Make Your Own Hair Gel

I’ve been “no-poo” for a while; it’ll be 4 years in October!

The process of using baking soda and apple cider vinegar (ACV) to clean and condition my hair has been largely successful, and worked well for me right from the beginning.

I’ve had to make changes to my system (everybody has their own) several times over the years, and usually have to make it slightly different in the winter to accomodate for climate changes.

I’ve been pretty “pure” in my use of the system because of how sensitive my scalp is to product; I haven’t used anything for styling my hair all these years (er, except once which I’ll tell you about in a minute).

Not that I’ve had much interest in doing so.

However, about 6 months ago I realized that I actually have wavy hair (very soft waves), and I worked to enhance them. I started adding a coconut oil conditioner after washing (the ACV conditions my scalp, but doesn’t condition my hair as much as it needs in this dry climate).

That’s been great for conditioning, but not really for holding my waves in.

After a recent haircut at Trios, my favorite salon, I found myself wanting more body in my hair as well, and realized I need to add “product” to my hair to get the look I wanted.

No way was I letting store-bought product touch my head! I’d made the mistake of letting a stylist add a pomade to my hair (not touching my scalp) after being no-poo for a year and it made my scalp itch like crazy for days! And that was a brand that is considered “natural” and uses mostly plant-based ingredients.

A quick search on the ‘net (I use Eco-Search, powered by Google) and I found a couple basic recipes. I could either use gelatin (think Jello without the color, flavor and sugar) or flax seeds.

The flax seed recipe resonated with me, so I bought a bag from a local health food store. I love how easy it was to make and just had to share it with all of you who are naturally-inclined.

From Care2, in an article by Annie B. Bond

Flax seed gel can be used successfully to help set hair.

¾ cup water
1 tablespoon flax seed

Combine the water and flax seeds in a small pan, and bring to a boil. Simmer until the mixture is gelatinous (about 10 to 15 minutes). Strain out as many seeds as you can. Dip a comb into the gel, and comb through the hair before setting with curlers or pins.

I’ve made a few changes to the recipe:

• I added two drops of grapefruit seed extract (GSE), as a preservative, because I wanted to store this in my bathroom instead of the refrigerator, and because I use this only twice a week
• I added some essential oils for scent, including rosemary which has beneficial properties for hair
• I pour some into my hand instead of dipping in my comb. It stays together as a blob and is much like squeezing off a bit of egg white (in fact, the gel on its own can be used as a substitute for egg white in some recipes!)

I made my batch about a month ago and have used half (I have short hair, mind you). I’m actually looking forward to making more, but using too much has the same effect as using too much regular hair gel.

On a related note, I’ll be making up a huge batch around Halloween! Maybe even before.

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