oil + aloe gel + honey

[trinc]

I tried SMT for a couple of times, but my conditioner is very heavy and leaves my hair very flat if I use big amounts - I can only use a tiny bit. Therefore I experimented and replaced CO with oil (oil mix, to be specific - olive oil + falxseed oil + castor oil). other parts were the same - honey and aloe vera gel.

I also didn't heat it. and it worked wonders, definitely much better than oil alone! my hair is very soft and seems more moisturized.

although it didn't lighten my hair, I'm a bit worried that if I continue that on regular basis, my hair would be lighter, and I don't want that. Is it possible to use honey so that it will NOT lighten hair? does the heating help? but in case of heating - won't it kill all the good things in oils?

I also have a gas stove, so it's a bit more difficult for warming up than it would be with microwave.

[HairColoredHair]

Heating effectively 'kills' the honey, so you should be fine to use it without lightening, at least in my experience. Can you heat the honey alone, instead of the whole mix? Perhaps place a bowl with honey in it in a pot of warm water on the stove?

[trinc]

ok, it's a good idea to heat honey separately! :)

[ktani]

ok, it's a good idea to heat honey separately! :)

You will need fairly high heat for 40 minutes to destroy the enzyme that generates peroxide.

[trinc]

40 minutes, are you sure! because in original SMT recipe it says 10 seconds?? I doubt that all people who do SMT also want their hair to be lighter?

[trinc]

here's what I did today:
I put a water boiling and inside I put a smaller vessel with honey. I heated about 10 minutes, honey became very liquid (it was quite hardened honey I had), but not boiling yet. then I added oils - olive oil, flaxseed oil, castor oil. I heated some more minutes, but not until oils were too hot. I then took out the vessel and added aloe vera gel. and then I put it all to my towel-dried hair. and now it's sitting there until next morning :)

[trinc]

just wanted to inform you that this treatment is amazing for my hair - leaves it very soft and moisturized, nice to touch! so, for anybody who doesn't want to do SMT with CO, I recommend changing it to oil! :) works for me :)

[Kathie]

I'm going to try! Maybe in a week or so though- cos I've been experimenting like mad lately.

[Madame J]

You will need fairly high heat for 40 minutes to destroy the enzyme that generates peroxide.

40 minutes? I thought I'd heard you previously recommend microwaving it for 45-60 seconds to deactivate the peroxide-producing enzyme... :confused:

[pennylane]

I love oil plus honey hair masks! ... I have never added aloe, i tried aloe by itself in the past and it didn't work for me, but i will give it a try again, these time , with all three ingredients, as a pre-shampoo treatment. :)

[chargersfan]

40 minutes, are you sure! because in original SMT recipe it says 10 seconds?? I doubt that all people who do SMT also want their hair to be lighter?

I assume the time difference is b/c the 10 seconds was for microwaving, not heating on a stove.

[ktani]

I assume the time difference is b/c the 10 seconds was for microwaving, not heating on a stove.

Mircrowave heat is not the same as stove heat. The original SMT microwave timing of 10 to 15 seconds was reported not to be enough for some honeys. I have recommended and still recomend microwaving honey for 30 seconds to under 1 minute.

Microwave heat can also be inconsistant, depending on the microwave.

This is an old post on honey and heat, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=197162&postcount=1763. 2 of the links no longer work. The text is there though.

[ktani]

I tried SMT for a couple of times, but my conditioner is very heavy and leaves my hair very flat if I use big amounts - I can only use a tiny bit. Therefore I experimented and replaced CO with oil (oil mix, to be specific - olive oil + falxseed oil + castor oil). other parts were the same - honey and aloe vera gel.

I also didn't heat it. and it worked wonders, definitely much better than oil alone! my hair is very soft and seems more moisturized.

although it didn't lighten my hair, I'm a bit worried that if I continue that on regular basis, my hair would be lighter, and I don't want that. Is it possible to use honey so that it will NOT lighten hair? does the heating help? but in case of heating - won't it kill all the good things in oils?

I also have a gas stove, so it's a bit more difficult for warming up than it would be with microwave.

Your recipe, with oils replacing conditioner cannot lighten hair, in my opinion. The thread got sidetracked on the honey and heat issue. I replied to the honey and heat question alone as well. Sorry about that.

Honey slowly releases hydrogen peroxide diluted with a liquid that contains water. Oil does not contain water. Aloe gel contains 3 x more Vitamin C than lemon juice, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=299163&postcount=2379. Vitamin C is oxidized by hydrogen peroxide and the peroxide level is depleted in doing so. Bottom line, the amount of water in the amount of aloe gel (which is not that large) is offset by the amount of Vitamin C. 2 of the oils you are using are also coating oils (flax and castor (unless the castor oil is refined). Oils that coat the hair have been reported to impede conventional peroxide lightening.

