Homemade Hair Recipes for Fried Hair

I'm not sure how many people here are into natural beauty or body care, but everyone knows making your own products is frugal and yields better results.

Long story short, I fried my hair.

I'm looking for recipes for home made hair masks that will aid me in improving the health of my hair until I can get it cut. I know you can't really fix severely damaged hair, though. I don't have the money to go out and buy much, but here's what I do have. I usually use these on my hair in some combination or another, or sometimes I do an amalgamation of all of them (minus the citrus, ACV, and sugar):

1. EVOO
2. Sweet Almond Oil
3. Castor Oil
4. Evening Primrose Oil
5. Flax Seed Oil
6. Avocado
7. Bananas
8. Honey
9. Sugar (brown and white)
10. ACV
11. Lemons
12. Limes
13. A mixture of rosemary, neem, wheat germ, and tea tree oil.
14. Milk
15. Yogurt

Are there any super-crazy-awesome mixtures I haven't thought of? What about common, affordable miracle items that can be purchased at markets? What are your favorite recipes? Are there any specific items that you've had good luck with? I'd really love to focus on things that strengthen the hair shaft, improve elasticity, and generally restore the appearance.

I'm also open to any mixtures that can be used in the shower, post-showering, or pre-showering. Anything and everything, basically.

I apologize for the disjointed quality of the post. I'm out of it.

ETA: I'm new here, so I haven't had a chance to look at all of the forums. If this is in the wrong place, I'm sorry.

I knew someone who once thought rubbing avocado on her hair was a good idea until she tried to rinse it out.  Her hair felt like straw.

I can't help you out much with a home recipe, but if you decide to give something else a chance, Fiesta salons have a Redken treatment, custom made for whatever's effin' up your hair, that works wonders.

My hair felt like cotton.  A five minute Redken treatment actually made my hair feel normal when it was wet, and that shocked the heck out of me.

Nothing you have there is going to magically restore your hair-- if you over colored it or fried it with bleach, you can get some stuff from a salon to pull the color and the straw like crap out of your hair and it works wonders, you can also get some intense conditioning stuff at the grocery store, put it on your head with a shower cap and let sit for a long time or wrap with a hot towel helps too.

I have tried mayo before and it works ok, hard too get out, focus on the ends with it.  Oil too, wrap up with shower cap and heat with low setting on blow dryer or warm towel wrap.  Stay away from the castor oil or tea tree oil for this purpose, however.  You need to shampoo and condition after both of these and be wary of putting them on your scalp or on your face (oiliness and break outs).

The long and short of it is that nothing is going to fix your hair, just fix texture issues (maybe, if you are lucky) but it will still be damaged and fragile.  Good luck!

While it isn't possible to reverse damage, it is possible to restore strength with the right treatments. Most color-reversal treatments are actually just bleach. The ones that aren't don't do what you said -- they don't pull the "straw-like crap" out of hair. What happens when you bleach or dye (and most dyes except for vegetable based contain bleach or some variant thereof, and most vegetable based dyes require pre-lightened hair for optimal results) is the cuticle of the hair shaft opens up and color is implanted along the membrane. Because of the chemical processes involved with opening the cuticle, it never fully closes back down and remains vulnerable to even more physical and chemical damage on top of having a rough, open texture. It's basically like taking a really thick string and cutting strips of string off until they're left hanging. Taking dyes out of the hair will NOT remove the source of roughness, or the straw-like stuff, because the damage is done to the hair shaft, it is not the chemicals sitting on top of the hair that do it.

I was once a Redken girl myself, but I have since quit using them because 1) they test on animals and 2) they use a lot of things like SLS, -cones, and parabens that are counterproductive to hair health. I am in the process of phasing out every animal tested product that is tested on animals; if a company I buy from tests on animals, regardless of what product is used on them, I write the company and urge them to opt for the more expensive and ACCURATE product testing that is widely available to them before I begin phasing them out of my house. I don't want my vanity, narcissism, and inherent consumerism to be at the cost of another animal's life.

An extremely simple thing to do is before going to bed, wash your hair, towel dry it, put condioner on it, wrap it up in a towel or preferably something you can secure, go to sleep and wash it out in the morning.

if you knew the answer before you asked, then why ask?

what I was talking about was NOT a dye remover but a restoring process that takes out the chemicals left behind when you seriously fry your hair.  i have no idea what it is called or who made it, only that I used it when I bleached my hair to the point of no return and it was the only thing that made it better.  Sorry I wasnt more explicit.

I presume you dont use toothpaste or laundry detergent either then right?  Or really any product, since at one point, it was all tested on animals, even if it isnt now.  There is virtually nothing that is manufactured that wasnt once tested on animals.

The simple response would be: I didn't ask for advice on hair because I clearly stated above that I know damage cannot be completely reversed. I asked for hair mask recipes that will improve the condition of hair, which is not to be confused with restoring hair to its undamaged state.

