I know, I know, I don't talk about my hair & products as obsessively as I used to, but I'm also trying everything I can not to do my midterm paper about now.
So, how do I take care of my hair? The best way:
THE INTERNET
As you all know or should know, I dye my hair somewhat regularly--that is to say, when I can afford it and when I feel like it. That's pretty regular. I use semi-permanent which is less likely to do freaky shit to your hair if you don't overdo it--hint hint--but make no mistake that dye & bleach do indeed do unpleasant things to your hair, like dry it out.
So you have to stay on top of that whole "keep my follicles moisturized so I don't look like a troll doll" thing. However, lately Tennessee's weather has been on some other bullshit and humidity & heat will do more freaky shit to my fro in about five minutes than a life time of bleaching with 50 vol developer (yes they make that. Please for the love of god do not use that).
I was in a dark place--there was nothing I could do to make my kinky hair LIVE, my head was itchy, it was breaking off a bit, and trying to detangle it was more complicated than usual. It was a hot mess. I could barely brush without seeing little clumps, and more than that, my hair had basically turned into an immovable stone--yes it was HARD and dry and frizzy (FYI my hair's actually...about neck-length but I wear it in a fro about 80% of the time)
Looking for clues, I decided to Google what the fuck I should do. When that turned up porn, I tried looking up tips for making my hair less this way. One nice thing I found was a recipe for banana honey conditioner.
So hopefully now you're curious, how do we do this banana honey conditioner sans baking soda? Well it's simple.
Take ONE banana. Or if you have longer hair, maybe TWO. Through trial and error, I learned that this banana should be fairly ripe and smushable.
Next, get some honey. I have a jar of dark honey (this is why) but get any kind you like--light, raw, Kroger brand, whatever. After you're done taking secret licks of honey it's time to get to work with the banana.
If you don't have a blender or anything nice like that, get a whisk or a fork. For the love of god do not be like me (the first time anyway) and use a fecking spoon--the banana chunks falling out your hair when you're done showering will never end.
Get yourself, say, a plastic bowl or other container and jump to it. Mash the hell out that banana, evenly, until there are no or very minimal lumps--or if you have a blender, puree that mess. You'll thank me. After this step and taking secret licks of puree'd banana, dump some honey in. I say SOME but I probably wouldn't use more than 2 table spoons if you have shorter hair. If you're unsure or you're like me and just prefer eyeballing and guesswork, pour enough in to make a nice, creamy but not too thick mixture. If you think you're going to be way too tempted to eat this delicious concoction, or you just want an extra boost, you can also drop in a little coconut oil or olive oil.
And there you have it, a great condtioner! How you use it is up to you. For me, I use it as weekly deep conditioning. I go about this so:
Get in the shower, acquaint yourself with the water for a few minutes, then rinse hair in warm water. Add in banana honey mix evenly over hair (evenly becomes important when you rinse it out--again, just trust me here) and wrap hair in a warm towel or use a shower cap if you have one. Leave mix on for anywhere from 10-20 minutes, what you do during that time is up to you but try not to touch your hair a lot.
When your time's up, rinse mix out in warm water. Rinse it out THOROUGHLY and completely. When this is over, I wait a couple seconds, wash the damn honey from my face, and voila! Hair is suddenly much softer and manageable. Then I go on my usual hair washing (fun fact: try rinsing hair in cold water after conditioner--makes hair shiny & soft, and keeps my hair color in longer).
I like this mix a lot because it helped when apparently none of my other usual products would--and admittedly I'm a product minimalist--but also it's pretty cheap and natural. Natural & organic products tend not to be so cheap for a broke ass college student like myself but I can swing a pound of bananas and a jar of dark honey. You probably have them in your house right now and never even thought of putting them together for good. Plus it's food, so after I'm done with my conditioner I can proceed to eat the bananas & use the honey.
I prefer natural products because I know what the hell is in them and typically it's nothing bad that will hurt my hair. Since using this conditioner my hair's been more manageable and there's been considerably less breakage, and I don't have to kill myself trying to detangle huge clumps of hair anymore, so if you're having trouble getting frizzy hair under control I'd give it a try.
