Daisy Raybould has a passion for solving health problems the way nature intended. She, along with a number of fellow natural health enthusiasts, share their tips, secrets and recipes designed to help you obtain perfect health using the power of nature’s wonders at RevitaliseYourHealth.com.

The Top 5 Oils For Healthy Beautiful Hair

There are an abundance of natural oils that can help you to achieve beautiful, healthy looking hair. In this blog post, I want to share my top five.

Without further ado, let’s get going…

A few weeks ago after washing and detangling my hair, I stepped out of the shower, put on my glasses…and freaked.

When I peered back into the shower it looked like I’d just groomed a poodle. There were large clumps of hair everywhere.

BIG ones.

I ran to the mirror checking for bald spots, thinking that my near-sightedness had caused me to confuse my bottle of depilatory with my shampoo. But thankfully, that was not the case. I stood there for a minute, tapping my chin trying to figure out what I had done wrong. I hadn’t changed my routine, I wasn’t using a new comb or anything. The only thing that had really changed in my life…well…was me. You see when damage shows up on my skin or with my hair, I know that it’s usually my lifestyle, and not necessarily the products I’m using that are the culprit.

I was right.

Stress from my work had caused me to stop eating as well, and stay up late, which led to coffee-laden afternoons, and insomnia-ridden nights. Exercise? Yeah right.  So since the beginning of the year, I’ve actively been trying to approach my hair and scalp health from the inside out. And it’s been working!

Here’s what I did:

Last week, Carolynn of the HoneyCee Blog emailed me about a blog post she did all about conditioners and natural hair. I thought it was REALLY informative and upon her request decided to repost part of it here.

Excerpt from “Conditioner: the Natural Girlz Creamy Crack!”:

“I was de-tangling my hair with my new found favorite conditioner and it occurred to me that conditioner is to a lot of natural women what relaxers are to chemically straightened women: CRACK! I mean lets be real about the situation, if there is one thing that most natural women can’t go without its conditioner. Whether it be a leave-in, moisturizer, or a rinse out we panic when we’re about to run out lol. So, I decided to do a little research on this product that we love so much and discover what it is really that makes this product beneficial to our hair.

Here is what I found:

I figured out this hairstyle quite by accident when I was attempting to put my hair in a regular bun. I love this style, because it’s easy, low-cost and protects the ends of your hair. If you’ve seen me withi the past 2 weeks, then you’ve probably seen me with this hairstyle. (Maintenance is so easy I was just too lazy too take it down LOL). The great thing about it is that you don’t need to use one of those spongy-donut things in your hair. Instead you make use of your natural hair’s curls to create the donut and provide texture. So here’s how I did it:

What you’ll need:

- two scarves- one narrow, one wide

- large silky scrunchie

- boar bristle brush

- gel (I usually use Eco-Styler clear for this)

I saw Kimmaytube of YouTube and Luv Naturals demonstrate this one, and I’ve added it to my repertoire. After my washing my hair and following my normal routine, I usually put my hair in medium-sized twists like this.

I rarely use a dryer, opting instead to use a microfiber towel to squeeze dry my hair before I twist, and then let it air dry the rest of the way. I’m convinced I’ve been able to retain more length this way. BUT what to do if I have to go out or to a function the same day that I’ve washed my hair? Kimmaytube to the rescue!

Remember how you’re mom always told you to wear a hat in winter?

Well you’d be surprised how many curly-haired women I speak to who are freezing their heads off right now because they don’t want to wear a hat and mess up their HAIR! (I know right?!) On the one hand, Wool hats, knit, woven, crocheted, felted, (whatever) all can pull and tug at our really delicate curly strands and break them off. (How many times have you found hair inside of your hat?) On the other hand, for many of us, wearing a hat means that we’ll end up with the dreaded “hat head”. Well here’s my solution for keeping my head warm AND still lookin’ cute.

1. Wear a silk scarf or satin bonnet under your hats. It’s easy. I found this brown bonnet at a beauty supply store for $2. I also have another one in white. They come in all kinds of colors!

my satin bonnet

2. Wear a big floppy hat. That way your curls aren’t constricted. This is one of the tams or berets I knit myself, but even if you’re not a knitter you can find nice sized ones at good prices right now.

my green beret

front view

3. Rock it. – And when you get to wherever you’re going, just slide your hand under and pull them both off at once and fluff.

hat's off!!

