Jonathan Evatt Online

If you've read my articles on Toxic Skin Food and The Fragrant Earth you may be wanting to know how to make your own body-care products. If you haven't read those articles and you care about your health, please read them now. In the following recipe you'll discover just how easy and cost-effective it is to make your own natural hair cleanser. At the end you'll also discover why I don't call it "shampoo".

First, the recipe and instructions:

• * 3 tbls - Buckwheat flour (finely ground is best)
• * 1 tsp - Coconut oil and/or hemp seed oil
• * 1 tsp heaped - Lecithin (liquid is best, but powder also works. Granules don't work so well)
• 5 to 20 drops - Essential oils to your liking
• An egg - if you want extra nourishment for damaged and very dry hair
• 1 tsp - Fine kelp powder (Modifilan is the best, but not many people know about that stuff)
  The kelp power (or Modifilan) will need to be made into a paste with some water and left to sit so that it can gel.
• * Aloe vera juice / extract or pure water
• * 1 generous tsp - Baking soda
• * 3-4 tbls - Apple cider vinegar (unfiltered, raw/unpasteurised)
• 1/2 to 1 tsp - liquid cayenne extract

The above recipe is the full comprehensive one. There is an asterisk next to the essential ingredients, if you can't get all of the ones in the list or don't want to use all of them. If you drop the Aloe extract you will need to use water instead.

In terms of quantities, they are not fixed, but this is roughly about what I use. Depending on how long you hair is, these amounts will make enough for one or two washes - one in my case.

How to make

1) Melt the coconut oil in a cup placed into a bowl of hot water (if it is not already in a liquid state at room temp). Add the lecithin to this and mix well with a spoon. If using coconut oil and hemp seed oil, the total amount should be about a  teaspoon full.

NOTE: The best amount of oil for you to use will depend on your hair type. If you naturally have heavy, oily hair, then you may need to use less oil. If you have dry hair, then use (a little) more oil. The climate may also make a difference, as may the season. Start out with less, and add more to the next batch if your hair comes out to "dry" and/or frizzy.

2) Add the essential oils. Some of my favourites are lavender, cedar, rose, geranium, bergamot, orange, lemon, tea tree. You can also look up aromatherapy information to find out the medicinal properties. Tea tree oil, for instance, is great for dandruff and itchy skalp.

3) If using an egg, add it to the mix now. Use just the egg white if you have thick and naturally oily hair. The yolk will be more intensive but may make some hair types oily. Experiment. I suggest trying without the egg first time around.

4) If using the kelp/modifilan gel, add this.

5) Add the cayenne extract if you are using it. This is a great stimulant of the hair follicles and skalp. It may help with reducing hair loss.

6) Mix the flour and baking soda, then add all of the above into the dry mix. Make a consistent paste.

7) Add enough aloe juice (or water) to bring the mix to a semi-thick paste like consistency. A bit like toothpaste consistency.

Usage Instructions

When you are ready to wash your hair put the apple cider vinegar into a small cup and take both to the shower. You will need a spoon too. Wet your hair well. Pour the vinegar into the cup of paste. Stir well. The vinegar will react with the baking soda and the mix will foam up into a smooth fluffy paste. This is what you'll use to clean and nourish your hair. Move quick at this point, to get it into your hair whilst it is foamy. Massage into your hair and scalp well. Leave on for a little while, if you have the time.

Rinse well, making sure there is none left in your hair. It is usually pretty easy to wash out, taking perhaps 50% more time than chemical based shampoo and conditioner.

The Poo Sham

I call this mix cleansing hair food because even the word shampoo seems inapt for such a delicious creation. A "sham" is defined as "something that is not what it purports to be; a spurious imitation; fraud or hoax.". Whilst "poo" is typically a juvenile word for faeces, or as an exclamation of ones reaction to a bad smell. Thus most commercially available sham-poo is, in my opinion, very appropriately named. According to my father, shampoo was devised shortly after liquid dish detergents were developed, and back in those days was practically the same stuff, just bottled up as a hair cleaning product and sold for higher price. It use to make the hair so dry and brittle that shortly after this new invention they came up with hair conditioner to try and put back in all the goodness the sham-poo has stripped away. I can't say how accurate that is, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was the case.