Rhassoul Quick Wash Recipe

I’m holed up in the bathroom right now, doing a quick deep conditioner, while baby girl is sleeping and daddy is entertaining the not so little peanut.

I write about rhassoul clay pretty much all the time. It’s the real MVP, an all around product that can be used as a facial cleanser, hair wash, deep conditioner, etc. I usually do a hair mask, but with two kids, applying the mask can take time. Making sure every strand is coated, letting it sit on my hair for a bit before proceeding with my routine. Now, I tend to do a rhassoul wash more than a hair mask, because it’s quicker and less messy, but mostly because it’s a short process. A rhassoul wash is my remplacement shampoo, so I always follow it up with a conditioner or deep conditioner, which isn’t always the case with the mask.

I thought I’d share my mixture for my wash. It differs a lot from the mask, because it’s mostly water and has more ACV. The goal with the wash is to cleanse the scalp. Although a minimal amount of rhassoul is used here, I still reap the benefits of soft, tangle free hair.

Rhassoul Quick Wash Recipe

• 3/4 – 1c water
• 2 TBSP ACV
• 3 TBSP rhassoul

Apply to wet hair, close to the scalp, massage scalp in circular motions with the pads of your fingers, rinse and you can detangle as you’re rinsing if you’d like.

I followed this with a reverse oil rinse deep conditioner, which I’m doing right now as I write you.

Side note- I’ve gone through post-partum shedding before, but it seems much more severe this round, because my hair wasn’t as thick this pregnancy. Well, I’ll carry on deep conditioning the three strands of hair this pregnancy has left me. =)

Have you ever tried rhassoul clay? If so, what are your favorite ways to use it?

I’ll have some exciting news towards the end of this year. I can’t really share it with you now, although I’m itching to, but there will be some big changes happening for lowporosityhaircare.

 

Happy weekend!

2nd day hair pic (selfie and nursing —being a mom has made me a pro multi tasker). Just to show my post partum thinning. 

  

Twisted Twist Out Feat. Slippery Elm and Dry Deep Conditioning

Happy Spring. Hope you’re all enjoying milder weather, blooming trees and longer days.

I’m no hair styling queen and rarely post on styling. However, I’ve found a twist-out method that I had to share. So there are different twist out techniques. I’ve used two on my hair. 1. The two strand twist. This is simple. You take two pieces of hair, wind them round and round from the roots to the tips. 2. The flat twist. This one is a little more involved, you take small sections of hair and twist them from root to tip, incorporating more as you work your way down. Kind of like a french braid, but a twist instead. I find method 1 is faster and easier for novices like myself. The latter method takes times, but yields more defined  results than the first.

Since, I’m low on time, I typically do two strand twists. Recently, I accidentally enhanced this style. I don’t have pictures or a video, but it’s quite easy to explain. You put your hair in twists. Let it air dry, or as I prefer partially dry under a hooded dryer. You then wind/twist the twisted hair around from root almost to then ends, but not all the way down (to reduce manipulation on the ends of your hair), pin the twisted twists, in place with a hair pin, so they don’t unwind. This method results in a more defined and stretched twist out. When you’re twisting your twists, it’s a similar motion to making a bantu knot, but not as tight.

Another new technique I’m using to get a different  style and more defined look counter clockwise twisting (just made the name up). I twist towards my face, so the curls go forward rather than off my face. I like the final look a lot more than my usual twisting direction.

Finally, I’m loving my short on time, dry deep conditioning routine. My hair is still very moisturized and it’s a great alternative to rhassoul. Here’s what I do:

1. Apply a deep conditioner mix. This week it was coconut milk, Giovanni deeper moisture, a few drops coconut oil and honey.
2. Sit under a dryer for 20 – 30 minutes.
3. While conditioner is still in my hair, shampoo my hair. Rinse.
4. Apply my slippery elm mixture, apply some consitioner on top of that (Aussie Moist, this week) and detangle.

I then sealed my hair with jojoba oil and applied leave-in to my ends.

Here’s the final result.

Now to you, I’m curious… Have you ever used slippery elm? What’s your favorite stretched style?

Leave-Out: Naked Hair

Lately, my hair has been in such a bad state guys. It has been dry, lifeless and dull. No matter what I do. My wash and go experiment last week– total failure. My day two hair was helmet-y, lackluster and undefined. I tried revisiting Curlformers to try something different, but I ended up with a horrible set. Not even worth blogging about. And not just that… a total waste of time. I did get a good twist out, from my stretched, curl-former style. So, I liken them to curl stretchers more than formers.

As many of you know I often praise my all-star hair care product, rhassoul clay on this blog. Each time I use it, I’m left with amazingly hydrated, plump coils and curls. Sometimes, I’m almost afraid to use a leave-in, for fear of reversing all the goodness that comes from using the rhassoul. Most times, I just forego this idea and add my leave-in. My hair does change slightly. I notice slight frizz, weighed down curls and a little less clumping. Well, last night after washing my hair at an ungratefully late hour, I decided to skip the leave-in.

