Savvy Brown » Haircare Recipes

DIY Hot Oil Treatment

Savvy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 13:57:41 +0000

I got this great idea from fellow blogger and naturalista Yoli Ouiya after meeting up for tea and coffee one day. (She has beautiful locs by the way). I’ve done oil rinses before, and I’ve made my own deep conditioners, but it had been ages since I actually did a hot oil treatment. Yoli made two great suggestions. Don’t use more than 1/4 cup of oil, unless you have really long hair and apply most of it to a wet scalp, pulling the excess through your strands.

Here’s what I did:

DIY Hot Oil Treatment

Ingredients:

2 tbsps jojoba oil
2 tbsps of coconut oil
1 ceramic or glass mug
2 cups water
1 small pot

Directions:

Hair must first be is washed, detangled and separated into sections. Pour water into pot and bring to a boil. While water is boiling, pour oil into mug and stir to mix. Place mug with oil into boiling water for a few minutes until it’s warm, NOT hot to the touch. Then use oven mitt to remove mug from water.

Dip fingers into warm oil and apply to scalp massaging in circles with the fingertips. Then dip fingers and rub palms together pulling remaining oil through hair gently, being careful not to re-tangle hair.

Note: Microwaving the oil changes it’s properties and therefore I don’t recommend it.

I like using coconut oil and jojoba oil because they are close to the natural sebum or oils found in your skin.

•Do you do your own Hot Oil Treatment? What oils do you use?

Review: Shea Moisture’s Deep Treatment Masque Well here’s a happy accident… I mistakenly bought this...
My First Henna Treatment After hearing TONS of people talking about how great henna...
My Weekly Hair Reggie I’ve received a few emails asking me what my Hair...

Why I Love: Tea Hair Rinses

Savvy — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 18:41:29 +0000

credit: Leon Dale

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned tea rinses in my post 10 Ways to Combat Winter Hair Shedding Naturally, and how they were a good way to help prevent untimely loss of hair. Well, I’ve been actually doing the process for 3 weeks now and I LOVE it. I saw a difference in hair loss after the very first week! Of course as the weeks went on, and I got more rest and ate better, the hair loss went down even more. Apparently, the tannins in caffeinated tea help thicken the hair shaft and make hair appear fuller. Also Black tea is a natural astringent, which means that it penetrates the pores of the scalp and dissolve excess sebum (oil produced by the glands).

Tighter pores, means the skin is better protected from excess oil and dirt. Believe it or not, excess oil and dirt are what actually make your scalp flake off. It’s kind of your scalp’s emergency response to not being able to breathe. So tea rinses can keep you from “shedding” both your scalp and your hair, making them more resilient. The combo of tighter pores and thicker hair means your scalp is holding onto the hair better, and more resilient hair means it won’t snap as easily. This causes less hair to be pulled out, or break off when detangling. Tea rinses benefit all hair types.

Here’s what I did….

Hair Tea Rinse Recipe

Ingredients:
- 4 Lipton regular teabags
- 5 cups of water

Directions:
Pour water into a pot or saucepan and bring to a boil, then turn off stove, and place teabags in hot water. Let steep and cool for at least 1 hour.

I make the tea first, then go and wash and detangle my hair following my regular routine. That way it has at least an hour to cool and steep. Some people do this step the night before and let their tea cool in the fridge overnight. I keep forgetting to do that, so that’s why I tried this way.

After my hair has been detangled I lightly squeeze it dry with my microfiber towel. Then I take the cooled tea and just pour it over my hair while leaning over the tub slowly in sections, making sure to cover my whole head. I give myself a quick scalp massage and squeeze out the excess. Then I immediately put my hair up in a plastic bag and wrap it all up with a big towel.

This step has replaced my deep conditioning for the time being.

After about an hour (or however long it takes me write a blog post and clean up the bathroom), I rinse the tea out with tepid water and rinse as usual. The reason why I do this instead of deep conditioning is because I almost always put my hair in two-strand twists after I wash it, and this requires using product that is either a conditioner, or a hair butter, which is very similiar to whatever I would deep condition with. So I figured I’d skip a step and see how it worked. So far, so good.

I used green tea one week and Lipton regular black tea the next and couldn’t see a difference. Some people swear by green tea though so I think I’ll try it again when I run out of Lipton’s. I’m also going to do more research on herbal teas for the hair and see if there are more benefits. Rosemary, I’ve read is excellent for serious scalp irritation and dandruff as well.

For a list of different teas and their effects on your hair, check out this site

Do you you tea to rinse your hair? If so, what kind and what’s your process?