The question of using honey without heat or with heat I think is irrelevant, with your recipe. If you were to add a significant amount of a light conditioner, that may change the results. Conditioners contain about 70 to 90 % water. Even then your results are consistant with what I have written here. You have had no lightening.

[Cheeks1206]

How difficult is this to rinse out?

[trinc]

Your recipe, with oils replacing conditioner cannot lighten hair, in my opinion. The thread got sidetracked on the honey and heat issue. I replied to the honey and heat question alone as well. Sorry about that.

Honey slowly releases hydrogen peroxide diluted with a liquid that contains water. Oil does not contain water. Aloe gel contains 3 x more Vitamin C than lemon juice, http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showpost.php?p=299163&postcount=2379. Vitamin C is oxidized by hydrogen peroxide and the peroxide level is depleted in doing so. Bottom line, the amount of water in the amount of aloe gel (which is not that large) is offset by the amount of Vitamin C. 2 of the oils you are using are also coating oils (flax and castor (unless the castor oil is refined). Oils that coat the hair have been reported to impede conventional peroxide lightening.

The question of using honey without heat or with heat I think is irrelevant, with your recipe. If you were to add a significant amount of a light conditioner, that may change the results. Conditioners contain about 70 to 90 % water. Even then your results are consistant with what I have written here. You have had no lightening.

thanks a lot, ktani, for explanation!! you know very much about honey :)

but what if I put the stuff on damp hair? then there's water already in hair... problem is, that when I put it in dry hair it's harder to distribute and I need a lot more mixture.

is there any place I could find out what oils are coating? I ran out of flaxseed oil and considering experimenting with something else. the best oil could be moisturizing and smoothing for hair, and also then coating in order to prevent hair going lighter.

[trinc]

I love oil plus honey hair masks! ... I have never added aloe, i tried aloe by itself in the past and it didn't work for me, but i will give it a try again, these time , with all three ingredients, as a pre-shampoo treatment. :)

somehow adding honey and aloe gel makes this treatment much more effective for me than oils alone. I don't know which one is doing the trick, honey or aloe gel, but I'm suspecting honey... :)

[trinc]

How difficult is this to rinse out?

not very, but I have to shampoo twice. since I use natural products without SLS, I don't worry about shampooing too much.

[ktani]

thanks a lot, ktani, for explanation!! you know very much about honey :)

but what if I put the stuff on damp hair? then there's water already in hair... problem is, that when I put it in dry hair it's harder to distribute and I need a lot more mixture.

is there any place I could find out what oils are coating? I ran out of flaxseed oil and considering experimenting with something else. the best oil could be moisturizing and smoothing for hair, and also then coating in order to prevent hair going lighter.

Damp hair should be no problem at all. Honey lightening recipes require that the hair be kept very wet. You should get no lightening with your recipe. The only water source is the aloe gel and it is not a significant amount and there is the Vitamin C. Another coating oil is jojoba. There is also shea butter. Sunflower oil is another.

[GRU]

is there any place I could find out what oils are coating? I ran out of flaxseed oil and considering experimenting with something else. the best oil could be moisturizing and smoothing for hair, and also then coating in order to prevent hair going lighter.

I've found that my hair LOVES Sweet Almond Oil, so you might want to put that on your "things to try" list to see if it works for you.

[trinc]

Damp hair should be no problem at all. Honey lightening recipes require that the hair be kept very wet. You should get no lightening with your recipe. The only water source is the aloe gel and it is not a significant amount and there is the Vitamin C. Another coating oil is jojoba. There is also shea butter. Sunflower oil is another.

yayy, that's good news! so I can continue with this recipe! :happydance:

[trinc]

I've found that my hair LOVES Sweet Almond Oil, so you might want to put that on your "things to try" list to see if it works for you.

added to the list ;)

[Cheeks1206]

not very, but I have to shampoo twice. since I use natural products without SLS, I don't worry about shampooing too much.

Thanks, that's good to know. I think I'll give it a try this weekend in case I need to wash more than once.

[trinc]

ok, cheeks, let us know how it goes then! :)

[Cheeks1206]

I've done my oil SMT! I did a mix of 2T coconut oil, 1T safflower oil and 1T extra virgin olive oil. It sat on my hair for 2.5-3 hours under saran wrap and a flour sack towel; no extra heat was added, I'm way too lazy for that. To wash it out, I did a CWC and it was actually much easier to shampoo using that method than it usually is for me. My hair felt really great in the shower and all the oil seems to have come out pretty well, but I won't be able to tell until it is a little more dry. I'll check back in after I blow dry a little.