Anyone, not just curlies can use this technique to protect their hair. In addition, silkscarves are really good at keeping you warm. (Ever had a pair of silk long johns? They’re incredibly warm) This is also how I hide my deep conditioning treatments if I have to go out. I just put my bonnet on top of my plastic cap or bag and put on the beret and go!

Ok so here’s how I clean my hair without commercial shampoo.

I wet my hair thoroughly in the shower FIRST and clean my hair with Dr. Bronner’s castille soap mixed with water. I put it in a squeeze bottle like this so that I can direct the shampoo at my roots and scalp easily without using too much. I clean my hair in SECTIONS (this is important if you really want to get your hair clean) by rubbing my scalp vigorously with the pads of my fingers, and then pull the soap through the rest of the hair in that section carefully. I clip each section back as I go. I don’t use my nails on my scalp because that tends to lead to a flaky scalp. I then remove the clips and rinse my hair out thoroughly. Unless I’ve been using a lot of product, or my scalp is really dirty, I only clean my hair once. Next I turn the water off (trying to conserve a bit) and add generous amount of Giovanni’s Smooth As Silk conditioner to my hair, (this stuff detangles like a DREAM) once again applying section by section, but this time concentrating on pulling it through my hair and less on my scalp. I use a shower comb to detangle my hair, you guessed it, section by section. Then I turn the water back on, take care of the rest of my shower business and rinse ALMOST all of the conditioner out.

For those of you who have very curly thick hair (4a,b,c) that tends to break off at the ends, this is for you. It’s a way of conditioning that really takes care of your ends and promotes growth. Here is a link to great link on the subject.

The Baggy Method 101

Ok. so before you think I’m a big stinky person, I DO wash my hair, just not with regular, beauty-supply-store variety shampoo. Why? Because most shampoos have ingredients that I don’t use anymore. As mentioned in the video in my previous post My Health Turning Point Sodium Lauryl and Laureth Sulfates can affect your health. Here’s more info on them, and how dimethicones and Amodimethicones are related.

- Sodium lauryl sulfate/Sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) – This ingredient is in almost every cleaning product we use. It’s always near the top of the list of ingredients in shampoos (which means it’s in large quatities), bodywashes, laundry detergents, dishwashing detergents, floor cleaners, even car shampoo. SLS is put into products in order to make them “sudsy”. We have been mistakenly led to believe that if a product doesn’t produce a lot of bubbles, it’s not cleaning properly. (For the record, bubbles don’t actually clean anything). SLS is also very good at removing oils from surfaces like your dishes, floor, car, clothes and of course, your hair.

In recent years, SLS has been suspected of causing or aggravating many heath probelms, among them skin allergies, hair loss, and eye irritation, due to the fact that it removes oils so readily. As well as the brain, and liver, and that the body actually has problems expelling the product and it stays in the skin and body for a long time. Things tat stay in your body too long usually cause problems.

- Dimethicone/Amodimethicone (cones) – These ingredients are found in products such as conditioner, lotion, body creams, deep condtioners, oils, serums, foot creams, as well as shampoo. They are man-made, silicone-based ingredients that add slipperyness (slip) and smoothness to products and hair. They help resist tangles, and make hair more manageable and soft by coating the hair with a thin layer of silicone (basically rubber), and keeping moisture out. Thus, making the hair appear less frizzy and more smooth.
The problem with cones is, after awhile products with cones build up on your hair and cause dryness, breakage and split ends. Unless you wash them out of your hair with shampoos with SLS. Cones don’t appear to be life threatening, but they can cause scalp irritations and dandruff and other skin problems since the scalp cannot breathe as well. Amodimethicone was developed later, and is said to wash out of the hair and off of skin more easily than dimethicone, but the jury is still out.
Some people swear by cones, but on my journey I personally have sworn them off simply because they have to be washed out with SLS shampoos, and those risky side effects are not worth it to me. I’m interested in what you think about the above ingredients. Do some research and leave a comment Thanks!
Some of my sources:

http://www.healthy-communications.com/caution.html

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/106751

http://www.healthy-communications.com/slsmostdangerousirritant.html

http://www.mywomenstuff.com/2008/09/24/what-is-silicone-and-is-it-bad-for-your-skin/

http://sci-toys.com/ingredientsadimethicone.html

http://www.naturallycurly.com/curlreading/curly-q-a/curlchemist-amodimethicone-and-other-amine-functionalized-silicones