Review: Wonder Curl Butter than Love My girl Scarlett is back with some new products in...
Savvy Mailbag: “Help With Hair Growth” Here’s a message that landed in my inbox a few...
Guest Post: Daisy Raybould on The Top 5 Oils For Healthy Beautiful Hair Daisy Raybould has a passion for solving health...

So I tried Henna Again…

Savvy — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:02:29 +0000

After reading all of you guys’ helpful comments on My First Henna, I got some new ingredients and finally got around to doing my henna again a couple of weeks ago and it came out MUCH better this time. Here’s what I used:

Henna Mix 2

Ingredients*:

2 cups of steeped hot green tea (3 tea bags)
200gms of Jamila Henna
2 tbsps milk thistle powder
2 tbsps of almond oil
4 tbsps Suave Tropical Coconut condish
2 tbsps red wine vinegar (I figured it’s acidic and it’s red so why not right?)

*Everything highlighted can be purchased at the Savvy Shop

Directions:

Pour Henna powder into a bowl and add steeped hot green tea and vinegar to the mix. Add milk thistle powder and let sit for 4 hours. Then add the rest of the ingredients until the consistency is like pancake batter.

I then coated my hair just like last time, but this time I only left it in for 4 hours. I also used more Suave condish to rinse it out. (My only mistake? Rinsing my hair in the shower, and not the tub what a mess! I’m still cleaning some of it out of the shower!)

I followed it all up with a deep conditioning treatment of coconut milk, AOHSR Condish and raw honey. (I’ll post that recipe soon!)

This time my hair came out soft and shiny and I think the color was a little richer. I think it might have changed my curl pattern a bit as well. Although I heard about people saying that henna changed their curl pattern, they always said it happened after using henna for awhile. This is only my second time using it! Here’s how it turned out after I did a twitout with Karen’s Body Beautiful Hair milk and KBB Hair Cream. (A review of these products is also coming!)

Here’s the results, you can really see the color change in my puff…

I’m now investigating how to do a henna “gloss” Anybody have any ideas on how to do that?

My Henna Gloss Recipe It’s been awhile since my last henna. One of the...
Guest Vlogger: missymistique’s Henna tutorial I mentioned missymistique in my last post My Henna Gloss...
My First Henna Treatment After hearing TONS of people talking about how great henna...

Using Bentonite Clay as a Deep Conditioner

Savvy — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:24:40 +0000

If you’ve been following this blog and the savvybrownblog twitter page then you’ve heard me talk about the many uses for Bentonite Clay. One of my favorite uses for it is as a Deep Conditioner for my hair. Bentonite clay can remove buildup without stripping hair of its moisture making the hair really soft and easier to detangle. It can also bring out curls if any, and add sheen. It is sometimes mixed with another ingredient like marshmallow root powder, coconut milk, yogurt or just water. I like mixing mine with Apple Cider Vinegar. Although I have some coconut milk left over and I think I’ll try that this weekend! A ztec Secret is a popular brand, and it’s available in the Savvy Shop!

Here’s what I did:

Bentonite Clay Deep Conditioner

Ingredients:

6 tbsps Bentonite clay
2 tbsps + 1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar (I use the real kind with the apple bits floating around)creamy and smooth

Directions:

Mix the clay and vinegar until it’s the consistency of yogurt. You can add more vinegar if you need to. Apply all over making sure to cover hair and scalp thoroughly. Leave in for 30 mins. Do NOT let the clay dry. This is not a treatment that you want to leave on over night. Rinse thoroughly with cool water, and then again with 1 cup of ACV. That’s it! Apply your leave-in conditioner and style as usual. My hair is so soft after a Bentonite Clay treatment and I get great twistout results!

Bentonite Clay Application

After Bentonite Clay

Do you use Bentonite Clay in your hair? What do you mix it with?

Renpure Organics Conditioner Review Although Renpure boasts 6 conditioners in it’s line, My pretty...
Review: Desert Organics Red Grape Conditioner It’s not often that I can find a conditioner for...
Daily leave-in conditioner Pour 1/8 cup of conditioner into a small spray bottle...

My First Henna Treatment

Savvy — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 07:02:12 +0000

After hearing TONS of people talking about how great henna for you hair is, I decided to try it myself a couple of months ago. Why use henna? Because it’s much healthier for your hair than most over-the-counter hair dyes. With multiple uses it also conditions and softens the hair shaft. (I got this recipe from Curly Nikki) Here’s what I did:

Preparing the Henna:

Steep 4 green tea bags in 2 cups of water

Mix 200gms Jamila Henna in cooled tea (they come in 100gm boxes)and 1 squeezed lemon. I had a little left over, so next time I’ll mix a box and a half.

