Help! DC'ing with home-made products.. Horrible Results

[JKSprite]

Hello! I'd just like to start out and say I've been lurking here for about 2 months and finally decided to post!

I'm in dire need of some help/advice.

I have been reading thread after thread about home-made DC'ing products. Never having done this before I went to the store and purchased oils, fruits and veggies to try on my hair.

Last week I DC'd my hair with Avocado, Honey, Banana and Shea Butter. The results were horrible. After 1 hr. of leaving the concotions on I rinsed them out and my hair was VERY brittle and straw-like. I used a commercial conditioner afterwards to get some sort of "slip" and called it a day.

Last night I tried it again, using Avocado, Honey, Banana puree', Coconut Milk and Olive Oil. Same thing happened, hard, brittle hair.

Is there something I'm doing wrong? Too many ingredients maybe? I don't measure them out, I just throw them together in a bowl, microwave, then cover it with a conditioning cap for an hour each time.

Help Pleassseeee!!

 

[Amber_moon]

Why try the same thing over again if you got bad results the first time?

 

[Junebug D]

Maybe it's just not for you. If you really want to go this path, keep using the process of elimination to see if there is one ingredient in particular that causes the dryness (maybe the banana?). Are you mixing water in at all?

 

[melissa-bee]

^she tried different ingredients the second time.
you didn't use heat right? So did you cover your head to keep your body heat in? Because when i put conditioner in and leave it in the air, i doesn't feel great. Maybe the mix was the wrong consistency. Avacado is a protein, maybe you didn't need it at the time.

 

[Mimi22]

Hi there!

Perhaps your mixing too many things together? Most homemade concoctions I've seen have 2-3 ingredients, e.g. honey, olive oil and avocado.

One DC recipe I love is explained by patchoulli85 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NegFfvnthBg

It's simple and effective. Even though I dont straighten often, I love it as a weekly DC!

 

[sharifeh]

why don't you just start with honey and olive oil and see how your hair responds to that?

 

[me-T]

maybe it was the protein from the avocado (& milk thr 2nd time)? that's my first guess

 

[brittle_hair]

Sounds to me like you didn't put enough oil in the mixture, plus your hair probabably doesn't need that much protein

 

[BostonMaria]

I would pick 1 butter and mix it with an oil and make sure it's at least 85-90% conditioner. My guess is that it's too many butters and the concentration may be too high. Which conditioner did you use?

 

[teacherjess]

I would try just mixing in one or two things to a regular deep conditioner. Use the conditioner you have as a base and just add in some honey or maybe some olive oil too. It may work better if you only add in a few edible additives. HTH

 

[Jaegermany]

I have made an avocado concoction before and my hair felt kinda hard afterwards but in a strong-protein treatment kind of way....

I would try the avocado, honey and extra virgin olive oil maybe a hint of coconut milk but not the banana puree...I would scratch that. In the future if you want to do something with the banana maybe try banana, honey, evoo, and a spoon of mayo or something....

Because the avocado is a protein I wouldnt keep trying it back to back for fear of protein overload. I would do a moisturizing DC and maybe try the remixed avocado mixture next week....

 

[~*~ShopAholic~*~]

In the past when ever I used the Avacodo/coconut milk/honey and EVOO it give me a lovely shine and strength. So I always DC afterward with a very moisturizing DC (Humectress or a dominican conditioner).

 

[Galadriel]

Sorry to hear about the bad experience, OP.

I'm very careful with coconut milk b/c if I don't balance it out or use too much my hair will go crazy. It may be the coconut milk. As another poster suggested, maybe you should just start off with a simple honey and olive oil mixture.

It seems like you loaded so many ingredients into your concoction, but that isn't necessary. If you're going for a DC, it's fine to use about 2-3 ingredients. Also, if I'm not mistaken, the coconut milk is protein rich--so if you're going for uber-moisture, you may want very little in your mix or hold off on it. I usually only use coconut milk when I want to give myself a protein treatment.

HTH!

 

[nymane]

I would try just mixing in one or two things to a regular deep conditioner. Use the conditioner you have as a base and just add in some honey or maybe some olive oil too. It may work better if you only add in a few edible additives. HTH

I was just about to say this...

 

[4evershika]

I think it might be the protein. There's protein in the avocado and in coconut milk (or it at least acts as a protein). I'm gonna go with teacherjess... most of the time I use regular DCs and just add stuff to it (e.g. honey, olive oil, shea butter (tho I don't usually do this because of the higher melting point...), coconut milk, etc). And look for more recipes instead of just making stuff up... the recipes are gonna give you the right amounts of the ingredients to make the mix work better for you. HTH!

 

[JKSprite]

Thank you sooooo much Diva's! I guess I got a little crazy with trying natural things in my hair. I'll keep it simple and try the olive oil/honey mixtures then see what my hair likes and doesnt like. Thank you for explaining that avocado is a protein (surprised I didn't know that already after lurking for so long). I'm tex-laxing now (after failing at going natural) and am just really looking for moisture!! Thanks again!

 

[lizzyb168]

moisture moisture moisture. then after that, try it again but not with so many products. Dont worry. It will work out!

I have noticed that when i use home made products, they work 10x as strongly as actual conditioners, so you hair is either overly moisturised or overly hard and brittle, so make sure you use your HM products in moderation.

 

[adw425]

When I use banana AND avocado together, I get lots of strength, but really hard hair. I did that once and never again. Everytime I use banana or avocado in one of my homemade DCs, I have to follow us with a nice moisturizing conditioner either homemade or commercial, but I make sure to add some honey and castor oil to it for the humectant and moisturizing retention properties.

 

[DesignerCurls]

I believe it's the Avocado. Avocado has protein which makes some people hair very dry and brittle. It's good for repairing damaged hair but some people are protein sensitive and can only use small amounts. If you find out the avocado is the problem and still need to use protein, just make sure you follow with very deep moisturizing products or conditioner.

HTH