cabinet and, 🌟BONUS🌟, lavender is great for course, dry hair.
Finally, I had a plan to restore life to my hair. Wash, then rinse with the vinegar solution, condition as usual and finish off by deep conditioning with my coconut oil.
Guess what!! It worked like a charm! “Karen’s Hair” jumped right back on the program like Karen wanted and life is great for both souls in this one curly-haired girl! 😉
Here’s what ya need:
- 1 cup of apple cider vinegar
- 10-15 drops of lavender essential oil
- filtered or bottled water
Here’s what ya do:
- Mix the vinegar and essential oil in a jar or covered container that you can use solely for this mixture.
- Add 2-4 tablespoons to 2 cups of water, again in a cup or container that you can use solely for this mixture. Shake or stir well to mix.
- After washing to hair to remove dirt and oil, tilt head back and pour mixture along hairline to run down scalp and hair.
- Let sit on hair for a minute or so and work through hair. Rinse and condition as usual.
- My suggestion is to deep condition as well.
Last, but far from least…LOVE YOUR FRESH “NEW” LOCKS!! 💗🙆💗
KarensOrdinaryLife 