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Category Archives: Natural Hair Loss Remedies

Onion Juice & Curl Harmony – Week 4 (Final)

30 Jun

This is my final week using both the Onion Juice Treatment and the Curl Harmony Products exclusively. It’s been an interesting month and i’ll give you my verdict in just a little while.

My onion juice treatment was exactly the same as last week. My onions were a little on the small side so i used one and a half onions this time to make sure i had enough juice. I again used the bentonite clay, ACV and essential oils. My head was extremely tingly. Not in an irritated way but in a more cooling way. I left it on for quite a while this time as i had a lot to do. My head emitted a lot of heat but it was fine.

 

Curl Harmony Review

 

I rinsed, cleansed and detangled my hair using the Cleansing Conditioner one section at a time before DC’ing with the Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner, honey and olive oil. There wasn’t enough of the Deep Conditioner left to make a full batch so i added in some of the Hydrating Conditioner. I applied it a section at a time, covered my hair and left it on, again for a while.

I rinsed thoroughly with cool water, towel dried, added leave-in conditioner and Shea Butter Mix and cornrowed my hair into six cornrows, as i was trying out a hairstyle.

 

Onion Juice Rating

PRO’S

  • Easy to get. Onions are very common and so it’s easy to make this treatment.
  • Cheap. Onions are very cheap as they are plentiful.
  • It seems to work. Feeling my nape area, it has grown and gotten bushier over the four weeks. A long term commitment to onion juice might see some dramatic results.

CON’S

  • The smell! Let’s face it. It’s a VERY SMELLY treatment. Even when you’ve rinsed it out you can smell it on your scalp. Even when i added essential oils to it, you could still smell it. Nothing will mask that smell completely even the essential oils did not help. I even felt slightly nauseous when washing my hair the second week. It was that lingering pong that just did it for me. That’s why i added the oils in the third week to try and make it more bearable.
  • Onions make me cry. Juicing the onions was a feet. Not the juicing itself but trying to see what i was doing through stinging and teary eyes. And it doesn’t just stop there. You have to mix it and put it on your scalp and walk around with it for at least half an hour. All whilst your eyes are stinging and teary. You can’t run away from it or open a window to get rid of it. IT’S ON YOUR HEAD. Maybe i’m overly sensitive to onions but this was my plight.

Verdict

The onion juice treatment is a very effective treatment for aiding in scalp stimulation and hair growth. The results i have seen within these short four weeks are very encouraging. I have read that you need to do it for at least six months before you start seeing real results.

Maybe mine was noticeable because of the other things i have done and am doing. For example, i did the cayenne and neem treatment for four weeks which stimulated the scalp and killed any harmful bacteria and fungus lurking on my scalp. So the onion juice had a good base to work from. I’m also taking some supplements: Kelp, Spirulina and Beauty Complex which is a multivitamin and mineral tablet that includes silica and biotin.

I think my hair loss and the continuous battle for it to grow is associated with a hormonal imbalance, my thyroid gland has not worked well for a number of years and having children must have tipped it over the edge, that’s why i’m taking Kelp as this has a great deal of iodine in it to help the thyroid function better and therefore correct my imbalance.

So… If you can tolerate the smell and burning eyes i say go ahead, it’s definitely worth a try. 9/10 – It’s not the perfect solution (it’s stinky and tear jerking) but it works.

Curl Harmony Rating

Curl Harmony products are made for wavy, curly and afro hair types. It’s supposed to be specially formulated to work with curly hair and bring out the best in it. I have to admit i agree. I’ll break this down by product as i used four out of their range.

Shampoo

  • It is pH balanced. I tested it with my pH strips and it measured a 5.
  • It kept my hair very soft and not overly stripped and dry. Even when i used minimal conditioner over it my hair felt good.
  • It’s the best shampoo i’ve used to date. For me, in terms of performance – cleansing my hair and yet leaving it soft, it beat Aubrey’s and Ikove hands down.
  • The consistency is the major downfall of an otherwise excellent product. It’s just too watery and that makes it uneconomical. You waste a lot of it as it slips through your fingers. I had to try and move quickly once i pumped some into my hands.
  • The smell is neither here nor there. It doesn’t smell of much and it would be nice for it to smell of something.

Cleansing Conditioner

  • Nice, thick and creamy conditioner
  • Coats the strands well for an easy detangling session
  • Leaves hair feeling extremely soft and ‘fluffy’.
  • Not entirely sure how cleansing it is. It seemed like a thicker version of the Hydrating Conditioner. It didn’t froth up at all. not even slightly, so it’s just more of a conditioner then a cleansing one.
  • Again the smell is not really present so it smells like plain old conditioner base.

