Homemade Hair Mask for Hair Loss and Hair Health

I've been wanting to post for a while and have had so many ideas, but haven't made time. Today I've decided to post about something I've been wanting to share and I'll be adding this to a new section of my blog that I'm calling "beauty problem solvers." 

For anyone that doesn't know, right around the time I started this blog I also had a website that I spent between 2010 and 2011 building based on beauty problems. I'm not a guru or an expert, or anything of the sort.

I just have a passion for finding natural remedies for ANYTHING, including beauty problems. That site had 101 pages and I was sad when I forgot to pay my hosting and whatever else on the date it was due and I lost it all about five years ago . . . So I've decided to make it fit here and I'm starting with this hair mask and how to grow back hair after hair loss issues. My hair loss issues actually started about eight years ago. 

I will sum this up as best as I can without rambling, but the journey started within two weeks of the depo shot. But also, I later realized this as I started to realize I was frying my hair with 450 of heat from my flat iron, it also began just a few months after I bought my first "good" flat iron that could reach 450 with tourmaline plates. I love this baby. Still have it - I just don't go to 450. 

First my hair started getting greasy and then it seemed to be thinning. I started diving into what to do to make it stop. I make light of this, but this is something that really made me feel bad about myself. So when looking for ways to grow back my hair and to keep it from falling out of my head more I explored organic shampoos with tea tree oil, vitamins, etc. and these things helped. I made sure I was not "scrubbing" my scalp as this adds to oil and paid attention to the proper ways to shampoo the hair. 

There is actually a proper way - I used to just lather it on and do my thing. Fast forward; it seemed to be under control, but then started getting worse about two years ago. My hair was getting dry and thinning worse than ever. I attribute this now to genetics, stress, and things I was doing wrong with my hair, and scalp health. Also around this time I started getting more white hairs - not gray, white. 

So I said to myself, are we going to (yes, I speak to myself in third person all the time) start coloring regularly or accept the gray. I really don't mind the gray/white, but I think I'll try dying it regularly because some of those little hairs would just stick up and wouldn't grow much longer. So I started dying my hair a dark brown once a month. I also started skipping shampoos to give my hair a rest in between and made the BIG mistake of using dry shampoo on the off days. 

On my "on" days I would do a hair mask and sometimes an ACV scalp rinse. I started with just castor oil and olive oil mixed and graduated to what I'm going to share here. So the next thing you know, hair's coming out in clumps and I realized it was the dry shampoo. It was too heavy on my fragile hair and sensitive scalp. During this time I lived in baseball hats and during the winter, winter hats. 

Plus, if it's cold my motto is it's better to be warm than look good ha, ha, but I think you can have both with a stylish hat. I just wanted to be warm and this helped hide my issues. I'm not a princess - I want warmth. Moving on here...my hair was also getting crunchy dry from the hair dye. I said I'm just going to accept my white/gray hairs and let it come in naturally. I really didn't mind them anyway and coloring my hair isn't really my thing. 

I like the color of my hair and I've always had a natural auburn tint to it on top of the dark brown. So now I had to grow out the dyed crap and keep working on improving scalp and hair health. I did this with scalp rinses weekly at first (equal parts ACV with water) and then I would do a hair mask with about 1 tbsp. of castor oil mixed with 1 tbsp. of olive oil, applying it to my hair, letting it sit, and then wrapping my hair for 20-30 minutes before washing twice and then conditioning. 

Because I prefer my hair straight, I would flat iron and then I learned to "wrap" my hair at night for my "off" days (skip days). This became a routine. My hair began to come back in and the dark brown/black grew out. About three trims later and the black/dark brown was gone and I was still working on my hair. When I finally got a clue about my flat iron I lowered the heat to 370 because they say 350 is best, but that extra 20 degrees really makes a difference with my hair. 

It won't straighten on 350. What I'm doing now - hair masks every other day before shampooing, scalp rinses following my hair mask, wrapping my hair in a silk scarf the night before my skip day and the night of my wash day if that makes sense, using less heat, doing scalp massages when shampooing (you can find videos on how to do this), using heat protectant with keratin, and I've recently fallen in love with and found the secret to fighting frizz with  an "Argan oil of Morocco weightless healing dry oil" spray.

