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If you buy conditioner at a drug store, you get a plastic bottle, mostly full of water. Just like bottled water, that's wasteful of energy shipping the water around, and wasteful of plastic. In addition, it usually has a bunch of possibly harmful chemicals in it. I figured that if I made my own conditioner, I could re-use a bottle hundreds of times, ship less weight around the country, and know what ingredients I am using. And at the same time, save money--my formula can make 16 oz. for only 12 cents!
If you want to check out the safety of the conditioner you are using, you can look it up at the Skin Deep cosmetics safety database. You can also search for low-toxicity conditioners. When I tried to do that, I found stuff that looked really benign, but cost $20 a bottle, plus shipping, and I wouldn't be doing anything to avoid buying bottles and shipping water around the planet.
So I looked for conditioner or hair gel recipes on the web. There are some out there, but a lot of them use the same chemicals that I'd prefer to avoid. There was one that worked great -- boiling flax seeds in water to make an amazing gel --but the result goes bad in less than a week and ends up smelling like rotten eggs. It's worth considering doing that and keeping it in the fridge to prevent spoilage, but I wanted to see if I could make something more convenient.
It turns out that this formula also has something of the same problem--it spoils eventually if it's not refrigerated--so unless you want to add preservatives, you need to make small batches, or keep most of it in the fridge. But it works well--as you see in the comments, some people swear by this formula.
Several comments also suggested aloe vera juice. You can buy that in a bottle or grow your own. That's also likely to have the problem of needing preservatives to last without refrigeration, but it seems to do a little better in my limited experimentation as far as keeping at room temperature.
If you want to check out the safety of the conditioner you are using, you can look it up at the Skin Deep cosmetics safety database. You can also search for low-toxicity conditioners. When I tried to do that, I found stuff that looked really benign, but cost $20 a bottle, plus shipping, and I wouldn't be doing anything to avoid buying bottles and shipping water around the planet.
So I looked for conditioner or hair gel recipes on the web. There are some out there, but a lot of them use the same chemicals that I'd prefer to avoid. There was one that worked great -- boiling flax seeds in water to make an amazing gel --but the result goes bad in less than a week and ends up smelling like rotten eggs. It's worth considering doing that and keeping it in the fridge to prevent spoilage, but I wanted to see if I could make something more convenient.
It turns out that this formula also has something of the same problem--it spoils eventually if it's not refrigerated--so unless you want to add preservatives, you need to make small batches, or keep most of it in the fridge. But it works well--as you see in the comments, some people swear by this formula.
Several comments also suggested aloe vera juice. You can buy that in a bottle or grow your own. That's also likely to have the problem of needing preservatives to last without refrigeration, but it seems to do a little better in my limited experimentation as far as keeping at room temperature.
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My recipe is
2/3 cup water.
xanthan gum and guar gum: 1/4 tsp each for gel; 1/8 tsp each for conditioner
1 tsp canola oil
I got the xanthan gum and guar gum from the bulk section of my local coop grocery store. They get it from frontier ; you can use their store locator to find a local source. You can also order direct from Frontier (both gums are in the cooking and baking ingredients section ), but you'll need to buy a 1-lb bag which is probably a lifetime supply for your entire neighborhood. You can order smaller quantities from Organic Creations , one of the few sources of soapmaking supplies that has mostly nontoxic stuff. Update: here's a source of really cheap guar gum but you need so little of it that a local bulk bin is the best option if that's available to you.
You don't really need both--they serve the same function (thickening, emulsifiying, lubricating), but they are supposed to work best in combination. If you want a vegan option, you might want to go with guar gum only. Xanthan gum is sometimes (particularly in the US) made from whey. I personally feel OK about utilizing whey which would otherwise likely go to waste, but if you want to be sure to have nothing animal based, you can simply go with guar gum, which is plant-based.
I don't have any scents in this--I prefer it that way--but you can add whatever scent you like. Experimenting with different scents can be fun. Soapmaking supply places have lots of wonderful scents available.
This is a pretty small quantity. One reason for that is that it doesn't have any preservative in it, and it's all food ingredients, so it will probably go bad in time. I haven't had trouble with that, but I haven't left any sitting around for more than 2-3 weeks. You could make larger batches, and keep most in the fridge. But you may want to start with small batches anyway so you can tweak the recipe for your hair.
You can read more at the end about how I picked these ingredients, other options to consider, and how to adjust the recipe according to what you want it to do.
2/3 cup water.
xanthan gum and guar gum: 1/4 tsp each for gel; 1/8 tsp each for conditioner
1 tsp canola oil
I got the xanthan gum and guar gum from the bulk section of my local coop grocery store. They get it from frontier ; you can use their store locator to find a local source. You can also order direct from Frontier (both gums are in the cooking and baking ingredients section ), but you'll need to buy a 1-lb bag which is probably a lifetime supply for your entire neighborhood. You can order smaller quantities from Organic Creations , one of the few sources of soapmaking supplies that has mostly nontoxic stuff. Update: here's a source of really cheap guar gum but you need so little of it that a local bulk bin is the best option if that's available to you.
You don't really need both--they serve the same function (thickening, emulsifiying, lubricating), but they are supposed to work best in combination. If you want a vegan option, you might want to go with guar gum only. Xanthan gum is sometimes (particularly in the US) made from whey. I personally feel OK about utilizing whey which would otherwise likely go to waste, but if you want to be sure to have nothing animal based, you can simply go with guar gum, which is plant-based.