Hydrating Conditioner

  • Didn’t really like it at first as i thought the cleansing conditioner was better. But when i didn’t scrimp with it, it worked very well – detangling easily and conditioning my demanding 4b/a tresses.
  • The consistency is not as thick as the Cleansing Conditioner so it didn’t coat the strands as well. I needed a fair amount to get the best results and again that can be costly
  • This has the strongest smell out of all the products i used. It’s a strange smell, quite sweet and spicy, like cinnamon even. It’s unusual but not unpleasant.

Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner

  • Is very thick. You can hold the tub upside down and  it wont fall out. In consistency, it reminds me of the Jason’s 84% Aloe Vera Conditioner, that too is super thick.
  • It is an OK DC. I wasn’t blown away by it but it worked well enough. Because the shampoo is soft on the hair and hydrating and cleansing conditioners work so well, it’s not required to do much. Even so i would have like a more intense conditioning from it. The honey and olive oil i used with it helped it along.
  • I wouldn’t recommend using it without add-ins. It needs a little kick to get the best out of it.
  • Again the smell is very subtle. It smells nice but not strong enough for me.

Verdict

All in all it is a great system. They all work well and make curly coily hair very soft, tangle free and conditioned. The shampoo is the best i’ve used so far and the conditioners are the best no-‘cone’ conditioners i’ve used to date.

Overall i’m very pleased with how my hair feels. 7/10 is my rating for these products. A few points being deducted for the smell, consistency and the cost, which brings me to my next point.

Do i like this system? Yes. Will i be repurchasing them? No. Let me explain why.

As i’ve said already, i’m very impressed with the performance of the products but the price is very high and the bottles… small. The cheapest of the four products was £9.95 (the Hydrating Conditioner), the most expensive being £13.95 which was the Deep Conditioner. It all cost over £40 for just those four products alone. That is why i was scrimping like crazy. The shampoo is good value i think, but the Cleansing conditioner is just too expensive for me also at £9.95 for 250ml of conditioner. I go through much conditioner when i co-wash and to use that consistently like i would want to will really add-up. I also like to DC every week and that little tub of DC just barely survived a month and that was with me only using 2 teaspoons at a time and stretching it out with honey and oil.

If in the future my circumstances change then i will definitely revisit these products and even make them a staple.

 

What i’m going to do next.

Right now my budget is quite tight and i just can’t afford to keep this up so i’ve decided to go back to my old faithfuls.

For co-washing i’m going back to Herbal Essences Hello Hydration. It’s much cheaper and works fantastically for my hair.

For DC’ing i’m going back to JASON’s 84% Aloe Vera Conditioner. Again much cheaper at only £5.99 for 475ml. Great for when you’re on a budget.

I will continue to use the Curl Harmony Shampoo for a mild shampooing.

I’m going back to my Bentonite Clay Treatment and my Indian Herb Cleanses (My hair misses them greatly). They are so cheap and last very long. A very effective and economical way cleansing and nourishing the hair and scalp.

 

My New (or old) Regime

Week 1 –

  • ACV rinse, Bentonite Clay Treatment & DC
  • Mid-week Co-wash

Week 2 -

  • Shampoo & DC
  • Mid-week Co-wash

Week 3 -

  • Indian Herb Treatment & DC
  • Mid-week Co-wash

Week 4 -

  • Shampoo & DC
  • Mid-week Co-wash

 

That’s all for now. I’m giving my scalp a rest now and going back to my Aloe Vera Gel on the scalp and oil on the hair as my pre-poo treatment before cleansing.

 

 
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Posted by on June 30, 2010 in Bentonite & Rhassoul Clay, Co-Wash, Deep Condition, Hair Care, My Regime, Onion Juice

 

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Onion Juice & Curl Harmony – Week 3

21 Jun

This is my third week using the onion juice treatment and also reviewing the Curl Harmony products.

This week i pretty much did the same thing with the onion juice as i did last week: onion juice, bentonite clay and ACV to balance the pH. This time i also added in some essential oils of Rosemary, Tea-Tree and Eucalyptus. This really made a difference with the smell of the treatment. It helped a lot. You could still smell the onion but the essential oils did mask some of the smell and also added in their own benefits. My scalp was extra tingly and also cool at the same time. It was great. I applied it to my scalp and focused especially on my nape area. I left it on for about 45 mins before washing my hair.

 

Last night i saturated my hair with olive oil in preparation for shampooing, and sectioned it into four large twists. Put a plastic bag on and tied a headscarf over it ready for bed.

