This is a follow-up to the post Improving shampoo.
I finally got around to testing CK's suggestion about using rice bran oil in place of coconut oil. Also, Instead of the 2 shampoo: 1 oil ratio I had suggested in my original post, I went 1:1 this time and to up the ante, pre-oiled my hair too. Results are terrific! At 2 : 1, you are still using too much shampoo, it turns out you can go with much more oil than you think. And remember, I went 1:1 with rice bran oil, which is a much heavier oil than coconut oil. (Halo shampoo, no water used). The conditioning effect with rice bran is markedly superior when compared to coconut oil.
I shook the mix up to form a mango milkshake-y emulsion. There is no oil smell - unlike with coconut oil which smells, well, coconutty, which I kind of liked, but no oil smell is a good thing for work days.
I had pre-oiled my hair rather heavily, so we are talking about a lot of grease here. I had to use the mix twice - first wash, rinse, then wash again. Not much lather the first time, but small, fine lather the second time around. After the final rinse, hair felt slick but not greasy, like after a conditioner.
Hair is dry now, and feels lovely. No grease, but dark, glossy, well-set look, which is what a really good conditioner will do to straight hair. Remember that this was on pre-oiled hair! I think that if you use the mix without oiling your hair first, you'll still get a gentle wash, leading to hair that looks moisturized, but also has bounce and body. It is also possible that to was unoiled hair, you could go with even more oil in the mix. I'll try it out.
But remember, these are proportions for Halo shampoo, which is a regular surfactant based shampoo that I find quite drying on its own (same as sunsilk, pantene and even biotique in my experience). If you are trying this with some other brand of shampoo+conditioner or a very gentle cleanser, you could try and go with lesser oil.
To summarize the differences between using rice bran oil and coconut oil in the mix - with rice bran oil, there is slightly lesser lather. No smell other than the shampoo fragrance. gentler cleaning, softer, silkier hair post-wash.
Where costs are concerned, rice bran oil is probably one of the cheapest vegetable oils out there, retailing at Rs. 70 - 90 per liter.
Rice bran oil is available at all supermarkets, just like sunflower oil, etc.
If you want to try this with other oils, knock yourself out! But comeback and tell us what happened. I'll live up to my promise and try the mix with castor oil, just for kicks :-D
PS: here is another suggestion, also from CK - for itchy scalp, infections or dandruff, add a couple of drops of dettol. Hm! Will certainly try this.
I finally got around to testing CK's suggestion about using rice bran oil in place of coconut oil. Also, Instead of the 2 shampoo: 1 oil ratio I had suggested in my original post, I went 1:1 this time and to up the ante, pre-oiled my hair too. Results are terrific! At 2 : 1, you are still using too much shampoo, it turns out you can go with much more oil than you think. And remember, I went 1:1 with rice bran oil, which is a much heavier oil than coconut oil. (Halo shampoo, no water used). The conditioning effect with rice bran is markedly superior when compared to coconut oil.
I shook the mix up to form a mango milkshake-y emulsion. There is no oil smell - unlike with coconut oil which smells, well, coconutty, which I kind of liked, but no oil smell is a good thing for work days.
I had pre-oiled my hair rather heavily, so we are talking about a lot of grease here. I had to use the mix twice - first wash, rinse, then wash again. Not much lather the first time, but small, fine lather the second time around. After the final rinse, hair felt slick but not greasy, like after a conditioner.
Hair is dry now, and feels lovely. No grease, but dark, glossy, well-set look, which is what a really good conditioner will do to straight hair. Remember that this was on pre-oiled hair! I think that if you use the mix without oiling your hair first, you'll still get a gentle wash, leading to hair that looks moisturized, but also has bounce and body. It is also possible that to was unoiled hair, you could go with even more oil in the mix. I'll try it out.
But remember, these are proportions for Halo shampoo, which is a regular surfactant based shampoo that I find quite drying on its own (same as sunsilk, pantene and even biotique in my experience). If you are trying this with some other brand of shampoo+conditioner or a very gentle cleanser, you could try and go with lesser oil.
To summarize the differences between using rice bran oil and coconut oil in the mix - with rice bran oil, there is slightly lesser lather. No smell other than the shampoo fragrance. gentler cleaning, softer, silkier hair post-wash.
Where costs are concerned, rice bran oil is probably one of the cheapest vegetable oils out there, retailing at Rs. 70 - 90 per liter.
Rice bran oil is available at all supermarkets, just like sunflower oil, etc.
If you want to try this with other oils, knock yourself out! But comeback and tell us what happened. I'll live up to my promise and try the mix with castor oil, just for kicks :-D
PS: here is another suggestion, also from CK - for itchy scalp, infections or dandruff, add a couple of drops of dettol. Hm! Will certainly try this.
dettol? interesting. will try.
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