Frugal Snob: Homemade Hair Masks

I'm pretty much the last person to mix-up my own hair mask -- why would I when Kerastase makes such fabulous ones!? Note that I'm fairly lazy when it comes to self-made remedies and usually the only thing you'll find in my kitchen is some cereal, milk, water, and lots of take-out menus (o the joys of living in NYC! Luckily my bf loves to cook so my kitchen is not a complete waste of space). I was very intrigued however when Kattia Solano, the owner of Butterfly Studio Salon who stocks only Kerastase and Shu Uemura at her hair salon, revealed that she had two fab recipes for homemade hair masks -- one for a dry scalp and one for an oily scalp. If a woman who has so many wonderful face masks at her fingertips sometimes opts for her own homemade concoctions, I say that's a frugal snob find at its best! See Solano's recipes below!

Dry Scalp Recipe

¼ cup Avocado Oil infused with fresh Rosemary
1 tablespoon of Rosemary Essential Oil
1 tablespoon of Tea tree oil

Mix avocado oil, rosemary and tea tree oil in a spray bottle. Warm up a cup of water, place bottle in cup of water for 5 min to warm the oil. Add a few sprays of mixture in small sections on the scalp. Continue to rub through entire scalp, massage for about 5 minutes. Leave on for 30 minutes or overnight. Follow with a good shampoo and conditioner; recommended twice a week.

Oily Scalp Recipe

¼ of White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 whole lemon
Lemon peel
Essential lavender oil
Sweet orange oil

Mix vinegar, with juice of the lemon. Scrape lemon zest in mixture and let soak for 5-10minutes. Remove the zest and add ½ teaspoon of lavender oil and ½ teaspoon of sweet orange oil. Mix well in a spray bottle. Take sections of hair and apply mixture throughout the scalp. Massage mixture on scalp for 5 minutes. Leave in for 15-20 minutes. Rinse out and follow with a nice shampoo and conditioner on ends only; recommended twice a week.

3 Comments

suzanne choe | July 7, 2009 3:52 PM | Reply

at first I got excited about making my own hair and skincare a la Carol's daughter and the like. But after adding up my shopping cart of oils, essential oils, shea butter, etc... I was like, I might as well just buy a ready made product!

I like the novelty of DIY but in the end it was not a frugal bargain for me.
Sharon | July 7, 2009 5:03 PM | Reply

I agree that some of the ingredients are not the cheapest (though most are available in small bottles), this is frugal find though if you make a bigger batch especially considering that many of the leading hair masks go for $60 for a small container...
Caroline | July 11, 2009 9:26 AM | Reply

I love this! Thanks so much for the natural suggestion on hair. I am currently trying to replace my cosmetics, shampoos, soaps etc for natural ones! My most recent find is Topricin foot cream and I love it! It helps my tired and sore feet...nothing like a good pedi! Anyway- I need some hair and makeup stuff now and I appreciate your homemade recipe for hair! Great Job! smilinggreenmom (tweet me!)