Hello there lovelies~
I decided to begin making my own leave in conditioner from scratch. I figured that it would be more cost effective to make my own leave in, and I would know exactly what's in the leave in and therefore exactly what I'm putting into my hair. So, after a bit of googling and knowledge of ingredients that have done well in my hair I came up with the following ingredient list:
- Aloe vera juice (about 1 cup)-reduces frizziness
- Guar gum (2 heaping teaspoons)-thickener and conditioner
- Vegetable glycerin (2 teaspoons)-moisturizer
- Jojoba oil (1 teaspoon)-moisturizer
- Castor oil (1 teaspoon)-emollient and humectant (keep water in)
- Essential oils: rosemary, lavender (about 8 drops), lemongrass (about 5 drops)
I mixed everything together and put it in the fridge overnight (this is supposed to help the guar gum have a smooth texture). The texture of the leave in came out to be a bit gummy-ish. Unfortunately, I put too much guar gum in the mix. However, the results of the leave in as a leave in are promising.
Pros
- Leaves hair shiny
- Moisturizes some
- Defines curls
- Cost effective
- Contains only ingredients I approve of (and can pronounce the name of, read the label of a product sometime, sheesh)
Cons
- Flakes if you use too much
- Doesn't moisturize as much as I would like
- The texture is too thick (similar to really thick gel) and difficult to spread through the hair
- Causing itchy scalp (this may be due to overuse)
So, although it's not exactly where I want it to be the leave in experiment was successful. I ordered some ingredients last night to modify my conditioner a bit. I will replace (at least some) the guar gum with cetyl alcohol and will add panthenol (Vitamin B5). Cetyl alcohol is also a thickener and a moisturizer. Panthenol is a moisturizer.
So, once my cetyl alcohol and panthenol come in I'll make a new batch of leave in and report back on the results.
Tootles for now!
How much product did this recipe yield? And what do you think the shelf life will be? I'm excited to hear how the revised recipe works out! And BTW, I'm going to ignore the fact that just a few weeks ago you gave me a COMPLETELY different leave-in recipe to try! I'll accept a sample of your new batch of leave-in as an apology. :-D #THANKS
ReplyDeleteLol, yeah, I hadn't made it yet when I told you about the leave in to use. The product filled a 6oz container (reused old Cantu leave in container). I'm not sure about shelf life and am not too concerned about that with this batch since I will probably throw it out when I make the new recipe. This batch actually produced more than I wanted, I plan to make a 1-2 week supply at a time in the future. If I notice that the leave in is not keeping well (ie growing stuff in it) I will probably add Vitamin E which is an antibacterial and perhaps tea tree which is an anti fungal.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. Keep your eye out for that apology jar of leave in :-)