I'm also not concerned with what was once done. At one point in history, testing on live subjects was the only way to develop FDA-approved cosmetics. Now there are methods of product testing during any state of production that are more accurate than animal testing. The FDA no longer mandates that animal testing is necessary. I'm in the process of phasing these items out of my house; I'm not aware of every single thing I use or buy that is tested because not all lists are 100% comprehensive. It's a personal decision that requires a lot of thought and research. I'm in the early stages of this process. One shouldn't assume that others always make blind decisions. Ethics aren't completely cut and dry, and I didn't intend to sound pious. I was only trying to explain why I choose to not buy Redken. I'm not passing judgment on anyone else's decisions -- I choose to do what benefits me and what I feel is right for myself.  I'm a bit of a neophyte when it comes to all things natural, but I try to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can so I can make informed choices. More than anything, the emphasis is on how informed I am rather than which decision I make.

I wouldn't question your personal decisions simply because I don't like the way you spoke to me or some other bogus reason like that (I assume, perhaps unfairly, that's the reason you tried to waterboard my personal choices -- to pick up any discrepancies so these choices are then rendered invalid by their inherent contradiction and hypocrisy -- unless your question was legitimate and you were genuinely curious, but it didn't sound that way). I would only do so if your personal decisions affected me in any way. And they don't.

I'm not sure exactly what I posted that rubbed you the wrong way. I specifically asked for hair masks. You told me there was nothing I could do. That's a partial truth. I explained what happens during the chemical process that causes damage and why some damage is harder to rectify, including damage done by hair strippers (I can't think of any better word for that). I'm gathering that you didn't like that very much, or you perceived my reply to be condescending because I didn't know what product you were talking about. If that was the case, I apologize for my manner, and I hope that we can forgive and forget. 

Do you remember what the product you used in your hair looked like? Did you have it done at a salon? Did it have a smell? I'm pretty interested in learning what this product does. Was it called something like Color-Oops? Did it have a particular color? After people bleach their hair, it's common to use toner. It can have the same effect as taking out hair dye because it employs certain colors to counteract the opposite colors. Lavender and blues are used after bleach or mixed in with bleach to prevent hair from turning orange, red, or brassy (this occurs because red is highly pigmented and it's the last color to leave the hair shaft). Unfortunately, there's no way to get bleach out of the hair, but there are ways to alter the effect of the bleach. Bleach literally strips the hair of all its colors. It leeches out the blues first, the yellows next, and then the reds. Toner is usually enriched with vitamins, proteins, and herbs to help minimize the damage of the bleach or to help the hair look healthier post-bleaching when used as a color-correcter. It's a huge life saver, especially when you want to bleach your hair and then keep it light blonde without it looking dull and orange. Does that sound anything like what you used?

Okay, you need to find out if your hair needs protein or moisture.  So you need to do a snap test.  Get a strand of hair and soak it in some water.  Then start to pull it apart.  (Probably best to get quite a few strands for this test)

If it snaps pretty easy you need some moisture.  If it's stretches you need some protein.  You need to do this because if you do a moisture treatment and you need protein (or vice versa) your hair will be worse.

If you need moisture first thing you need to do is a clarifying wash.  Make sure there are no cones in the shampoo.  Use an SLS shampoo.  SLS-free shampoos aren't strong enough to take out buildup.  Nature's Gate makes SLS shampoos and they do not test on animals.  Many other companies make some also.

Once you've done that take a conditioner with no cones in it, mix it with some aloe vera gel (the clear kind, not the stuff for sunburns) and some honey.  Microwave the honey first otherwise it will lighten your hair.  Rub it through your hair and leave it on there as long as possible.  Then rinse.

You can do a diluted acv rinse if you'd like.  Works well for me if I make it fairly weak.

Next, get some oil (evoo, coconut, jojoba doesn't matter).  Pour just a tad in your hands (just enough to make them shiny) and distribute through the hair.

Let air dry.

If you need protein you'll have to buy a protein pack.  You could use egg, but it doesn't work as well as a real protein pack does.  Most likely, you need moisture.

That should fix you up!

Thank you! That was immensely helpful. I've never heard of honey lightening hair before, but it makes sense. I'll try your suggestions!

Try:

beaten eggs. Massage it into the scalp and leave it on roots of the hair for 3 minuets or so. then rinse it through the hair.

flat beer is great for a rinse. Makes it really shiny and soft. Just be sure to rinse it with cool water or you'll have beer hair!

whole milk or cream and let it soak for a couple of minuets before rinsing it out with cool water.

homemade mayo.

Have you tried avocado? Its great, but be sure to rinse it out. You don't want to smell like guacamole!

Do you have long hair? When you dry your hair do not rub it. Squeeze the strands and gently wrap it up in a towle for about 10 minuets. Then I'd comb through it with a wide tooth comb and let it air dry. Nix the hair dryer and heat tools until your hair is repaired. That's my advice!!

Original Post by otokio:

Thank you! That was immensely helpful. I've never heard of honey lightening hair before, but it makes sense. I'll try your suggestions!

 Yup, honey is a base, lemon juice is an acid. They do the same thing for blonde highlights. Cranberrys and molasses is the thing for red highlights. I think you can use hazle nuts for brown. I don't know about that last one.

I've heard brunettes can use coffee, but I've never tried it myself.