Flaxseed wash

[Twitter]

I was reading on the No 'poo forum about people trying flax mucilage as a wash. Has anyone tried it? I love using herbs to wash my hair, and I'd really love to be able to use things that I can grow myself or at least know are grown slightly more locally than shiakai or artiha. :)


Edit: I tried the flax wash last night. I had just done a henna gloss with yogurt, which usually leaves my hair quite greasy. So I put about 2 tablespoons of flaxseeds in about 12 oz. of water and boiled it until it was goopy, then strained it and added about 2 tablespoons of honey. I rinsed out my henna gloss and washed my hair and scalp with the flax mixture. My hair felt so soft and manageable! I did an acid rinse afterward. I totally expected my hair to be greasy today, but it feels great! Very soft and clean feeling. I will definitely be doing this again.

[Twitter]

I washed with flax mucilage a second time and left the honey out. My hair was a little bit greasy when it dried. I didn't rub it into my scalp and hair as much, and my hair wasn't as dirty, I wonder if that was the problem, since I've heard the the mucilage cleans sort of like OCM. That is, it dissolves or removes oil. Still experimenting XD

[mellie]

Very interesting! I would think that it might make the hair sticky?

[ratgirldjh]

hahaha! i tried this same thing with chia seeds! however, i used ground chia seeds and could not strain the resulting 'goop' and it was impossible to get the tiny pieces out of my hair and i ended up with tangles and little pieces of seeds left in my hair.

i have the chia seeds and thought about trying this - chia seeds are very similar to flax in properties - the omega 3 fatty acids, etc. - but i don't want to go through the same experience!

so i will be watching this thread for future updates :)

btw - it definitely cleaned my hair

[RetroKitten]

Recently I had a discussion on another board where someone mentioned she uses soapnuts (cleansing) and flaxseed (conditioning, makes application easier) to wash her hair - with great success.

[Fethenwen]

Wow, does flaxseed really clean your hair? Sounds like an extremely mild and friendly wash to frizzy hair.

[Twitter]

Wow, does flaxseed really clean your hair? Sounds like an extremely mild and friendly wash to frizzy hair.
It did clean my hair, and it got quite a bit of grease out. I had done a henna gloss with whole milk yogurt. I've only done it one time since then , and it did get a little oily the next day, probably because I kept touching it. :o I will keep updating as I experiment.

I think it might be more like a CO was and maybe need something added occasionally. Experiment time! :D

[jera]

hahaha! i tried this same thing with chia seeds! however, i used ground chia seeds and could not strain the resulting 'goop' and it was impossible to get the tiny pieces out of my hair and i ended up with tangles and little pieces of seeds left in my hair.

i have the chia seeds and thought about trying this - chia seeds are very similar to flax in properties - the omega 3 fatty acids, etc. - but i don't want to go through the same experience!

so i will be watching this thread for future updates :)

btw - it definitely cleaned my hair

Chia seeds ! What a cool idea. Why didn't I think of that one. I'm always trying new herbs and things. :p

[Lorien]

You can soak the flaxseeds in water overnight then put them in the blender. Strain the mixture with a clean pantyhose end, just squeeze the pulp well till it's dry.

A white foamy goop comes out and I guess you can use as is or add any essential oils/herbal tinctures you like.

[serious]

Sounds interesting!
I think I'm going to give it a try this weekend!
( hope it'll work better than hibiscus wash, which was a disaster....:hmm:)

[renarok]

I have a bag of ground flax in the freezer. How do you think I could use that. Soaked over night as well? Cold water?

[serious]

I did it last night! It was..interesting.

I didn't put any oils on my ends, or anything else before wash. I just used flaxseed mucilage, rubbed it on the scalp and on the length, let it sit for a few minutes, rinsed, rinsed, rinsed and did an ACV rinse afterwords.

Right after the wash, my hair felt a bit coated, clean but with no shine at all. And it wasn't silky and soft as it usually is with CO. But the volume was great!
So, I went to bed, thinking that I'm going to have to wash my hair again in the morning... but, this morning, my hair looks way better than last night! The waxy feeling is gone, part of the shine is back so I'm not going to wash it.( lat's say, my hair looks like on the second day wash or similar)

So, the result is not great, but I'm planning to do it again and experiment a bit, so we'll see.
Btw, I had a hard time straining the mucilage, maybe I made it too thick ( it was like gel..)?

[Gothic Lolita]

Thanks for this thread! I'm always willing to experiment with unusual washing techniques as long as they aren't too expensive and as I'm eating flaxseed daily this one is really appealing to me!

I'll be trying this. But only on Monday or so... I really don't ne my boyfriend to see how I'm smearing goopy stuff on my head. He already thinks I'm a little weid because I'm smearing things on my head other people wouldn't even know that they exist!

[Lorien]

I have a bag of ground flax in the freezer. How do you think I could use that. Soaked over night as well? Cold water?

Just regular temperature water :)

[Lorien]

My results with this process have been mixed, my hair feels clean, smells clean, is soft to the touch and maneagable, but it's very weighed down and dull. If I braid it it looks good with the waves, as though I've used some kind of hair product, but definitely not fresh clean hair I can wear straight.

Maybe my head needs to adjust to the lack of poo.

[Gothic Lolita]

My results with this process have been mixed, my hair feels clean, smells clean, is soft to the touch and maneagable, but it's very weighed down and dull. If I braid it it looks good with the waves, as though I've used some kind of hair product, but definitely not fresh clean hair I can wear straight.

