Does anyone have a simple DIY conditioner recipe that does not contain soy?

[jane_marie]

I have a massive soy allergy and struggle to find a soy-free cone-free conditioner.

Due to labeling issues here in the US it is impossible to know if some ingredients (specifically ingredients like vitamin E) are soy derived. I keep getting contact dermatitis and big boils on my head after using conditioner.

I thought my conditioner was soy free but it turns out that it has an ingredient that is soy derived (tocopheryl acetate).

Presently I have a reaction that has resulted in scalp boils that has been going on for three days. I woke up with blood on my pillow... I guess I must have scratched it in my sleep. :rolleyes:

To avoid this problem in the future, I would like to start making my own conditioner.

Do you folks have any soy-free conditioner recipes that might work for me?

I'm starting to think I should just mash up avocado and leave it on my head for 20 minutes every washday. :lol:

[lakhesis]

Maybe look into some whipped shea butter/cocoa butter recipes? If you dilute them more with oil it could be closer to conditioner consistency. But it's just butter and oil, so it might not be enough moisture.

I immediately thought of the Calia hair product line. It's all over youtube, but to be honest I've never tried the products as it's not easy to get it where I am. But I remember their conditioners have very basic and natural ingredients. It's a Canadian product, so it might be easier to get in the US.

Oh, and Ylva has shared some conditioner base that she got online, maybe that would help? :)

[jane_marie]

Maybe look into some whipped shea butter/cocoa butter recipes? If you dilute them more with oil it could be closer to conditioner consistency. But it's just butter and oil, so it might not be enough moisture.

I immediately thought of the Calia hair product line. It's all over youtube, but to be honest I've never tried the products as it's not easy to get it where I am. But I remember their conditioners have very basic and natural ingredients. It's a Canadian product, so it might be easier to get in the US.

Oh, and Ylva has shared some conditioner base that she got online, maybe that would help? :)

Thanks so much for responding. I'll check that brand out and recipes that use shea butter/cocoa butter.

Maybe I can mix avocado, shea butter, flax seed gel, aloe and other things together and get something that works okay.

[meepster]

Egg yolks? I found those very conditioning.

[jane_marie]

Egg yolks? I found those very conditioning.

Oh! That's a fine idea! My hair seems very receptive to animal fats.

[jane_marie]

Okay, so far what I have come up with is using a mixture of egg yolk, rose water, rosemary tea, flax seed gel, honey, avocado, flax seed gel, a drop of castor oil and aloe.

Does anyone have any thoughts on if that might work?

[spidermom]

Catnip tea. You can leave it in or rinse it out, whichever works best for you.

[Lady Stardust]

There might be something useful in this list of LHC recipes
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/content.php?r=40-Western-Herbs-and-Techniques-for-Hair-Care

[knobbly]

I know someone who’s a regular on the boards makes their own conditioner. Commenting here to remind myself to take notice when that person posts.

[RebekahE]

Beautyklove on YouTube has a ton of diy shampoos, leave ins, masks etc. On her channel. Maybe check her out and you can get some ideas on different ingredients to play around with.

[jane_marie]

I wanted to send out a big thank you to everyone that responded to this thread.

I couldn't find my catnip to try a tea soak (I'll try that another time).

I did create a mixture using half a tiny avocado, a drop of JBCO, three drops of jojoba oil, two drops of argan oil, a chicken egg yolk, honey flax seed gel, rose water and fruit of the earth aloe gel. I blended the ingredients together on the whip setting until it formed soft peaks./

After shampooing I applied the mixture and left it on for ten minutes under a plastic cap then rinsed.

So far, I am very happy with the result. It has made my hair very shiny, reduced the frizz, and somehow managed to enhance the texture.

[patches]

Awhile back I was looking to make my own conditioner as well and I came across this thread (https://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=136160) that really helped me. Specifically the post by serin blackwood near the bottom of the first page.

The recipe I came up with from that is:

1 cup catnip tea
1 Tablespoon honey
1 Tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon yogurt
5 drops olive oil
1/2 teaspoon guar gum

I make it on my stove top and let everything but the guar gum simmer together for a couple minutes, whisk in the gum and let it cool to about room temperature. After washing my hair I slather it on and throw on a shower cap, finish up the rest of my shower and rinse it out real good. I usually then do a vinegar rinse, though I'm not convinced that step is necessary.

I think it's been nearly a year now that I've been using it and my hair really seems to like it. It seems to last just fine in the fridge for at least a week, I don't know about longer than that. I usually just make it the day I'm going to use it.

[KokoroDragon]

When I was using shampoo bars (soap based), I was able to just use an ACV rinse without using any conditioner. I'm guessing it had something to do with how it reacted with the shampoo, so YMMV, but I seem to recall other shampoo bar users reporting that all they needed for conditioner was ACV as well.

[Hairkay]

I use banana pureé or mango pureé sometimes with coconut cream, fenugreek and honey work with or without yogurt works for me as well. I have too many allergies to deal with commercial hair products.

[Jane99]

The conditioner I make uses BTMS-25 as the emulsifier and conditioning agent. It looks like BTMS is derived from canola but the cetearyl alcohol [which makes up the other 75% of the BTMS-25 (%)]is derived from numerous vegetable oils and I would think soy could be one of them. What the internet says is “palm, coconut, or vegetable oils.” But I do know there are emulsifiers that are based from olive or other plants that you could use if you wanted to make a more traditional conditioner but I don’t have a recommendation for you.

[ChloeDharma]

Funnily enough I just made a nice mix the other day to use as a conditioner/DT. I made a paste of fenugreek, henna, brahmi and amla then the next day mixed it with full fat Greek yogurt and used that after shampooing. Left it on 40 minutes then rinsed it out and finished with an ACV rinse. It worked well but really you can get away with surprisingly little in a conditioner. Just yogurt and honey, or fenugreek paste mixed with yogurt works well for me.

I also often like to just shampoo my hair and finish with a vinegar rinse, like another poster mentioned. I usually have oiled before washing my hair before doing this though.

[ChloeDharma]

I use banana pureé or mango pureé sometimes with coconut cream, fenugreek and honey work with or without yogurt works for me as well. I have too many allergies to deal with commercial hair products.

I think I've seen you mention mango puree before. I'm glad you mentioned it here again as it sounds like an excellent ingredient to try.

[irsviel]

I use diluted apple cider vinegar (I haven't found out the correct dilution ratio though). I have also tried flaxseed slime (I believe also the diluted leave-in version).