If you’re here for the first time today, this post is part of a week long spa feature. Check here for more info, and don’t forget to enter to win some great spa products!
I mentioned in my facials post that I came across some pretty nasty stuff when researching what people like to use for homemade beauty treatments. There are a few things that I refused to smear on my face, no matter the promised results. Eggs and mayonnaise are on that list. When it came to hair, however, the same main ingredients are used over and over and I realized I just couldn’t hide from them anymore. Too bad cinnamon, sugar, and strawberries don’t make the best hair treatments. The stuff that apparently does?
If these are my best options then I figured what the heck. But if I’m going to rub this stinky stuff on my head, I may as well do it all at once! So behold, my Hair Superfood.
Avocado (a superfood on it’s own) is well known for it’s ability to moisturize hair and add shine and body. It’s high in B vitamins and good for you fats. Eggs add essential protein to strengthen hair and mayo and oil condition and shine.
I honestly expected this to be a disaster, even after shampooing it out. My hair felt weird, but I went ahead and dried it anyway (without any added product). And WOW. It was outrageously soft, dangled, and shiny. I’m a believer and I think I’ll do this once a month now.
Just don’t keep this unlabeled in the fridge or you might have some angry men and a lot of extra tortilla chips.
Sara’s Hair Superfood
I have medium length hair. If yours is long, double this recipe.
1/2 avocado
1 T mayo (not light)
1 t extra virgin olive oil
1 egg yolk
I suggest using a mini food processor if you have one so you end up with a smooth, creamy mixture as opposed to a lumpy chunky one. Because putting avocado, egg, oil and mayo is gross enough, let alone lumpy chunky avocado, egg, oil and mayo. If you’re doing it by hand, just make sure to mash the avocado thoroughly.
Directions: Mixed pureed avocado, mayo, oil and egg yolk until smooth and creamy. You can put it on dry or damp hair. Either way, massage into scalp and comb through hair with fingers or a wide-toothed comb. Put on a shower cap, or use a plastic grocery bag. For extra conditioning, warm with a hair dryer for about 5 minutes. Leave on hair for 20 minutes or longer and then shampoo and condition as normal. This makes enough for one use.
You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned the vinegar yet. Vinegar is great at stripping out residue. Think about how well it works as a natural cleaning product- it does the same thing for your hair. It will work especially well for all you product junkies. You won’t want to over use it, but an occasional rinse will do wonders for your hair. Mine is so much smoother and shinier since I started using it. I’m sure a hair stylist will tell you not to use this on color treated hair, which makes sense. But (good thing my hair stylist doesn’t read my blog*) I use it all the time and it hasn’t affected my color at all. But don’t blame me if yours turns green or something…
*okay, update- see comment in the comment section below from my old hairdresser- she approves! Whew! I feel totally confident now in my superfood creation, lol. She noted the vinegar trick is especially great for swimmers in the summer time. (Thanks Erin!)
Directions: Combine 1/4 C vinegar with 1 C water. I shampoo and rinse my hair first and then pour on the vinegar mixture. I let it sit for a few minutes (while you shave, soap off, use a sugar scrub…) and then condition as usual. Combined with the Superfood above you won’t be able to keep your hands from combing through it all day.
* I should note that my hair is very normal. Not oily, not dry, not thick, not thin, not super curly, not super straight. Just normal. This all works great on my hair, but every treatment will work differently depending on your hair type so I can’t make any promises. In other words, don’t be mad at me if you try this and just end up bothered that you wasted a perfectly good avocado. I swear it worked wonders on my hair!
Other Spa in the Kitchen Features:
Facials
Sugar Scrubs
Questions & Reviews
O.K, not trying to burst any bubbles or freak anyone out, and I’ll try anything once and twice if I like it. BUT I have to tell you that when I was a teenager my stepmother had me put this same recipe in my hair. I must say first that I had oily hair as a teen. It was embarrassing because I would wash it in the morning and by noon it was oily and looked horrible.
Anyways, I tried this exact recipe and and it made my hair worse . For three days my hair was so oily you could almost ring it out. I tried to wash it out the first day. I must have shampooed rinsed and dried my hair five times the first day and three or four times every day after . So I felt compelled to warn anyone with oily hair to maybe not try this. Just to save them the embarrassment.I think it was the mayonnaise but cant be sure of it . Not willing to try it again to find out, even though my hair isn’t oily any more.
