Homemade Conditioner

I can save you some time, some reading.  Skip to the last recipe on here and just do it.


Because I have replaced just about everything in our house now to something chemical free, it was time to find a substitute for the next common household product: hair conditioner.  I looked everywhere online for recipes, and only found one not-full-of-super-weird-stuff recipe for your day to day conditioner.  But it's still pretty weird.


Basic Conditioner
2 cups warm water
2 Tbl apple cider vinegar


Now, I know that sounds... smelly... but I found that all over the internet.  All over it.  So I figure it must be worth a shot.  Some people said it made their hair feel waxy, so I'm not sure how this will hold up long term.


The first time I tried this, I forgot to warm up the water.  That's right.  I dumped smelly, cold water all over myself in the shower.  I was not pleased.  I was pretty sure I'd never do this again.  My husband told me I smelled like his favorite bag of chips.  I whined about this online, and a friend of mine with gorgeous hair told me she only uses vinegar to condition her hair and baking soda to wash it.  So not buying it.


Nevertheless, I persevered.  The apple cider vinegar WAS an amazing detangler, if nothing else.  I tried, tried again.


The vinegar rinse left my hair a wonderful static ball.  It also burned since I had shaved first.  Because it's so runny, it's really hard to get through your hair without turning upside down and dumping it on that way, too.  This means it's hard to keep off of your face and out of your eyes.  Basically, this was just a bad experience.  No matter how many times you try it.  And you smell like chips. 


Oil
There is no "recipe" for this.  Smear some on your hair, comb through, and rinse out.


This made my hair greasy, and ultimately had the same long-term use problem that the vinegar rinse had. After using both of these conditioners for a little while, I quickly realized they were lacking one major ingredient to keep hair strong:  protein.  I cannot use vinegar long-term because very, very quickly my hair started to get brittle and frizzy.   The oil kept my hair smooth and fantastic, but only after I washed my hair again.


Now, because it was fun to have nothing on my hair for a day and the vinegar was a fun detangler, I might use this once in a blue moon anyway.  Unfortunately, though, vinegar and oil aren't something I can use regularly. 


Deep Conditioner
2 Tbl mayonnaise
1 egg
2 Tbl Olive Oil
1 1/2 Tbl Honey
2 Tbl Sesame Seed Oil
*You can put essential oils in this to make it smell nice!


This makes a fair amount of conditioner.  You'll have to beat it to get it smooth and blended.  Keep it refrigerated between uses.  It comes out runny, so put it in an appropriate bottle.


At first I was surprised by how much this recipe made (runs to grab larger bottle), but I was even MORE surprised by how much my hair kept soaking this up.  Seriously, my hair just kept absorbing it even though I'd already gotten it wet!  I left this on the whole time I scrubbed and shaved, then rinsed it out and washed my hair like I normally would.  I couldn't stomach the idea of leaving egg in my hair without washing it...  But when I got out of the shower, hello shiny!

See?  Shiny!

I was very impressed with this mix.  My hair has been dull and super dry since I started using the castille soap recipe for my hair.  Most gals recommended doing this once a month on various sites online. I will be doing this once a week or more, with my long, dry hair.  


You can still buy all natural types of conditioner for your everyday use (I keep a bottle of Burt's Bees in the shower) but you will probably still want to do this deep conditioner once in a while during your switch!