Once i was ready to wash my hair i jumped in the shower and rinsed the twists thoroughly before taking down a twist, rinsing that more until all the bentonite had rinsed off. I then took a few pumps of the Creamy Shampoo and smoothed that in gently until it was nice and foamy. I then scrubbed my scalp, using the balls of my fingers. I squeezed off the excess and rubbed in a dab of the Hydrating Conditioner before rinsing out. I then added more hydrating conditioner to the section and detangled carefully with a wide tooth comb followed by my modified Denman brush. I then twisted the section, still with the conditioner in and clipped it up before moving on to the next. Once i had shampooed and detangled all sections i then rinsed out the remaining conditioner with the twists in and towel dried.

The DC was the same as i did last week with, the Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner with added honey and olive oil. I applied it in sections and covered my hair with a plastic bag for about 30 mins. I rinsed out, towel dried, added in some leave-in conditioner and Shea Butter mix before slicking it back in a ponytail and twisting the tail into three twists, pinning it up. I was going to a barbeque so i couldn’t have my usual unsightly large braids that my husband so detests. lol. I had to cover my hair with a black headscarf to look presentable which was fine.

Next week will be my last week with the onion juice treatment and the curl harmony review. I’ll let you know my overall rating/opinion of both then.

 

Take Care.

 

 

 
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Posted by on June 21, 2010 in Bentonite & Rhassoul Clay, Deep Condition, Hair Care, Natural Hair Loss Remedies, Natural Product Brands, Onion Juice, Shampoo

 

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Onion Juice Treatment & Curl Harmony – Week 2

14 Jun

This week i tweaked the onion juice treatment slightly. I also took some pictures of what i did as i said i would in my previous post.

Onion The Onion i used

My Juicer I juiced the onion in my Champion Juicer

Muslin Then strained it through a muslin cloth to get rid of any little bits

Onion Juice Here is the resulting juice

Onion & Bentonite Next i added in some bentonite clay

Mixing And whisked it in until smooth. I used 2 teaspoons in all, adding it in 1/2 a teaspoon at a time.

pH Test The pH of the mix was between 6.5 and 7. This is considered acceptable for hair and scalp usage as it’s the same pH as water… But i wanted to bring the pH a little closer the scalps pH which is between 4.5 –5.5

pH Test with ACV So i decided to add in some ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar). Just a 1/4 teaspoon. That brought the pH right down to between 5 and 5.5. The darkness of the bentonite clay made it hard to read it properly but it was definitely in that range.

Applying HELLO! lol. This is what it looked like once i had applied it to my scalp and hairline.

Plastic Bag I then put a plastic bag over my head (Waitrose this time. ha) and left it on for about 30 – 45 mins

Curl Harmony Review

 

I used the Curl Harmony Cleansing Cream to wash my hair. I started by rinsing my hair thoroughly and then took down one of the sectioned twists. I let the water run through it some more before applying a liberal amount of the cleansing cream to the section. I rubbed my scalp well and massaged it into the ends and rinsed it out. I then applied some more of the Cleansing Conditioner and detangled, first with a wide tooth comb and then with my modified Denman brush. It detangled really well. I was very impressed. I think i like it more than the Hydrating Conditioner. But maybe that’s because i didn’t use enough of it last time. Because of the onion treatment i wasn’t scrimping with the Conditioner as i wanted to rid the smell as much as possible

Shed Hair Shed hair from detangling. I lost a little down the drain but this is most of it.

Cleansing Cond I hope you can see. I wanted to show you how much Cleansing Conditioner i used. I could make it last another 3 washes i think.

After detangling i retwisted the section, still with the conditioner in and repeated the process for the remaining 3 sections. Once i had finished detangling i rinsed my whole head with the twists in to remove the remaining conditioner. I towel dried and then DC’d with the…

CH Deep Cond Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner

Spoonful of DC I took 2 heaped teaspoonfuls of the conditioner and mixed it into some honey and olive oil.

Mixed DC Here’s what it looks like mixed together. Still super thick and creamy. Lovely.

Applying DC I applied it to my hair in sections. Taking down the twist apply the DC and re-twisting. Here’s what it looked like. If you look closely i haven’t applied it to the roots. I didn’t want to coat my scalp with it. I didn’t want any conditioner residue left on my scalp.

I covered my hair with another plastic bag (Tesco’s. ha) and left it on for about 30 mins. I rinsed my hair well under cool water without taking down the twists and towel dried.

Leave-in Cond & Shea Butter Mix My leave-in conditioner and Shea Butter Mix. This will be the first time i’m using it since i made it last week.