I stirred it by hand with a butter knife making sure all the powder was wet and absorbed into the mix. It should be thick like mashed potatoes and will look dark olive in color. (It kind of smells like hot wet leaves. Yum.)

Let it sit for 8 hours.

Then I washed, detangled and conditioned my hair following my regular routine.

At this point, the color of the henna mixture had deepend to a dark brown, and it has become much thicker….like…well…mud.

I wanted it a little but thinner so I added 2 tbsps of raw honey warmed up in the micro, 1 tbsp of coconut oil, and stirred that in until it was more the consistency of guacamole. I also added several drops each of peppermint oil and orange oil to make it smell a little better.

Applying the Henna:

I applied it to my hair section by section and when I reached the top of my head, I hand-parted it again all over making sure I didn’t miss anything.
Then I put a plastic shopping bag on my head, wrapped my head in a towel and went about my business for the next 3 hours.
Washing this stuff out is tricky. (Think of it as washing a mud pie out of your head.)
I filled my bathtub halfway and pulled my hair down into it. I luckily have a hand sprayer on my tub, so I dunked and used that to rinse it out…5 times.
Then I deep conditioned with Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner mixed with castor oil for 30 mins (I should have done this for longer, probably overnight)
Then I rinsed it out and and used my trusty Bee Mine Bee Hold Curly Butter as a leave-in, and two strand twisted my hair in medium-sized twists and then set the twists on rollers.

Here’s the result:

Next time I will reserve a whole weekend for this process. Whew! It did make my hair a little redder, but you can only see it in the sunlight, it’s really subtle. It did turn some of my little gray hairs into little red wires though! I definitely didn’t deep condition long enough though, because my hair was kind of dry I solved that by applying my spray leave-in conditioner daily. So next time I’ll DC for a few hours.

I also wonder what I could do to make the rinse out a little easier. Any suggestions?

My Henna Gloss Recipe It’s been awhile since my last henna. One of the...
So I tried Henna Again… After reading all of you guys’ helpful comments on My...
Guest Vlogger: missymistique’s Henna tutorial I mentioned missymistique in my last post My Henna Gloss...

Hair Guacamole

Savvy — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:00:42 +0000

This is my favorite deep conditioner, and although I use store bought DC a lot, I keep coming back to this one!

Avocado/Mayo Deep Conditioner

Ingredients:

1/2 of a RIPE soft Haas avocado meat mashed with fork well
1/2 cup regular mayonaise (DON’T leave this out, otherwise you’ll have pieces of avocado left in your hair!)
2tbsps of oil (I use raw coconut oil, but you can use jojoba, olive, grapeseed, etc.)

Directions:

Put the avocado and the oil in a mini food processor or blender and blend, then add the mayo until smooth. Apply to hair from root to tip and cover with a plastic bag or plastic shower cap and wrap head with a towel. Leave on for a couple of hours, then rinse out with warm water.

Put any extra in the fridge (or add chopped tomatoes and urn it into a dip!)

Try it and tell me whatcha think!

NOTE: This Deep Conditioning Treatment is NOT to be used with heat. I wrap my head in a plastic bag and a towel, and let it sit while I clean my house. A couple of hours later, I wash it out.

Hair Product Review: Chatto’s Hair Products Pt.1 I first heard about Chatto’s products (pronounced Sha-toe), when a...
My Weekly Hair Reggie I’ve received a few emails asking me what my Hair...
Daily leave-in conditioner Pour 1/8 cup of conditioner into a small spray bottle...

Daily leave-in conditioner

Savvy — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:42:59 +0000

Pour 1/8 cup of conditioner into a small spray bottle

Pour in a little oil (oilve, sweet almond, avocado, coconut, jojoba or any other natural oil that you choose)

Pour in a few drops of glycerine

Add a few drops of essential oil (optional, but I like tea tree, peppermint or jasmine)

Fill the rest of the bottle with water and shake vigorously.

Shake and spray on your hair daily, to keep it hydrated and moisturized!

This is a great way to use up those little bits of conditioner left at the bottom of those conditioners you’ve been trying out. Some of my favorites to use are:

- Giovanni Smooth As Silk Conditioner
- Aubrey Organics Honeysuckle Rose Conditioner
- Suave Tropical Coconut Conditioner

Do you make your own leave-in conditioner? What are some of your leave-in conditioner mixes?

Hair Product Review: Oyin Handmade “Juices & Berries” Leave-In Conditioner So during my visit to Georgia NY, I was happy...
Using Bentonite Clay as a Deep Conditioner If you’ve been following this blog and the savvybrownblog twitter...
Review: Desert Organics Red Grape Conditioner It’s not often that I can find a conditioner for...