I don't have any scents in this--I prefer it that way--but you can add whatever scent you like. Experimenting with different scents can be fun. Soapmaking supply places have lots of wonderful scents available.
This is a pretty small quantity. One reason for that is that it doesn't have any preservative in it, and it's all food ingredients, so it will probably go bad in time. I haven't had trouble with that, but I haven't left any sitting around for more than 2-3 weeks. You could make larger batches, and keep most in the fridge. But you may want to start with small batches anyway so you can tweak the recipe for your hair.
You can read more at the end about how I picked these ingredients, other options to consider, and how to adjust the recipe according to what you want it to do.
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I have dry, curly hair, and thought for a long time that I was going to have to use commercial products if I wanted my hair to set in soft curls rather than frizzy or stiff and chunky (the results of earlier all-natural experiments). This is the first recipe I've tried that results in consistent "good hair days". And as a bonus, after 5 months off of commercial products, my hair is much healthier, bouncier, with almost no split ends.
For shampoo, I use a squirt of unscented liquid castille soap in about a cup of water. After rinsing it out, I follow with a dollop of lemon juice diluted in another cup of water, which restores the pH and adds "slip" and shine. Then a dab of your recipe as conditioner, which I rinse out too. I put a bit more in as leave-in gel, depending on the humidity of the day, and let it air dry.
I brought in some of the gel to my hairdresser to use when I asked her not to use commercial products when washing out my hair. She thought it was fantastic, and loved the way it set when dry. She shared it with her boss, who also thinks it's great and wants to play with the recipe someday when she opens her dream salon with a freshly-made-hair-product "buffet". :)
Regarding the shelf life, I keep a container in my fridge, fetch it each morning before I shower, and pop it back into the fridge when I'm done. The ratio I use is 1 cup water, 1 teaspoon canola oil, and either 1 or 2 teaspoons guar gum. (I couldn't get the xanthan gum easily, and this works pretty well without.). I mix it up in the blender, gum added last, which ends up smoother than when I tried it by hand.
I found that the thicker gel stays good a little longer than the thinner, so I can take it with me unrefrigerated for short vacations and it stays good. When I'm traveling with the thicker stuff, I use a little less and rub it between my hands to de-clump it before I put it in my hair. Your freezing idea is clever - I haven't tried that yet!
I hit on the diluted-lemon-juice rinse after trying the often-touted diluted-vinegar rinse and finding that even in very dilute solutions, my hair would smell vinegary if it was a rainy day. I looked into the reasoning behind the vinegar rinse (pH balancing back to acidic, because soap is more basic than the natural scalp pH), and figured that lemon juice might work just as well. It does! And even when it rains, my hair doesn't smell lemony, although if it did, it'd still be better than vinegar. Lemon juice is even more acidic than vinegar, so I make sure not to use it undiluted. Also, lemon juice can have a lightening effect over time if it's not well rinsed out. This doesn't bother me, but it's worth noting.
The following information has been unscientifically gathered from The Internet:
- The pH of healthy hair ranges between 4.5 and 5.5.
- Soap can range from "pH balanced" neutral (7) to alkaline (8-11).
- Rinsing with diluted vinegar (3) or lemon juice (2) supposedly neutralizes the alkalinity and shifts the balance back towards the acidic.
Part of me wonders why rinsing it all out doesn't get the hair's pH back to water's neutral 7, but rinsing out soap with all the water in the world doesn't seem to take away the tangly "squeaky clean" texture that comes from too much alkalinity. And after I've done the lemon juice rinse, that grippy texture is replaced with a more natural-feeling "slip" that doesn't go away, even when I rinse really well. So although I don't quite understand how, it does seem to work.
You're right that lemon juice on its own has a pretty long unrefrigerated shelf life, I think because it's so acidic. I think that anything that increasing the acidity of the conditioner to the level where it stopped going bad would probably be too acidic to leave on your hair without rinsing it out thoroughly. But, if you're using it only as a rinse-out conditioner and not as a leave-in, it could definitely be worth a try! What if you used just lemon juice as a base, and added the oil and powders to that?
I haven't experimented with grape seed oil, but I know it's a popular natural preservative that could probably be used in a leave-in formula.
I'm also intrigued by the pure-aloe-vera that hoopajoo and rimar2000 suggested. Have you tried it? How would you say it compares with your formula in terms of how your hair feels?
Good question!
so is it or isnt it?
I don't mean to be totally paranoid about additives, and I understand the need for preservatives, but when there's a choice, I'd rather not.
It seems that Lily of the Desert sells it both with and without preservatives, but both look pretty safe compared to some cosmetics--the preservatives are citric acid and potassium sorbate, both of which are considered safe in food.
They also sell "whole leaf" and "fillet juice" versions, and they sell it as "juice" or "gel", the gel having less than 1% carrageenan as a thickener.
I also noticed on Lily of the Desert's web site that they have their own conditioner. It's got a long list of ingredients so I won't look them up tonight, but it would be interesting to see what they are, how safe they are, and try to figure out why they added all that instead of just telling people to use the juice or gel.
Your solution of just using aloe gel looks more promising than anything else commercially available, and Lily of the Desert looks like a great company. I'm going to try it, but I'm pretty happy with the formula in the instructable, and it's hard to beat the cost.