Working a section at a time i took down the twist and applied some of the leave-in conditioner and Shea Butter mix and sectioned my hair to ‘butter’ my scalp rubbing that in well. I then cornrowed the section and moved onto the next. My leave-in conditioner is really slippery. I like it. The consistency needs to be adjusted a little to be slightly creamier and thicker in texture. Other than that i’m really pleased.

Hair-Out A section of my hair after applying the products. It’s super shrinky. Look at the difference between the length of the braided section and the loose section.

Cornrows Cornrowed hair, ready to air-dry.

 

Take Care.

 

 
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Posted by on June 14, 2010 in Bentonite & Rhassoul Clay, Co-Wash, Deep Condition, Hair Care, Onion Juice, pH Balance, Pictures Of My Hair, Pre-Poo

 

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Coping With Hair Loss Part 5 – Natural Treatments To Stop Hair Loss

11 Jun

By Kathleen Williams

Natural Treatments To Stop Hair Loss

Before you start treating your hair it is very important that you begin to eat a healthy diet, so that your body gets the proper nutrients to promote hair growth. You should also start doing exercise to reduce stress as stress is also a great culprit causing hair loss.

Natural treatments to stop hair loss include:

Raw onion
Simply get an onion from your kitchen and cut it in two halves. Rub the cut side of the raw onion gently on the affected areas of your scalp. Onion is rich in sulphur which helps a lot to heal the skin and stimulates hair follicle production immensely.

Tomato Paste
Tomatoes are an excellent cure for hair loss. Apply tomato pulp extracted from fresh tomatoes to your scalp and leave it on for half an hour and then wash your hair as usual. Regular use of tomato paste on the hair and scalp on weekly basis can really help to stop the hair fall. Tomato paste also acts as a good conditioner for the hair and bring natural shine to the hair.

Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is a common home remedy for hair loss as it helps the scalp by healing it and balances the PH level of the scalp while cleaning the pores at the same time. Simply massage the roots of your hair with Aloe Vera extract to stop hair fall. Always extract the juice of fresh Aloe Vera leaves for application on hair and scalp. Apply Aloe Vera regularly for a month and your hair will definitely stop falling.

Henna
Henna is a traditional Indian remedy for promoting hair growth. It acts as a natural conditioner and is excellent alternative for colouring hair too. It helps a great deal to seal the cuticles, and protects the hair against breakage and loss of shine. Apply henna thoroughly on your hair twice a week regularly for a month to prevent your hair from falling.

 

Egg Yolks
Egg yolks are very effective in treating the follicles and hair loss can be easily treated by application of egg yolks. Take two egg yolks and add 3 tablespoons of sesame or almond oil along with few drops of lemon juice. Mix thoroughly and apply the egg yolk mix on slightly damp hair. Gently massage your scalp with the egg yolk mix for five minutes and wear a shower cap or simply wrap a dry towel. Let the egg yolk mix sit on your hair for 40 to 45 minutes and then wash you hair as usual. Do this twice a week for a month and your hair loss will reduce immensely.

Practice these home remedies to stop hair loss. You can prevent hair loss by following this golden rule. After every hair wash massage your scalp vigorously for 10 to 12 minutes as this helps to stimulate the blood circulation and also strengthens the hair follicles in the scalp.

More Resources

Listed below are some web links to natural remedies for hair loss. Try these remedies, and I am sure you will be able to stop the hair loss.

http://www.solveyourproblem.com/stop-hair-loss/natural_hair_loss_remedy_saw_palmetto_nettles.shtml

http://www.ehow.com/way_5289838_hair-growth-home-remedy-women.html

http://beauty.indobase.com/hair-care/hair-loss-problem.html

http://www.natural-homeremedies.org/homeremedies-hair-loss.htm

http://www.dailyglow.com/hair-care-tips/natural-remedies-to-regrow-hair-naturally.html

http://www.skincare09.com/articals.php?topid=147

This concludes my series on coping with hair loss. Thank you for reading.

 
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Posted by on June 11, 2010 in Aloe Vera, Guest Authors, Hair Care, Hair Loss, Natural Hair Loss Remedies

 

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Onion Juice and Curl Harmony – Week 1

06 Jun

This week i began my onion juice treatments along with my attempts at using the Curl Harmony products.

I’ll start with the onion juice treatment first.

Onion Juice Treatment

I used a medium sized onion, like that pictured above and juiced it with my Champion Juicer. I got a decent amount of juice out of it. I was quite surprised. Then i had to really think about how i was going to apply it. I know the instructions say apply it neat before washing or mix juice with conditioner and then rinse but none of these would do for me (you must know by now that i don’t follow straight instructions, lol). Applying it neat was too fiddly for me and very wasteful, i thought. I want to get it ALL on my scalp. Not some in my hair, on my shoulders and on the floor. The second method was no good to me either as onion’s don’t exactly smell great and applying it at the last stage and only rinsing it off to finish would leave a really unpleasant oniony scent in my hair. Not good. I wanted to do it as a pre-poo treatment and then follow on by shampooing and conditioning. That way i get the two washes to rid the smell.