I’d just followed my shampoo and protein treatment, with a rhassoul mask and my hair was on fleek (I’ve been dying to use this expression). Any way, I took a plunge after some hesitation and lightly coated my hair with coconut oil, concentrating mostly mid-shaft down to my ends. Then, I twisted my hair, sat under a bonnet dryer for a short time, wrapped and went to sleep. What I woke up to?

Extremely soft, moisturized hair that held the curls nicely. I was absolutely thrilled. It’s the end of the day and my hair is still soft and moisturized. I’ll probably add some leave-in to my hair, when it feels dry, but for now, I’m very content with its current state.

Some things I noticed about my hair sans leave-in:

1. drying time was much faster
2. it was bouncier than usual
3. it feels softer and more hydrated than it ever did

If I’m on to something here, this means major savings for my wallet and a faster routine. Stay tuned. Maybe my fine, but dense low porosity hair, just does not like heavy cream based products.

Have you every skipped the leave-in conditioner?

Speaking of rhassoul clay. I’ll be giving away a bag of organic rhassoul clay to a reader based in Europe, US or Canada. To enter, subscribe to the blog, comment on at least two posts on this blog. Entries close the 25th of February.

Good luck!

Low Porosity Friend V2: Slippery Elm

It’s been a while since I’ve added some new lo-po friends to my list of products. That’s mainly because, when I find a good thing, I stick with it. However, I do like to experiment from time to time. Recently, I’ve found a couple of ingredients that do that my hair loves. I’ll discuss one today.

If you’ve followed my blog from the beginning, you know that I absolutely love Kinky Curly Knot Today. Recently, I started to think to myself, what is it about this leave-in that makes my hair so soft, my curls so defined and detangling a breeze. Light bulb: check the ingredient list. That’s when I became curious about experimenting with some of the ingredients on the list to see if I could use them on my hair in their pure form. One of the ingredients, high on the list is slippery elm and man am I happy I did. 

Let me set the scene. My hair has been in a slump lately. It looked dry and rough and all kinds of bad. I decided to have a spa night. I pre-conditioned my dry hair with Shea Moisture Deep Conditioning Mask, let it marinate, while I chased the little one around. Note: this stuff works horribly on my hair wet and it’s no wonder, shea butter, while it’s a wonderful sealer for my skin, it does nothing for my hair. Why do I keep trying to convince myself to use it!! Any way, I used it as a pre-poo hoping for better results. It was ok, I guess. I shampooed my hair with the conditioner on my ends. Then followed up by detangling with slippery elm and adding in conditioner to moisturize my hair, letting it sit a few minutes then rinsing. Um, can I just say, my curls were clumped and so juicy. I did a twist out and my hair felt so good the next day. I actually did a happy dance!!

Pre-Poo on Dry Hair w/ SM

After rinsing SE and conditioner

Twist out

 

So here are the deets on the process and the benefits of slippery elm.

Slippery elm is found in Central and Eastern US and Eastern Canada. The inner bark of this tree has medicinal properties and it’s used to treat many superficial and internal problems.

Slippery Elm Detangler Recipe

-2 TBSP slippery elm bark + -1.5 – 2 cups hot water

Pour water into a container, mix in slippery elm bark until dissolved. Let sit until water cools.

The slippery elm will form mucilage, voila your detangler.

I imagine if you  could use a tea cloth to strain the particle, but I didn’t and it wasn’t a problem.

Add your favorite conditioner while the slippery elm is in your hair.

Why slippery elm for lo-po hair?

• I don’t know what the PH of slippery elm is, but research shows that it has an alkalizing effect and is often used to help with acid reflex. Remember for lo-po hair alkaline products are typically beneficial in helping open up the cuticle and moisturize the hair.
• The mucilage that the elm releases makes detangling a breeze. The strands clump and are weighed down, which helps the fingers and comb glide through your curls. My hair shrinks up easily and is typically really light weight. This tends to result in lots of tangling and long detangling sessions. Not with slippery elm, it takes me 5 – 10 minutes.
• It promotes growth (bra strap length, here we come)
• Makes your hair soft and smooth (lord knows I need it with all this new hair growth returning after postpartum shedding, I literally hair a halo.)
• Heals damaged hair

Need I say more. Have you ever tried slippery elm?

 

Kitchen Chemist: Deep Conditioning Mud Mask

So, my hair hasn’t looked this good in a long time. It’s shiny, soft, moisturized; Curls are popping and even my ends feel good. I’m not sure if it’s a fluke, so I’ll have to test it out again over the next few few weeks.

 

At the moment, I’m trying to develop my own rhassoul clay deep conditioning mask and a detangler with my new favorite ingredient, slippery elm (if you’re a fan of KCKT, you might recognize this ingredient) . I want to give it a few more tries before posting on the process. However, I’m liking the results thus far.