Welp. I’m making this right now so we’ll see how this goes. If I’ve colored my hair though should I stay away from the vinegar?
I’m not sure- but I do color my hair and I didn’t have any problems!
I think that this is a great idea.sooth your hair,mousturize your hair.Nothing like a girls spa day.
Vinegar is great for oily hair. Wash & rinse hair. Pour 1-2 cups (depends on length of hair) of vinegar through hair. Rinse with clear water and your done. This is great in the summer time if you want to lighten your hair. It also is a great de tangler as it makes tha hair shaft slick by removing all the extra crap left by shampoo and other hair products.
NOTE: The vinegar smell goes away as the hair dries.
This is also great to use if your kids pick up head lice at school. It makes it much easier to get the nits off the hair as they cannot stick to the slick hair shaft. (I used this trick with my kids when they wound up with lice. it worked great & we did not have to treat again 2 weeks later when the nits would have been hatching.)
am I supposed to do the vinegar rinse before the avocado mask? or after?
So, is this a mixture that I could make a big batch up and keep it labeled in the fridge? OR does it go bad if it’s not used immediately?
What do you consider medium length hair?
Not long and not short 🙂
does it smell some one told me it smells really bad!
It smells like the ingredients that are in it 🙂
Omg! this works sooo well! I tried the vinegar on my hair and it was very quick and easy. It was very convinient and left my hair shiny and soft!
I am going to try this as I have problem HAIR!
Since I compulsively can’t follow a recipe…and I didn’t have avocado…I left the avocado out and doubled the rest. Now that I think about it it’s obvious why that was simply not enough product for my thick, mid-back length hair. Perhaps the avocado makes it easier to distribute through your hair, but with out it you can forget about combing this through. So there are some spots in the bottom half of my hair that are not invited to the party. Now I’m off to wash this out and do a vinegar rinse! I’ll update how it turned out.
ha…i love it….gonna try it…DO NOT do what i did here! makes me laugh everytime i think of it! http://art-moms.com/hp_wordpress/?p=1285
OKAY. This was so fun to do on a boring monday night, plus i have to be honest, it was fun telling my boyfriend “I have green goo on my head” over the phone. Haha, it was awesome. But anyway, I made this in my mini food processor put it in a bowl and then went into the bathroom to wet my hair. So I come back and my mom asks me “What’s the green stuff, its good!” HAHA! I told her what it is and she was totally grossed out! Ohhhh, funny stuff. I love this treatment! My hair was awesome afterwards! I will do this whenever I have avocados on hand.
I LOVE YOU BLOG!:)<3
I tend to use a combo of olive oil and honey, but the avocado and egg make sense to me. Mayo I’d have to go buy. I was thinking just last week that it’s summer and time to treat my hair again before it gets too badly sun damaged.
I am a touch confused – These aren’t ‘stinky’ products at all, not even if you add the mayo. It smells like food (she says as she sits and waits for 20 min)
Hair superfood sounds good to me!
Gotta try this.
Considering how expensive avocado can be here in the midwest, this would be a great treatment if it stored for awhile in the fridge. How long does it keep?
I’ve heard about these kinds of hair masks a lot before but have never tried them. Since they worked well for you, I’ll have to give ’em a go!
This would be perfect for Halloween! Nothing like green hair to scare off the kids.
I would love to try it. I have seen similar recipies but been hesitant because of the smell. Thanks for the tip on the vinegar. I’m going to try it!
Very intriguing…it’s hard to imagine putting that in my hair! But I have really curly hair, so I wonder how well it would work.
That combo does definitely sound gross, but I think you’ve convinced me to try it. I wonder if it would make my hair any less frizzy.
We just got swim passes, and are planning on swimming just about every day this summer. Although this sounds gross, I may just have to try it!
What a fun idea! I’ll let you know if I get brave one time and try it out, lol!
Okay? This sounds interesting? I might try it?
This is exactly what I need! My hair is frizzin out!
I can’t wait to try this!
I think I’ll try it on my daughter, if she’ll let me. Her ringlets make it really hard to comb through and this might help. THANKS!!