NO-POO HAIR PREP
Preparing for my first no-poo wash
No-poo means “no shampoo” – it doesn’t mean something else!!
Decanting the scalp oil
After making up my scalp oil yesterday according to Curly Proverbz’ recipe, I put it in the airing cupboard because I knew that in this cold weather, it could set solid with the amount of coconut oil in it. When I got it out, it hadn’t set hard, but it was set enough that it wouldn’t pour out of the jar. I stood the jar in a bowl of hot water to soften it, and then poured it through a sieve into a glass jug, to make it easier to decant into the applicator bottles. It is quite dark coloured, and smells lovely – I can definitely smell the peppermint oil in it.
I had made enough to fill 2 1/2 applicator bottles, which should be adequate to last a month. You are supposed to make a new batch after four weeks, and I shall be using this twice or three times a week from now on.
Conditioner
Someone made a YouTube comment (and I can no longer find it!) that she didn’t like to waste the oil-soaked residue at the bottom of the jar of scalp oil, so she blended it with some water and made a conditioner out of it. I decided to try this. My goodness, it made my Vitamix work hard!! That is one powerful machine but at one point I was seriously wondering whether it would burn the motor out… All was well, though. I had to keep adding more and more hot water to it as it was super-thick. What I ended up with was a strange slick gel. It is presumably an emulsion as the water and oil have blended, and it is very smooth. As the ingredients are supposed to be super-nourishing for hair, I thought it might also be good for skin and nails! I’ve got a large amount of this which will probably go off before I get the chance to use it all as a hair conditioner. I experimented with some on my hands, and after a minute or two of massaging it, it was completely absorbed, and left my skin feeling very soft, with virtually no smell.
Because it has no preservatives in it, I think it will need to be kept in the fridge. I shall be very interested to see if it has any effect on my nails, which are made from the structural protein keratin, like hair.
Here are the results of this aftrnoon’s labours.
The scalp oil produced 2 1/2 applicator bottles, and the conditioner filled a plastic pot and a jar. Here’s a closer view of the conditoner.
It is quite gelatinous and tends to cling together. If you dip your finger in, it won’t stick to your finger which comes out clean. You have to scoop it out, and you can pull it away cleanly from the sides of the pot. What I shall have to do when I apply it to my hair is to scoop some out into my palm and rub my hands together and then run it through my hair. It smells pretty good – not a strong smell but I can definitely detect the peppermint oil, as I can with the scalp oil.
I am going to try this in place of the Simple conditioner and see how it goes.
This is all highly experimental!
The clay wash takes place tomorrow morning. This evening I read on a couple of sites that Rhassoul clay can stain grey hair, which I didn’t realise, so I am hoping it isn’t going to come out slightly red, as I am enjoying the silver look now! I shan’t be using it as a mask and leaving it in, so hopefully it won’t have a chance to stain my precious locks!
People also say that the henna will cause staining, but I confirmed again from another site that neutral henna is colourless. It is only one of several components in the scalp oil which isn’t going to be applied to the length of the hair anyway.
If everything goes pear-shaped, there is always the tichel to cover it all up when we go out for lunch on Wednesday!!
Off up to bed now, and I shall apply the scalp oil and wrap up my head before sleep, and let it do its magic.
