Make a Great Deep Conditioning Treatment

Modern shampoos use surfactants to remove hair, but this can damage the hair cuticle and lead to frizzy, dry, or filmy hair. Hair conditioners are cosmetic products used to improve the luster, feel, fullness, and manageability of hair. They contain, generally, a mild surfactant, polymers (either synthetic or derived from amino acids), thickeners, emollients or oily compounds, and secondary emulsifiers designed to improve the stability of the products. Commercial products will also contain preservatives, additional scents, and coloring agents to give the product an appearance desired by the consumer. [1]

Steps

Making a General Purpose Deep Conditioner

  1. Assemble your ingredients. You will want your conditioner to contain a mild detergent (like shikakai), an emollient (like olive oil), a protein or polymer source (like avocados or eggs) and thickeners (like avocado, bananas, or honey) in your conditioner. Have an acid like vinegar on hand to adjust the pH of the conditioner and pH paper. A variety of oils and botanical extracts can improve the scent, consistency, and add medicinal properties to your conditioner.
    • Neem, gandana, roman chamomile, ghikumar and amla are alternatives to using shikakai.
  2. Blend your ingredients with a food processor. Incorporate the ingredients slowly, adding them to water. Make sure your conditioner is of the desired thickness and that it smells pleasant, as you are coating your hair with this material and will smell like it. Use any fragrance or essential oil you enjoy.
    • A natural option is the seed of the muscadine plant, which can be powdered and used for a musky scent.
  3. Adjust the pH of your conditioner with vinegar. Add slowly, drop by drop, until the conditioner is at your desired pH. Measure using pH paper. Hair is naturally acidic, so test your conditioner to make sure it falls between 5.5 and 7 on the pH scale and does not damage your hair or scalp. [2] Use soapy water to make the solution more basic if you overshoot and it becomes too acidic.
  4. Apply to hair. Start with the tips and working toward the scalp (since conditioner is not used to cleanse or treat the scalp, but rather damaged hair fibers) [3] then put on a shower cap. Wait for 20-30 minutes for a deep condition. [1] You can heat the product beforehand to improve adsorption of the materials onto your hair cuticle. [4]
  5. Rinse out completely. Your hair should feel smoother and silkier as you rinse it. No film should build up, but if it does, perform a second rinse. The mineral content or “hardness” of your water will impact the coating and residue left behind on your hair. [5]
  6. Store or dispose of leftover conditioner. Store it in the refrigerator or freezer for up to a day or two; these are highly perishable ingredients. Rubbing rancid fat or spoiled produce through your hair will not produce the desired results. Multiple conditionings in a few days are unlikely to be needed, unless you wash your hair every day.

Producing a No-Protein Conditioner

  1. Get your ingredients. Get a mild detergent like shikakai (optional for curly or kinky hair), an emollient, and a thickener. Avoid any protein sources like avocado or eggs. A simple recipe is olive oil and banana blended and treated with vinegar to an appropriate pH.
  2. Blend your ingredients, without water. Use a blender or a food processor to combine your ingredients into a thick fluid. Make sure it is at the desired consistency, as your only fluid is your emollient, so add it sparingly to avoid making too much or too thin a conditioner. Add any botanical extracts or products you like to improve the smell and conditioning.
  3. Adjust the pH of your conditioner. Make sure your conditioner is as close to pH 7 as possible to avoid altering the consistency or texture of your hair overmuch. Add vinegar, drop by drop, and test with pH paper, until it is in the desired range. Add soapy water in small amounts if the solution is too acidic.
  4. Spread through hair and cover. Massage in from the tips toward the roots. Keep it in your hair for approximately 20 minutes, but effects should be visible within five to ten minutes. [1] This conditioner is extremely gentle on the hair, but time beyond 20 minutes is unlikely to yield additional benefits.
  5. Rinse your hair. This conditioner will likely take several hot rinses to fully remove. It should leave hair shiny and more manageable than before, without altering your hair’s curl. Repeat the treatment if desired, and experiment with different emollients and thickeners like coconut oil or shea butter and honey or carnauba wax.
  6. Store or dispose of your remaining conditioner. You can store it in the refrigerator or freezer for a day or two, as these are highly perishable ingredients. Rubbing rancid fat or spoiled produce through your hair will not produce the desired results. Multiple conditionings in a few days are unlikely to be needed, unless you wash your hair every day.

