Going natural opens a whole new world to one. I started off with my hair. Simply decided, no more chemicals in my hair. Period. Been exactly 18 months since I put the last relaxer in my hair. Well, it was a texturizer, but it fried my hair bone straight. I still remember returning home with thin wisps of limp and lifeless strands plastered to my head. I refuse to have a roller set after the relaxer was washed out. I had expected just a slight loosening of my curl pattern with the texturizer, but met with bone straight hair. That upset me, I left the salon without even going under the drier.
My regret was had I known then what I now know about hair care, I would not have relaxed my hair 18 months ago. By now I would be at least 2 years post relaxer. Oh well, better late than never I guess.
I only wish I could wear out my hair in its natural state more than I do now. I guess I will get there one of these days. For now it seems my hair is always in some form of protective style or the other.
My experiments with d.i.y. beauty products started only recently. Actually January this year. I wondered why I had to spend so much money buying store made products that frankly, didn’t do anything fantastic to my hair and skin. Why not just use the main ingredients in the raw form which the commercial products had and see what happened? Was my thinking.
To begin the home lab, like I call it, I invested in
1. a hand mixer,
2. a glass bowl,
3. assorted measuring spoons,
4. Assorted measuring cups,
5. A funnel set,
6. Sieve set and
7. storage containers.
That was all as far as equipment is concerned.
As for ingredients, I got raw African sheabutter, cocoa butter and a variety of organic oils. Voila!, I was all ready to be a kitchen mixtress.
Thanks to Youtube, I did a lot of research on ‘how to’ online. Naptural85, heyfranhey, kimmaytube and neffyfrofro were channels I watched. By no means were these the only channels, I could go on and on listing the channels, but then, you might just stop reading, eh?
The first product I made was body butter. I used raw sheabutter which I bought at a local Lagos market, and just tossed in a number of oils. Well, the verdict was that it smelt awful. Not sure if it was the shea butter or the oils I added. For a first time, the results were not so bad.
I then made hair butter. Cocoa butter and sheabutter, and a variety of oils. Verdict…..the hair butter smelt nicer than the body butter. Methinks the cocoa butter was the trick. I made litte quantities in January, and it finished quite quickly.
I have since improved on the quality of the butters I make. It’s been 3 months since I started using my homemade body and hair butters. My skin loves the butters. My hair is tucked away under a weave, so can’t say much for the hair. But my skin is in love with the homemade stuff. Its sayo nara to store bought moisturizers and butters for me. I have since found good sources for getting raw sheabutter here in Lagos.
Other products I make myself and have been using are:
1. Bath soap (using African black soap as a base)
2. Shower gel
3. Body spray
4. Deodorant
5. Facial toner
6. Face powder
Things I am hoping to start making soon
1. eye cream/gel and
2. lip balm
3. Mascara
4. Eye shadow
5. Nail polish
Here in Lagos, it’s difficult to get beeswax. Not sure the store sales people even know what it is. Maybe I could substitute cocoa butter for beeswax in the recipes , dunno, will check.
What started as a hobby (d.i.y products) is fast turning into a lifestyle change. And not a bad one at that.
Frankly, with all the pollution in the air we breathe in, the fewer chemicals we put on our skin and hair the better.
Yesterday, I was dog tired and wasn’t able to wash my face before bed time. Guess what, didn’t bother me much cos, everything I had put on my face throughout the day was stuff that can be eaten. How cool is that?
My motto is if you can’t put it in your mouth, don’t put it on you skin. Cool or what?
Definitely loving going natural!!!
Till next time,
xoxo
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