I spritz my hair starting from the middle of my head to my ends holding the bottle a good distance away and not saturating my hair. It comes out really light though. I was afraid of making my hair greasy, but my hair seems to be thirsty for this stuff. It's awesome. Makes it shiny and frizz free. My hair now? I can finally leave the house without hats. It's coming in thicker and growing longer. It's a work in progress, but this is working for me. Maybe it'll work for you . . . 

The hair mask is actually fun if you like doing things like this. The ingredients are all basic ingredients you'll find in various natural hair masks out there. I've just taken what works best for me. On a side note I'll add that the coffee mixture seems to be turning my white/gray hairs brown. They're still whitish/gray, but really heading more into brown. I learned a long time ago that coffee can supposedly do this when applied to hair. So we have a win-win here, ha. 

They say a specific type of coffee grounds is best, but I found that this weighed my hair down more and caused more fallout, so I started using my instant coffee grounds - the Nescafe. My absolute favorite (quick and strong baby) coffee in the whole wide world. A little warning about the banana. I mash with a fork, because it's just quicker for me and I hate extra dishes, but you can throw it into a blender or something if you prefer. 

If I haven't shared my feelings on dishes even though I do them and I've added how much time I waste of my life at the sink every day - three to four hours in total on the weekends and about two hours weekdays, then check this out... There are times when I'm at the sink or doing laundry for that matter (the chasing in the wind chores) and this song pops into my head. Oh, wait, I have shared my loathing of dishes!

But to make myself laugh out loud while talking in third person to self, when I'm done this song sometimes pops into my head. And then I have a good laugh when that happens and exit the kitchen. Problems, I know... So much for not rambling!!

Fun Natural Hair Mask Recipe

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp. plain yogurt
• 1/2 banana mashed
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. castor oil
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. honey
• a sprinkle of coffee grounds 

Directions:

1. First you'll want to mash your banana. I just mash it with a fork, but warning here - you'll notice after washing your hair pieces of banana. It comes out for me when I blow dry my hair with a round brush and it's just quicker to mash it with a fork for me. But if you want you can put it into a blender or something first. Then add in the egg and mix the banana and egg well. 
2. Now add your yogurt, oils, honey, and top with a sprinkle of coffee (leave out if you prefer).
3. Brush hair and part hair in the middle. start applying with a small brush. I used a contour brush (that I'll never use on my face again) and it works well for me. Keep taking the hair in sections and starting from the scalp apply all over hair. Once you've done your entire scalp, both sides, apply to the ends. It's best to use the brush for this too. 
4. Wrap your hair with a towel and leave on for 20-30 minutes.
5. Wash twice (mainly because of castor oil) and then condition. 
6. Do your thing. My thing is blow drying and then flat ironing. 
7. Optional step:  If you'd like to do the scalp rinse, which for me goes hand-in-hand with the mask. It's an important step. I rinse the mask from my hair before washing with shampoo, then apply the scalp rinse. I let this sit while I wash the rest of myself and then after about three minutes or so I shampoo. 

ACV Scalp Rinse

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Bragg's Organic Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/2 cup water

Directions:

1. Mix ingredients into cup and use warm/to hot water, because by the time you get into the shower and rinse, the temp should be just right when you do the scalp rinse. Otherwise you're going to be dumping ice on your head. If you like ice, use cold then. :) 

How to Wrap Hair 

If you're wondering how to wrap hair, or what I'm talking about, there are great videos on YouTube showing how to do this. Here's one for long hair and here's a great one for short hair. Depending on how often you skip washing your hair this is great for the skip nights. I don't need dry shampoo and my hair doesn't look dirty on my skip days! 

To freshen my hair up on my skip days I apply just a little heat protectant spray and blow dry my hair for just a couple seconds with a round brush to bring life back to it. Add my Argan oil/Morrocan oil mix spray to my ends, spray with hairspray and we're good. 

Good luck!!!