Maybe my head needs to adjust to the lack of poo.

It seems as if flaxseed works somewhat like a herbal CO, so maybe it's the conditioning effect that weighs your hair down. For me, also AVC rinses weigh my hair down although my length feels nice after them.

[tiare_petal]

It’s my second wash with ground flaxseed and I think I’ll keep with it :) I tried to wash with mucilage from whole flaxseed at first and I thought it clumped my hair but maybe oatmeal/oat straw did it to my hair.Whatever.
I put the goop on dry hair and rub it in the scalp for a minute or so, leave it in for another minute and rinse with a shower-head near my scalp.
When it’s already dry my baby hair’s a bit flyaway for my liking but I can live with that. My fine hair feels weighed down but doesn’t look flat or sth. It looks a lot more moist and gives me shine like nothing else (well, besides hibiscus rinse).

[Lorien]

It’s my second wash with ground flaxseed and I think I’ll keep with it :) I tried to wash with mucilage from whole flaxseed at first and I thought it clumped my hair but maybe oatmeal/oat straw did it to my hair.Whatever.
I put the goop on dry hair and rub it in the scalp for a minute or so, leave it in for another minute and rinse with a shower-head near my scalp.
When it’s already dry my baby hair’s a bit flyaway for my liking but I can live with that. My fine hair feels weighed down but doesn’t look flat or sth. It looks a lot more moist and gives me shine like nothing else (well, besides hibiscus rinse).

Yeah I got shiny hair, didn't feel dirty either but soft and I guess weighed down, not silky or bouncy. Pretty oily, too. I figure with wavy or curly hair it's perfect because it appears to just have hair product on, but my hair is straight and just looked very dirty.

[tiare_petal]

oh I need to write this; my package says "defatted :idea: flaxseed"

[janicelesa]

This is an interesting premise,that I've haven't considered b4. I think I read somewhere on this site that flax seed jel can be used as hair gel or put in your mist bottle as a leave on treatment. Has anyone tried this? I noticed that all of you who have responded so far have rather straight hair. I wonder if any curlies, like myself would have better results with this. I'll try and report back but not right away, might be a month or more cause I have too many other experiments going on right now, mainly trying to get a medium brown with hightlights I'm pleased with. (I guess that's for another thread). But when I do try this I think I'll do it will whole organic seeds (the ones I eat) and let it sit over night b4 I drain them. Does anyone think distilled water would be called for for the soak water?

[Star Eagle]

Hi
since you talk about mucilage I wonder about slippery elm... I have some that I bought at the health food store .. I bet I could boil some up and use that... Slipery Elm is good for sore throats. it soothes... I will try and let you know..Star

[Prettychild]

I thought flaxseed gel is for hold. I have curly hair and I have used flaxseed in the past to actually loosen up the curl... Are we talking about the same thing: you cook the flaxseeds in water only you get a goopy like consistency, then strain?
My other question is this? Why flaxseed to wash you hair? Does it have any especial properties? Thanks.




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[tiare_petal]

I learned it's a flop when I leave the goop on my head after I've massaged it into the scalp. My hair became so oily then although the roots remained clean :rolleyes:
Also, I prepared my mucilage real thick, and it was impossible to spread it thouroughly. So I poured some water over my goopy hair and did one-minute massaging blah blah blah After I rinsed it all off and dried my hair, I noticed it lost most of its usual flaxseed heaviness. Or maybe my hair and flaxseed eventually started getting along :shrug:
I love the silky feeling and shine flaxseed gives. And the volume on my thin hair. I have high expectations of it - it supposedly speeds up growth, and I think my scalp is already producing less sebum :cheese:

[kattmara]

I thought flaxseed gel is for hold. I have curly hair and I have used flaxseed in the past to actually loosen up the curl... Are we talking about the same thing: you cook the flaxseeds in water only you get a goopy like consistency, then strain?
My other question is this? Why flaxseed to wash you hair? Does it have any especial properties? Thanks.




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My avatar is my inspiration

You can use flax seed gel for hold as well, I personally prefer it for washing since I have fine and not that curly/wavy hair that doesn't seem to benefit from it when used as a gel. The reason I first tried washing with it is that I remembered that it was easy to make and I like to try new things, I also noticed that the first container I kept it in got really clean from just warm water so I figured it would get my hair clean as well and rinse out fast. First time I made a looser consistency which is easier to use and to strain (I use a metal strainer) and I applied it like I apply conditioner when I do CO-wash which is usually my preferred method. It got my hair clean, was pretty easy to rinse out and doesn't contain any " 'poo". It also made my hair more curly and wavy even though I rinsed it out carefully and I got almost double the volume which is not that much since I have quite flat hair to begin with.

The biggest drawback for me is that it can't be stored that long or outside of the fridge so there has to be a bit more timing involved. It also has a very faint smell and I can't detect any smell left at all when my hair is dry, this can be both a good or a bad thing depending on what you like, you can just add scent to it if that is important I think.

I don't think it works as a conditioner if you are looking for the kind of softness you get from regular conditioners but it did keep my hair from getting static (is that the correct word?), I think I might try adding more to the length of my hair and not rinsing out completely to see what happens. I don't notice any big difference in drying time from my regular CO-wash but it dries faster than WO, it is also faster than WO for me.