Side note: am I the only one who is team 2nd day hair? I really don’t like how perfect and uniform my hair looks on day 1. I actually pull my hair up into a pony tail on day 1, as I’m all about that slightly messy, more stretched 2nd day look.

Oh and good news, my postpartum shedding has finally calmed the heck down! My edges are starting to grow back in, although the texture of my edges changed somewhat. Did anyone else experience texture changes as a result of pregnancy?

Modified Baggy Method

I mentioned a while back in a post on methods of moisturizing lo-po hair that the baggy method never worked for me. I’ve never been a big fan of this method. I didn’t like how soft and weak my hair felt after applying it, didn’t like sleeping with plastic on my head, and I don’t think this type of method is ideal for a healthy scalp– in fact, I think it can promote fungal growth, but that’s another story. Anyway, I was thinking about doing a modified baggy soon. This would involve, putting my hair in pig tails and simply covering the ends of my hair, which are usually more prone to dryness. In addition, I’m thinking about mixing up some rhassoul, oil and a little vinegar or aloe and applying this mixture to my ends only and leaving it on over night. What do you think? I’m hoping rhassoul’s moisturizing properties and ability to open the cuticles and remove toxins, will benefit my ends.

Have you ever done a modified baggy version?

Quick Style: Elongated Pony

How to:

1. Take the upper half of your hair and place it in a high pony.

2. Take the bottom half of your hair and wrap an elastic around it and the upper pony. This connects the two sections. The ponytail will appear fuller and longer.

3. Slick back frizzy areas with gel and a brush.

Takes about 5 minutes and you’re out the door. =)

Rhassoul vs Bentonite Clay

	Rhassoul Clay	Bentonite Clay
Ingredients	Clay found in the Atlas Mts. High percentage of silica, magnesium, potassium, and calcium	Volcanic ash sediments, has a high percentage of silica and iron
Uses	Detox, face mask, skin treatment, cleanser, conditioner	Detox, face mask, skin treatment, cleanser
Slip (1: terrible – 5 great)	5 Nothing makes detangling as easy as rhassoul clay. My curls come out defined, smooth and clumped	3 My hair wasn’t as easy to comb through
Softness	5 Gives me HIH syndrome	3.5 My hair was soft after, but I still felt I had to follow-up with a conditioner, as it wasn’t as soft as I’d like it to be.
Preparation	4.5 Water, a little aloe or vinegar, mix and apply. Although my mix is always slightly runnier than I’d like.	3 This was very awkward to mix, the clay swells up as soon as water hits it and the mixture was really thick.
Appearance of hair	5 This always gives me a nice healthy shine	4 My hair looked very clean and shiny, although on the 3rd day it looked a little waxy to me.
Would I recommend this for low porosity hair	Definitely, this stuff is golden! In my low porosity holy grail products	I’d recommend it for an occasional hair cleanse/detox, but I don’t think I’ll add this to my list of low porosity must-haves.

Upcoming Post: Bentonite Clay

source

I finally got my hands on some bentonite clay. Many readers have asked my opinion on it and now I’ll finally be able to give it. I’ll be reporting my results and doing a comparison on rhassoul and bentonite clays later on this week. In the meantime, I’m washing my hair for the second time this week— what?? This is a rare occurrence for me, but I couldn’t wait to try the clay.

Do you prefer rhassoul or bentonite?

3-1 Treatment Results

If you read my earlier posts (1, 2), you know that I’ve experimented a little with some natural ingredients (if not click on links 1,2). Well, this morning I unraveled my braids and I’m pleasantly surprised with the results of my 3 in 1 (step treatment). Recap: rhassoul and nettle scalp mask, black tea, rosemary, paprika and marshmallow root tint/color rinse and conditioner, were all applied to my hair and then rinsed simultaneously. This saved me time, allowed me to deep condition my hair, which I don’t do these days.

I really, really like the results of this process. I’ll try to do it once, every other month if possible. My hair is super shiny, soft, defined, moisturized and it looks and feels SO healthy. I notice that my highlights, which have grown out and are only on the ends of my hair, are now a chocolate brown and not as brassy as before. My hair looks a little darker, but it could be a results of all the shine, from this moisturizing treatment.

I highly recommend it for anyone interested in trying. If you don’t have all the ingredients on hand, I’d say the essentials you could try this alternatives, which might be easier to find:

Natural shampoo: diluted apple cider vinegar applied ONLY to the scalp (if you’re low porosity, you know what applying this all over your hair can do (if not, read this). However, applying this directly to your scalp can help lift dandruff and build-up.

Temporary color rinse/tint: strongly brewed black tea or coffee, if you want the solution to be a bit thicker or viscous, try boiling some flax seeds, drain the seeds with a strainer or muslin cloth and add the thick solution to your brewed tint.

Condition: Any conditioner you enjoy using mixed in with the color or added on top of it will do.

There you have it. Have you been whipping up any concoctions in the kitchen lately? Do you think you’ll give this 3-1 treatment a try? If so, let me know what your results are.

After 3-in-1

After 3- in-1

Happy dance selfie