ETA: Okay, I've diffused on warm on the low setting until about 85% dry. And, I have one thing to say. HOLY MEGA CURLS, BATMAN!! I'm super excited! Lately, my curls have been very sad and elongated, more 2c than 3a, even my curlier areas were just sad looking waves. I suspected that it was a moisture issue and this seems to have proven me correct. My hair is amazingly soft and the spirals have finally shown up again! I love this! I'm going to give this another go Tuesday before I go on vacation.
:cheese::happydance::joy::crush:

[renia22]

When you applied the shampoo, did you do so before or after applying water? I recall reading somewhere that if you apply the shampoo first, it's easier to wash the oils out.

[Cheeks1206]

When you applied the shampoo, did you do so before or after applying water? I recall reading somewhere that if you apply the shampoo first, it's easier to wash the oils out.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I applied the modified SMT to slightly damp hair. When I got in the shower, I immediately slathered on a cheapie condish (suave juicy apples) then I put it up in a bun until I got ready to wash. I then applied my shampoo to my scalp only. Once I got my scalp good and clean feeling I lightly ran my fingers through the length, very gently moving the lather from my scalp down towards the ends. Only after doing all this did I put my head under the water to rinse. After all that I did a second condish, although I'm not sure I really needed it.

To make a long story short, no I didn't rinse before I applied shampoo, but my hair was damp before applying the oils. Honestly, I think he first round of conditioner made the biggest difference.

[Sissy]

sounds good... only I would replace the honey with molasses because I enjoy darker hair :p

[trinc]

I've done my oil SMT! I did a mix of 2T coconut oil, 1T safflower oil and 1T extra virgin olive oil. It sat on my hair for 2.5-3 hours under saran wrap and a flour sack towel; no extra heat was added, I'm way too lazy for that. To wash it out, I did a CWC and it was actually much easier to shampoo using that method than it usually is for me. My hair felt really great in the shower and all the oil seems to have come out pretty well, but I won't be able to tell until it is a little more dry. I'll check back in after I blow dry a little.

ETA: Okay, I've diffused on warm on the low setting until about 85% dry. And, I have one thing to say. HOLY MEGA CURLS, BATMAN!! I'm super excited! Lately, my curls have been very sad and elongated, more 2c than 3a, even my curlier areas were just sad looking waves. I suspected that it was a moisture issue and this seems to have proven me correct. My hair is amazingly soft and the spirals have finally shown up again! I love this! I'm going to give this another go Tuesday before I go on vacation.
:cheese::happydance::joy::crush:

whoahhh, I'm glad you liked it and got good results! :) :cheese:

[Cheeks1206]

whoahhh, I'm glad you liked it and got good results! :) :cheese:

Oh yeah! I love this!

I did it again last night, same measurements, and once again my hair looks fantastic. I guess my hair has just wanted more moisture all along.

[Cheeks1206]

Now that my day at the office is over, I just wanted to add that I got a few compliments on my hair today. They all said it looked really good, one said my color looked richer and another asked if my curls were my own. She said they looked like I did them with a curling iron. So, I guess that's a good compliment. :)

[wanderwoot]

This is great to read as I use oils instead of normal conditioner... I will definitley get some aloe so I can try it!

[Chiara]

[quote=Cheeks1206;1146010]I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I applied the modified SMT to slightly damp hair. When I got in the shower, I immediately slathered on a cheapie condish (suave juicy apples) then I put it up in a bun until I got ready to wash. I then applied my shampoo to my scalp only. Once I got my scalp good and clean feeling I lightly ran my fingers through the length, very gently moving the lather from my scalp down towards the ends. Only after doing all this did I put my head under the water to rinse. After all that I did a second condish, although I'm not sure I really needed it.

To make a long story short, no I didn't rinse before I applied shampoo, /quote]

Sorry, I'm new here, but I just wanted to make sure I'd got it- you got in the shower and immediately applied conditioner, then later applied shampoo to the roots and then applied water to rinse it all out. You didn't wet your hair at all when you first got in the shower?? Wow, I can see I've got a lot to learn about technique!

[Gnomentum]

Chiara? This could be an embarrassing case of mistaken identity, but... don't I know you?