Making a Conditioner for Damaged, Unmanageable Hair

  1. Gather your ingredients. Avoid the use of a detergent, as this can damage the hair cuticle further. Maximize your use of protein sources to provide polymers to help repair damaged hair fibers. Consider using avocados and eggs as thickeners and polymer sources. Use mild emollients like shea butter or coconut oil.
  2. Blend your ingredients in water using a blender or food processor. Make sure your ingredients are blending well. If you are using an emollient that is solid at room temperature, warm it up first. Add your thickeners, scents, and any additional botanicals you would like to add to the conditioner.
  3. Adjust the pH of your conditioner. Add vinegar or soapy water drop by drop to acidify or basify the conditioner. Use pH paper to measure the pH of the conditioner. Make sure it falls within an acceptable range of 5.5 to 7, trying to hew closer to neutral.
  4. Apply the conditioner. Spread it evenly throughout your damp, untangled hair, from your tips toward your roots. Cover your head, and let it sit for approximately 20 minutes. Heating the conditioner can help spread it and help compounds in the conditioner bond with your hair.
  5. Rinse thoroughly. This conditioner should reduce damage to the hair cuticle or make some effect toward repairing it, reducing frizz, improving overall manageability, and produce smoother, more resilient hair. Repeat the treatment if you’d like.
  6. Store or dispose of excess conditioner. Store it in the refrigerator or freezer for a day or two because these are highly perishable ingredients. Rubbing rancid fat or spoiled produce through your hair will accomplish nothing good. Multiple conditionings in a few days are unlikely to be needed, unless you wash your hair every day.

Tips

  • Speak with a dermatologist about your specific hair care needs before formulating your own conditioner. Contact dermatitis can occur on the scalp, and improperly prepared (overly acidic and overly saponified conditioners can both irreversibly damage hair). [1] If you experience any issues, contact your doctor and have a sample of your product ready.
  • Invest in pH paper or an electronic pH meter to test the acidity of your hair care product. The pH should be between 5.5 and 7.0, as any more basic conditioners will cause hair and skin/scalp irritation and damage. Your scalp pH is about 5.5 and your hair pH about 3.67, so avoid using overly alkaline products, as this will affect the pH and therefore the appearance and control of your hair. [2] Titrate with vinegar to the desired pH.
  • Do not leave in your hair overlong. Recommended use with deep conditioners is about 20-30 minutes. [6] [1]
  • A variety of haircare products used in the African American community have been found to have estrogenic or antiestrogenic activity, which can cause hormone issues in young women and men, though the actual net effects have not been strongly studied. [7]

Warnings

  • Avoid ingesting any raw botanical ingredients. Shikakai in particular is used as a fish poison and as a purgative, and it is not recommended to eat the pods of this plant.
  • These products will likely not contain equivalent concentration to store-bought conditioners. Using the natural product without first extracting the principle you’d like to use will result in a lower concentration of this. Your conditioner will likely need to be used slightly more frequently or in larger quantities to attain equivalent results. [8]

Related Articles

Es:crear un tratamiento de acondicionamiento profundo

Sources and Citations

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4458934/
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4158629/
  3. ↑ http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2818.2005.01517.x/full
  4. ↑ http://sortofhomemade.com/homemade-deep-conditioning-treatment/
  5. ↑ http://www.cidjournal.com/article/S0738-081X%2800%2900133-4/fulltext
  6. ↑ sortofhomemade.com/homemade-deep-conditioning-treatment/
  7. ↑ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4318791/
  8. ↑ http://www.readcube.com/articles/10.1002%2Fptr.1363?r3_referer=wol&tracking_action=preview_click&show_checkout=1&purchase_referrer=onlinelibrary.wiley.com&purchase_site_license=LICENSE_DENIED
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