Ah, I have it. I decided to add a small amount of bentonite clay to the onion juice to make it pasty enough to apply it directly to the scalp. Good idea no?

I took half a teaspoon at a time and whisked it into the onion juice until it was a thick enough paste to scoop up with my finger. I used two teaspoons in all. Next time i will take some pictures to post.

I applied it to my scalp in sections, re-twisting each section as i went, then tied a plastic bag around my head. I had oiled my hair thoroughly the night before, like i normally do before i shampoo. I had the intention of leaving it on for 30 mins but ended up leaving it on for more like nearly an hour, Oops. No harm done. My scalp wasn’t irritated or anything and the bentonite clay had a nice cooling effect on my scalp. I did notice though that my head emitted a lot of heat. The plastic bag was very hot when i touched it. I think that’s a good thing. It shows a lot of blood circulating around that area so it seemed to have been working.

I then proceeded to wash my hair

 

Curl Harmony Review

I went a section at a time. I started by taking down the twist and rinsing it thoroughly to remove all the bentonite clay and onion juice. I then took a few pumps of the Creamy Shampoo and rubbed that through my hair. The shampoo itself is VERY WATERY. I lost a bit at first as it took me by surprise. I expected it to be slightly thicker (it does say ‘creamy’ on the bottle) and so it ran through my fingers. Once i rubbed it in my hair it lathered pretty well which again surprised me because of the consistency of it. The smell is very subtle. It smells like… shampoo. What else can i say. lol. I scrubbed my scalp using the balls of fingers whilst holding onto the ends of my hair with my other hand so as not to tangle the hair whilst washing. I squeezed off the excess and applied a tiny dab of the Hydrating Conditioner and rubbed that through before rinsing.

My coils felt really soft once i rinsed. It was unusually bouncy (strange isn’t it?). Hmmm, so far so good. I applied a dab more of the hydrating conditioner to the section and retwisted it before moving on to the next and repeating the process. I would normally detangle here but as i wanted conserve the Hydrating Conditioner i omitted this step and detangled after DC’ing instead. I’ll review the Hydrating Conditioner in greater detail on Wednesday when i use it to co-wash.

Once i had washed and twisted all the sections i did one last all-over rinse to remove the rest of the conditioner from my hair, towel dried and then deep conditioned.

Using a teaspoon i scooped out two heaped scoops (economy is key here ya know!) of the Intensive Repair Deep Conditioner into a bowl along with a few squirts of honey and some olive oil. The consistency of the conditioner is SUPER THICK. It reminds me of the Jason’s Aloe Conditioner. Even when mixed in with the honey and oil it maintained a beautifully thick and creamy consistency. It has a pleasant smell which is not strong at all and it doesn’t really linger much once rinsed out which is a shame, i like nice smelling conditioners.

I applied the DC to my hair one section at a time, untwisting, applying, re-twisting and then covered my hair with a plastic bag (Tesco to be precise, lol). I left it on for about 45 mins and then jumped back in the shower to detangle. The conditioner is really thick and as a result would not be great as is for detangling so what i did was undo the twist, wet my hand and scrunch the water through the section to dilute the DC a bit and make it detangler friendly. This definitely did the trick. It was quite easy to detangle my hair which i am super pleased about. I detangled using a wide tooth comb first followed on by the Denman brush to remove the shed hair. Once detangled, i twisted the section again, still with the conditioner in. Repeated that for all the sections, then I finally rinsed it out without taking the twists down under cool running water.

I towel dried, added leave-in conditioner and my Shea butter mix to my hair and scalp and cornrowed my hair into 4 large cornrows to air-dry.

I noticed that my hair was really soft but without feeling coated or filmy. I think all this time i’ve been mistaking coated hair with conditioned hair and maybe that’s why i haven’t been satisfied with other cone-free conditioners. Even so this DC left my hair touchebly soft and ‘cottony’ (in a good way).

I really like the products so far (minus the consistency of the shampoo, but i can live with it). I will have to use it for the rest of the month to make sure it really does my hair well but it’s a great start.

 

 

 
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Posted by on June 6, 2010 in Deep Condition, Hair Care, Natural Hair Loss Remedies, Natural Product Brands, Onion Juice, Pre-Poo, Scalp Issues, Shampoo

 

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