[Chiara]

Mmm.... Gnomentum, I don't think so! But anything's possible! :)

[Cheeks1206]

[quote=Cheeks1206;1146010]I'm not sure if I mentioned it, but I applied the modified SMT to slightly damp hair. When I got in the shower, I immediately slathered on a cheapie condish (suave juicy apples) then I put it up in a bun until I got ready to wash. I then applied my shampoo to my scalp only. Once I got my scalp good and clean feeling I lightly ran my fingers through the length, very gently moving the lather from my scalp down towards the ends. Only after doing all this did I put my head under the water to rinse. After all that I did a second condish, although I'm not sure I really needed it.

To make a long story short, no I didn't rinse before I applied shampoo, /quote]

Sorry, I'm new here, but I just wanted to make sure I'd got it- you got in the shower and immediately applied conditioner, then later applied shampoo to the roots and then applied water to rinse it all out. You didn't wet your hair at all when you first got in the shower?? Wow, I can see I've got a lot to learn about technique!

That's right. I slather on the conditioner then stick all my hair into a looped pony tail so it doesn't get wet while I do my other shower duties. I rinse it out after I'm done shaving (or whatever) and it comes out very easily. Keep in mind that my hair was slightly damp before I applied the mixture, so it's not like it's completely dry or anything.

[Chiara]

Thanks for that, I am still getting my head round it all!

[Cheeks1206]

No problem. ;)

[Talula]

What kind of aloe gel do you guys use? I saw a tub of "aloe juice" in Walmart, is that close enough? Or do you need gel, not juice?

Thanks!

[GRU]

Talula, juice or gel doesn't matter, other than juice is RUNNY, which means it's more likely to drip down your neck....

[Aliped]

I would love to SMT, but I have never seen aloe in a store and don't know where to buy it. Help?

[GRU]

Aliped, do you have a Walmart available?

In their hand lotion section, they have clear Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-Of-The-Earth-Aloe-Vera-Gel-12-oz/10314797

Just make sure you don't get the green one in the sunscreen section -- it has added ingredients beyond just the AVG.

[Aliped]

Aliped, do you have a Walmart available?

In their hand lotion section, they have clear Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-Of-The-Earth-Aloe-Vera-Gel-12-oz/10314797

Just make sure you don't get the green one in the sunscreen section -- it has added ingredients beyond just the AVG.

Ohhhhh, the hand lotion section! I would not have looked there. CHEERS GRU! I'll pick some up tomorrow afternoon and do an SMT tomorrow night! :):cheese:

[GRU]

Yay! Please post back here and let us know how the SMT works for you!

[Talula]

In their hand lotion section, they have clear Fruit of the Earth Aloe Vera Gel: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Fruit-Of-The-Earth-Aloe-Vera-Gel-12-oz/10314797



Ok so I clicked on your link & looked at the ingredients:

"Ingredients: Aloe Vera Gel, Triethanolamine, Tocopheryl Acetate, Carbomer Tetrasodium EDTA, DMDM Hydantoin, Diazolidinyl Urea. *Plus Stabilizers And Preservatives To Insure Potency And Efficacy."

I didn't know if all that extra stuff should be avoided..... though the 3rd one is maybe just Vit E?, but I don't know about the rest. But I guess it doesn't matter? I had it in my head that you were supposed to use 100% aloe.... but if it really doesn't matter, I'm sure this is cheaper!
http://i2.walmartimages.com/i/corners/l_corner.gif

[GRU]

Looks like you're good to go!

Triethanolamine -- emulsifier
Tocopheryl Acetate -- vitamin E
Carbomer Tetrasodium EDTA -- makes it into a jel instead of a liquid
DMDM Hydantoin -- preservative
Diazolidinyl Urea -- preservative

[Talula]

Wow GRU (is that for "guru"?) you're great with ingredients. I've seen you explain ingredients all over LHC, it seems. Do you just know this stuff, or you look it up for people?

Thank you kindly, either way. You help a lot of people here, and do seem to be quite the hair guru! Seems like this place is a full time job for you! thanks for all you do. :)

[GRU]

Wow GRU (is that for "guru"?) you're great with ingredients. I've seen you explain ingredients all over LHC, it seems. Do you just know this stuff, or you look it up for people?

Thank you kindly, either way. You help a lot of people here, and do seem to be quite the hair guru! Seems like this place is a full time job for you! thanks for all you do. :)

Awwww, you're so sweet! I'm just happy to help where I can (and I look most things up, although I do know a few things from memory) -- I've learned SO much here at LHC that I'm just happy to be able to do the same for others!

And no, GRU is actually the initials of another one of my screen-names on a different (non-hair) forum. Everyone always ended up calling me GRU b/c they were too lazy to type out all three words, so I just cut out the middleman when I registered her! LOL