Since it seems er’body and their momma is throwing down challenges with their hair and skin care regimens, I figured I’d throw one down too and set a two month co-wash and twist gauntlet for myself. With all the hulabaloo concerning the harshness of commercial products (shampoos in particular), as much as I love my Garnier Fructis Wonder Wave combo (which I do have a review for, later)  I decided to give it a rest for awhile and see how my hair would fair with just homemade products.

Since I’d bought three avocados a couple of weeks ago and didn’t want them to spoil, plus having written so many articles on homemade hair care implements that could be used in place of commercial products, today I whipped up a batch of my favourite avocado-coconut milk conditioner (with a few choice additions) and decided it would be my cleanser/conditioner of choice for the next two months.  The recipe is as follows:

3 avocados

1 1/2 cup of coconut milk

1/4 cup of olive, sweet almond, coconut and grapeseed oils (combined, not each)

1/4 cup of honey

1/2 tsp of shea butter

1/2 tsp of sage

Mash the avocado with a potato masher until the avocado is nice and mushed.  Add to blender or food processor along with the other ingredients and blend until it’s nice and smooth; the consistency of a commercial conditioner.  Slather on hair after a warm (not hot) water rinse, cover with a plastic grocery bag (reduce, reuse, recycle) and allow to sit on hair for one half hour to an hour.  Rinse away with cold or tepid water.

Now you may enlist the aid of a hood dryer to give your hair a deep condition treatment if you like, but it’s not necessary.

Where does the twist part come in?  Well, because I am absosmurfly in L-O-V-E with my twist outs now that my hair is short (can you say curl definition for days), and I’m really concerned with the condition of my ends here lately (they feel horrid because I have not trimmed since my BC) I wanted to work with a protective style consistently for awhile to see if it makes any difference. So today, after I’m done with my leisure conditioning treatment, I am going to two-strand twist my tresses and leave them in until Sunday, then rock a twist out for the time that I’m at my work assignment.  The point of the twist out is, to boost my confidence with wearing my natural hair free of my signature bun wraps which aren’t really “bad” for my hair but do keep me in the state of being “ashamed” of showing my natural hair.

NOTE: I am not ashamed of my hair, just not confident in carrying off certain styles.

So here we go.  Starting today no shampoo just my homemade conditioner and two-strands and twist outs as my style.  Let’s see how long I last.

If you want to take up the challenge just comment on this post, send me a tweet me at @jb2me or email at ammichelle@journeyback2me.com and let me know.  I’m interested to see both your progress and mine.

Healthy Hair Wishes,