10 Homemade hair care miracles
BY READERS DIGEST
1st Jan 2015 Fashion & Beauty
Did you know that homemade products can be as effective as branded products. These 10 homemade hair care solutions will leave your hair looking miraculously clean and shiny. Whether dealing with greasy hair, frizz or you simply want darker locks we have an unbelievable remedy.
Instant dry shampoo
If you’ve no time to wash your hair or are caring for someone who can’t get into a shower or bath, a dry shampoo will do the job.
- Take 1 tablespoon cornflour and sprinkle the powder into the hair
- Massage it in section by section and comb out any tangles
- Brush well to remove all the powder, stopping often to shake out the brush
- The powder absorbs dirt and excess oil, leaving hair looking clean and shiny
Read more: How to cope with female hair loss
Two-ingredient revitalising conditioner
Give drab hair new life with this luscious conditioner, made with only two ingredients.
- Take half a ripe avocado, scoop out the fruit and mash until smooth
- Slowly stir in 60ml coconut milk; the mixture should look like a thick gel, so add more milk as needed
- Work all of the mixture into your hair, then comb smooth
- Wait 10–15 minutes before rinsing thoroughly
- Your hair should feel thicker and look richer. For an extra treat, use the other half of the avocado to whip up a little guacamole.
Gloss up with vinegar
Your hair has lost its lustre, so you’ve switched shampoos, which helped for a while, but now your hair looks dull again. It’s due to a build-up of the residue left by shampoo and other products. Vinegar will safely remove the residue and restore your hair’s natural acidic pH balance, leaving it shinier, smoother and easier to manage.
- Just mix 2–3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar with 1–2 cups (250–500ml) water in a jar
- Then shampoo your hair as usual and rinse
- Shake the vinegar solution and use it as a final rinse. Any vinegar smell will disappear as soon as your hair dries
A hair mousse alternative
You’ve shaken the can of mousse and turned it upside down, but not a drop comes out. Don’t panic.
Try a little shaving cream mixed with a drop of surgical spirit to keep your hair in place and moisturise it at the same time.
No hairspray?
No problem.
- Chop up 1 lemon and add it to a saucepan filled with 1 cup (500ml) water
- Boil until the water has reduced by half
- Cool, strain and pour into a spray bottle; add 2 tablespoons surgical spirit.
- Stored in the fridge, the spray should keep for three to four weeks; unrefrigerated, it will last for two weeks.
Tame hairline frizz
The hardest place to control frizz is in the area around your hairline. To deal with irritating stray frizz and wisps, saturate an old toothbrush with hairspray and brush them back where they belong. Hold in place with your fingers until the hairspray dries.
Read more: 5 Easy to follow short hair tutorials
A sage decision for brunettes
Applied to brown or black hair, sage will darken grey hairs.
- Put 1 tablespoon dried sage into a bowl and pour 2 cups (500ml) boiling water over it
- Let the mixture steep for 3 hours or overnight before straining it into a bottle or jar
- Shampoo your hair as usual, rinse and then apply the sage tea to grey hairs one area at a time, dabbing it on with a cotton wool ball or a wad of cheesecloth
- Air-dry or use a hair dryer, but do not rinse. You will probably need to repeat the process once a week until you get the colour you want
Shelve the dye for darker locks
Leave chemical dyes on the shelf and colour your dark hair the way the ancients did: with rosemary.
- Pour 2 cups (500ml) boiling water over 2 tablespoons freshly chopped rosemary leaves
- Allow it to stand until cold, then bottle it and rinse hair after washing. It’s a natural solution for greys.
