This simple hair treatment will condition, cleanse, and detangle your hair especially if you have dry, damaged, or curly hair. Many times we make hair care so complicated, but it really doesn’t have to be. I’ve noticed that once I stopped using shampoo years ago and instead clays, herbs, and other natural ingredients, my hair and scalp stopped having so many issues. Going the simple route just works too well to go back to complicated regimens or even chemical hair care.
What you will need:
Organic Coconut Milk
Coconut milk strengthens and moisturizes hair while bentonite clay detoxifies and cleansed the hair. This DIY Cleansing Conditioner is so effective for creating soft silky tangle-free tresses.
To create this DIY Cleansing Conditioner blend equal parts of coconut milk and bentonite clay to create a creamy consistency. How much you use of each will depend on the length and thickness of you hair. I use canned organic coconut milk because I prefer the texture better than other kinds. Apply this mixture to wet hair and massage into the scalp. You may leave it in for as long as you like before rinsing thoroughly. I usually leave this in for at least 20-30 minutes for extra moisture. Rinse thoroughly and style your hair as usual.
UPDATE… Please note that this DIY recipe has a more alkaline pH. It would be helpful to follow with an acid rinse to close the hair cuticle such as aloe vera juice or a diluted apple cider vinegar rinse.
What I love about this treatment is that it condenses the three steps of cleansing, conditioning, and deep conditioning into one!
For more on chemical free hair care check out this series!
(Image by Dawn Michelle)
Tamy says
You might want to add something acidic to the recipe (like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar) because Coconut Milk is SUPER ALKALINE! Like, off the charts alkaline! I tested with a pH strip and the result was so alkaline it did not even fit the chart scale provided on the bottle!!
Alkaline solutions make the hair swell like crazy and greatly damages its structure.
I stupidly put it in my hair just the same. BOOM…frizzy damaged hair which has still not recovered. It’s such in a sorry state. I would not wish it on my worst enemy 🙁
Dawn Michelle says
Hi Tamy,
I’m so sorry that you had a bad experience with this recipe. Coconut milk actually has a neutral pH of 6.1-7.0 but bentonite clay is more alkaline. Mixing bentonite clay with apple cider vinegar actually has a neutral pH. Because this recipe is more alkaline, it would be best to follow up with an acidic rinse to close the hair cuticle just as if you were using a shampoo bar.
The benefit of this recipe is ease of detangling the hair and for moisture especially for low porosity hair. I’ve learned a lot since writing this article in 2013, and will make a updated note of the pH in the actual article. Wishing you only the best.
aliviatrivia says
Hi Dawn, how long does this blend keep at room temperature? Will the coconut milk go bad? I don’t think I’ll use a whole can up in one go…
Dawn Michelle says
Hi aliviatrivia,
I would keep this in the fridge for up to 10 days or so. I never keep DIY mixes at room temperature unless it is just water and essential oils. I hope this helps some.