D-I-Y Nappturaliciously: Mixtress Magic - Curl Recipes from NaturallyCurly.com

When I worked at Carol's Daughter years ago (in their Customer Service department), I had a few opportunities to chat with Founder Lisa Price. She's a very sweet, and down-to-earth woman, who knows her sugar-honey-iced-tea when it comes to the D-I-Y approach to hair care!

Because of this, I was not surprised in the least when I read on NaturallyCurly.com that they had partnered with Carol's Daughter to provide a one stop shop for a bit of Mixtress Magic on Demand!!! Not only does Lisa share some of her favorite recipes, but readers are invited to add their own!!! Here are a few of my favorites:

Hair Rinse

This rinse is ideal to boost shine and soothe the scalp. Made with chamomile flowers and lavender it's as beautifying as it is relaxing.

Ingredients:

2 cups water
Chamomile Flowers (handful)
Lavender Buds (handful)
Fresh Peppermint Leaves (small bunch)
Chopped Fresh Parsley (small bunch)
1 large Lemon
Chopped Rosemary (small bunch)
10 drops of rose geranium essential oil

Directions:

Chop herbs and flowers and place in 2 cups of water. Squeeze lemon and add juice. Boil and let cool. Strain mixture to separate water Pour throughout hair after cleansing and conditioning. Do not rinse out. Style as usual May also be placed in the fridge in a spray bottle to freshen curls in between shampoos.

Scalp Exfoliating Treatment

These are one of my favorite recipes to make. Outside of it smelling good enough to eat, its fun to make. In order to have healthy hair, you have to start with a healthy scalp. I like using sugar for the scalp because its gentler than salt.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. Brown Sugar
1/4 c. Coconut Milk
2 Tbsp Grated Coconut
2 Tbsp. Honey
Lemon Zest from 1 Lemon
Oil Elixir:
2 Tbsp Sunflower seed oil
2 Tbsp Soy oil
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 drops of lemongrass, grapefruit and geranium essential oil

Directions:

1. Empty dry contents into a bowl 2. With a spoon, stir together and mash any clumps of brown sugar 3. Stir in coconut milk and honey 4. Once thoroughly mixed, slowly stir in 2 tablespoons of the Oil Elixir.

Key Tips for Mixtresses from Lisa Price

1. Always write down exactly what you do when you make a recipe, even if it's rough notes. It can be annoying because you want to be creative and grab things, but if it comes out glorious and you can’t remember what you did it's hard to recreate steps. If it comes out horrible, you can figure what went wrong and fix it.

2. Never be afraid to experiment. If it sounds interesting, go for it.

3. Two of my staples are shea butter and cocoa butter; they are like butter and eggs. You can make a cake without them, but it’s not going to be as good. There’s simply a texture and richness that the combo of shea butter and cocoa butter brings to things.

4. When it comes to oils, opt for ones that don't have a heavy odor associated with them. You can blend them and not have the base oil interfere with the fragrance. Some good oils to work with are wheat germ oil, coconut oil and macadamia oil. You get effectiveness without weight.

5. If you're a new mixtress, avoid recipes with glycerin. It tends to be sticky and tacky, which can be challenging.

6. If you're working with a recipe containing bananas and avocados, it needs to be used right away. Even if you're putting it in the refrigerator, it can turn bad too quickly.

7. A lot of times people think they can infuse fragrance from real flowers, but buying botanical oils are cheaper. It takes about 4,000 pounds of rose petals to distill one ounce of attar of rose (essential oil of rose).

8. Some of the easiest recipes for beginning mixtresses include hair oils, scalp exfoliation treatments and herbal rinses.

9. If you’re making products as gifts or to sell, you need to disclose ingredients on the label. You never know what somebody’s allergic to.

10. Some good books for beginning mixtresses include:


"The Art of Aromatherapy: The Healing and Beautifying Properties of the Essential Oils of Flowers and Herbs" by Robert Tisserand


"Aromatherapy Book: Inhalations and Applications"by Jeanne Rose


"Aromatherapy Workbook" by Marcel Lavabre

To check out all of the recipes, be sure to visit the Curl Recipes homepage at NaturallyCurly.com