I recently dyed my hair, and if you’re in the same boat, you will absolutely understand that strange, crisp dry feeling that comes directly after using artificial colour. In order to restore some moisture and regain my hair’s original movement, body and softness, I’ve set about searching for a good, hydrating treatment product. So far, none has proved more effective that this one that I threw together in my kitchen so I thought I’d share the recipe with you. Here it is: 8 steps to a DIY hair mask.
Crack an egg into a deep mixing bowl and beat it thoroughly—depending on the length of you hair, you may find you need more than one. Eggs are an excellent source of nourishing oils and proteins, and applied directly to the hair, they help your locks to seal in moisture and repair damage caused by dehydration and chemical treatments.
Set your bowl with the beaten egg in it to one side and get to work peeling and dicing a ripe avocado. Put the pieces into the blender and pulse a couple of times until you have a thick puree. Avo’s are packed with fats as well as vitamins B, E and K; because they’re so super-healthy, these great green veggies are a staple ingredient in almost every hair mask recipe you’ll come across.
To your blended avocado, add a squirt of honey. Used as part of a wash-out treatment, honey will help to close down your hair’s cuticle and seal in the good oils and moisture that the eggs and avo deliver directly to the hair. Obviously, it’s too sticky to be left in, so when you get to work rinsing your homemade mask out of your newly nourished locks, make sure you do a thorough job.
Add a dash of olive oil to your honey-avo mixture. This will help to heal and prevent dry scalp and dandruff, and the vitamins A and E contribute to the repair and renewal in the damaged hair itself. Take care not pour in too much; the mixture will become too loose and difficult to manage.
Scrape your honey-avo-oil concoction into the bowl with the beaten egg and using a hand-held whisk, blend the mixture together until you have a thick, consistent texture. If you do find the mask is too runny, add more avocado to the bowl and blend again.
Using a wide toothed comb, separate your hair into sections and apply the mask from root to tip. If your hair tends to be oilier around your scalp, start your application lower down and focus your attention on the ends.
Pile your hair on top of your head and wrap it up. You can use a towel to do this (as long as you’re okay with it getting covered in the avo mixture), but a shower cap or a sheet of tin foil will work better. Ideally, you want to sit somewhere where your head will be warm. If the sun is shining, take yourself outside into the garden, or if you have access to drier, position yourself under that.
After about twenty minutes or half an hour, the mask will be ready to come off your hair. Rinse your locks thoroughly in warm water before shampooing and conditioning as usual.
Dry, damaged hair is unsightly and it feels depressingly stiff and brittle as well; if you’re struggling with dehydrated locks, give this intense moisturising treatment a try. My list of 8 steps for a DIY hair mask is only a template: feel free to add ingredients to improve it and tailor it to your needs. Do you have any suggestion to add?
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