I'm slowly coming clean.
I really, really struggle with hair products.
See, I have this really annoying straight, fine hair... but I have a lot of it!
So, when I use stuff meant for "thin" hair, my hair usually reacts by either turning too big or too dry.
Same goes for when I use products meant for "oily" hair (since, you know, my hair shows grease really easily).
So, I end up spending a lot of time on a hair see-saw... Hair looking too flat and greasy? Buy something to add volume! Great, now my hair is Southern Beauty Pageant big...and still a bit greasy... Buy something to fight oil! ....Aaand now my hair is dry and flat and splitting.... BUY SOMETHING TO REPAIR IT! ...and now my hair is oily again. Dammit. Part of me is very, very thankful I usually wear a bandana to hold my hair back at work, so I don't have to worry about bad hair days... another part of me would desperately like to go back to when I sported a Rachel Maddow that simultaneously got me hit on by a lot more ladies and got me the occasional hate glare from blue haired biddies... Life was so much simpler then... if it was a little on the greasy side, nobody noticed... they just thought I got a little carried away with my pomade. (Joke's on them: I don't like adding extra products to the mix because... well... why complicate an already complicated matter?) On the other hand, I decided when my dad died to grow out my hair before I get married... more as a sort of arbitrary way to make sure I wasn't just using a new domestic relationship as a cure for my grief than anything else...so for better or worse, I'm stuck with long tresses. (On the plus side, I did a little research, and if I can stand keeping my hair long as long as I'll need to in order to do so, I could sell it for several hundreds of dollars, although honey-brown hair isn't in as high demand as, say, dark black or blond hair)
So, as part of my adventure into saving money and trying to live a more sustainable life, I tried out making my own shampoo. I hate the term "homemade" because in my mind, that implies "made from scratch," and let me tell you right now: I have no patience for soapmaking. None whatsoever. Instead I rely, for all of my DIY cleaning and personal care products, on Dr. Bronner's liquid castille soap (I prefer the almond scented, since it lends itself to being used by itself or in combination with essential oils) as the base for just about everything... except my laundry/dish soap... then I use their bar soap. Anyway, I found a recipe and tweaked it just a bit for my particular hair situation... Here's the base recipe:
The lather was promising, and the scent was, as expected, pretty divine. It rinsed out easily, leaving my wet hair feeling smooth, but disconcertingly "squeaky." This normally doesn't bode well for my hair, as it usually results in dry, straw-like hair. However, once it air-dried, I found it to be soft, supple, shiny, and although not as full as I would prefer, not terribly flat. I'm sure if I were to put it in curlers, it would come out looking quite beautiful. My partner agreed with my quality assessment (I seem to be constantly using him for informal, single-blind trials) so, we'll see how this goes. Maybe my days on the Hair See-Saw are over.
I'm not betting on it though.
I really, really struggle with hair products.
See, I have this really annoying straight, fine hair... but I have a lot of it!
So, when I use stuff meant for "thin" hair, my hair usually reacts by either turning too big or too dry.
Same goes for when I use products meant for "oily" hair (since, you know, my hair shows grease really easily).
So, I end up spending a lot of time on a hair see-saw... Hair looking too flat and greasy? Buy something to add volume! Great, now my hair is Southern Beauty Pageant big...and still a bit greasy... Buy something to fight oil! ....Aaand now my hair is dry and flat and splitting.... BUY SOMETHING TO REPAIR IT! ...and now my hair is oily again. Dammit. Part of me is very, very thankful I usually wear a bandana to hold my hair back at work, so I don't have to worry about bad hair days... another part of me would desperately like to go back to when I sported a Rachel Maddow that simultaneously got me hit on by a lot more ladies and got me the occasional hate glare from blue haired biddies... Life was so much simpler then... if it was a little on the greasy side, nobody noticed... they just thought I got a little carried away with my pomade. (Joke's on them: I don't like adding extra products to the mix because... well... why complicate an already complicated matter?) On the other hand, I decided when my dad died to grow out my hair before I get married... more as a sort of arbitrary way to make sure I wasn't just using a new domestic relationship as a cure for my grief than anything else...so for better or worse, I'm stuck with long tresses. (On the plus side, I did a little research, and if I can stand keeping my hair long as long as I'll need to in order to do so, I could sell it for several hundreds of dollars, although honey-brown hair isn't in as high demand as, say, dark black or blond hair)
So, as part of my adventure into saving money and trying to live a more sustainable life, I tried out making my own shampoo. I hate the term "homemade" because in my mind, that implies "made from scratch," and let me tell you right now: I have no patience for soapmaking. None whatsoever. Instead I rely, for all of my DIY cleaning and personal care products, on Dr. Bronner's liquid castille soap (I prefer the almond scented, since it lends itself to being used by itself or in combination with essential oils) as the base for just about everything... except my laundry/dish soap... then I use their bar soap. Anyway, I found a recipe and tweaked it just a bit for my particular hair situation... Here's the base recipe:
1/4 cup distilled waterFor my own recipe, I substituted almond oil for jojoba oil, and used about 1 full tablespoon, because I've found castille soap to be excessively drying for my hair. My essential oil of choice was Geranium oil, partly because I just like the combination of Geranium and almond (I use a mix of almond oil, shea butter, and geranium oil as a body butter. It's pretty divine.) and partly because I read various sources which suggest Geranium oil is good for fine hair and for promoting hair growth. So, I set to my mixing, then, when I took my evening shower, took it for a test drive.
1/4 cup liquid castille soap
1/2 teaspoon jojoba oil
5 drops choice of essential oil
Mix thoroughly in bottle. Shake again before using. Use as any other shampoo.
The lather was promising, and the scent was, as expected, pretty divine. It rinsed out easily, leaving my wet hair feeling smooth, but disconcertingly "squeaky." This normally doesn't bode well for my hair, as it usually results in dry, straw-like hair. However, once it air-dried, I found it to be soft, supple, shiny, and although not as full as I would prefer, not terribly flat. I'm sure if I were to put it in curlers, it would come out looking quite beautiful. My partner agreed with my quality assessment (I seem to be constantly using him for informal, single-blind trials) so, we'll see how this goes. Maybe my days on the Hair See-Saw are over.
I'm not betting on it though.
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