Coconut cream, Buttermilk and Mayo...

I have always been comfortable with the idea of food in my hair partly because I was introduced to home based food deep conditioners at a very early age. I think I must have been 8 or 9 when I first saw my aunt and older cousin’s mix up avocado and egg for their hair. They believed that it was only suitable for relaxed hair so me and my team natural hair at the time never benefitted from this treatment until I was much older and did it for myself.

The concoctionist in me decided to use buttermilk, coconut cream and mayonnaise this time round using the measurements shown below (varies according to hair length/preference):

¼ cup coconut cream

¼ cup buttermilk

¾ cup regular mayonnaise (edible food mayonnaise not “hair mayonnaise”)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon coconut oil

1 tablespoon honey

Mixed well to get the consistency as thick as possible to avoid dripping, applied on hair covered with a shower cap and left for 45 minutes before rinsing out. Results: soft and shiny hair! This concoction is definitely a staple I absolutely love it! 

Why these three main ingredients?

Coconut oil it is my absolute favourite oil and so I thought why not try the cream as well. Mayonnaise which is basically eggs and oil is a good protein treatment. I already use a milk based product; yoghurt as a DC so using Buttermilk was a no brainer.  I was first introduced to yoghurt for hair by my Ethiopian friend a few years ago.  They also use freshly churned butter to condition hair in Ethiopia. I believe it is the homemade variety made traditionally with milk straight from the cow (i.e. not store bought). Now since I do not have a dairy cow and may probably never own one I think I will just cheat and get my milk cream from the supermarket and use that for my next DC session since butter is essentially milk fat made from the cream that forms on top of boiled full fat milk/whole milk once it’s cooled down. I made my buttermilk at home, just added fresh lemon juice (from fresh lemons) to milk let it sit for 10-15 minutes until it started to thicken and curdle and I had homemade buttermilk.  It’s a good thing all these products come in relatively large quantities so you can always use what you want for your hair and eat, drink or cook with the rest.

I really loved how my hair felt after this treatment especially after the straw like fiasco earlier, wish I could have worn it out longer but I am so not used to this length so off to the braiding salon I went, full on protective styling until it gets back to my regular full SL length and beyond. I normally DC twice a month when my hair is out but seeing as I am currently on protective style mode, I DC once the braids are taken out and again before installing a new set.

DC: Deep Conditioning
SL: Shoulder length