I'm making more hair products--this time for styling

I've now gone seven months without using hair relaxer, and I'm still trying to get my hair care products down. I've been using my homemade hair oil and detangler for a while, which work great for softness, moisture and detangling, but do nothing for styling (which is why I'm mostly wearing my hair ponytails and buns these days!).

I found some recipes online for hair gel and curly pudding, which I made yesterday and tried this morning. So far, I like how my hair looks (soft curls, no frizz). Here are the recipes:

Hair gel
1 TBSP whole flax seeds
1 cup water (filtered or distilled)
2 TBSP aloe vera gel
10-20 drops essential oil

Bring water and flax seeds to a boil, stirring often, then reduce heat and simmer until thick, continuing to stir frequently. The recipe I found online said 10 minutes; I simmered it for about 20. Strain out seeds. Add aloe and essential oil (I used sweet orange oil). (Tip: I keep my aloe in the fridge, so I heated it for about 15 seconds in the microwave before adding). Allow to gel overnight. Store in refrigerator.

Curly pudding
2 TBSP shea butter
1/2 TBSP beeswax
2 TBSP pure aloe vera gel
10-20 drops essential oil

Melt shea butter and beeswax in small pan over low heat. Add aloe and essential oil and blend well. Allow to gel overnight.

A couple things here: I couldn't find beeswax. However, I have a honeycomb from a jar of honey that I saved; it still has some honey in the crevises. I addes 1/2 TB of that, so some honey was added to the mix (which is OK; honey can be used on hair). I also think I was supposed to blend the mixture with a blender, not just stir with a spoon. In the morning, the mixture had separated, so I had to stir it again. It was clumpy, but still usable.

This morning, I wet my hair as usual, applied my hair oil and sprayed on detangler, then combed my hair out. I applied the hair gel to my hair from the roots half way down and brushed it in. Then I applied the curly pudding from halfway down to the ends, and raked it through with my fingers. This kept my hair from poufing up near the roots, and allowed it curl up nicely at the ends. It looks good, and maybe it'll look even better when I get the curly pudding recipe right.

The costs for these ingredients are reasonable; Grocery Outlet sells 12 oz. bags of flaxseed for $2.99 (flaxseed should stay refrigerated); at 1 TB per batch (which I will probably make weekly), that should last me at least six months. A 32 oz. bottle of pure aloe vera gel (Lily of the Desert brand) costs about $7 at Super Supplements, and lasts me at least 4 months (I use it for skin as well as hair products). Right now, Super Supplements had Alaffia shea products on sale 50% off, so I bought shea butter there, but at regular price, it's cheaper to purchase online at AAA Shea Butter ($25 for 16 oz., which lasts me a year, being used for skin as well as hair products). A 1 oz. bottle of orange oil is about $3 at Super Supplements, and can last up to a year if used sparingly.

Here are, once more, my hair oil and detangler recipes, as I've modified them some since I first posted about them. When my sister-in-law was here, she tried both my skin and hair recipes and liked them, so I sent her home with some batches.

Daily hair oil/conditioner
2 TBSP extra virgin oil oil
2 TBSP pure aloe vera gel
2 TBSP hair conditioner (I use Trader Joe's TeaTree Tingle Conditioner, $3.99 for 16 oz)
1 TBSP vegetable glycerin (about $6.50 for a 16 oz. bottle at Super Supplements)
10 drops essential oil
water (filtered or distilled)

Add the first four ingredients to a 4 oz. bottle. Add water until the bottle is full. Shake well to blend, and shake before each use.

Detangler
Same recipe as above. Fill an 8 oz. spray bottle 1/3 full with the first four ingredients of the above recipe, then fill the rest of the bottle with water. Shake well to blend, and shake before each use.

Because none of these recipes contain preservatives, I only make small batches, enough to last 1 to 2 weeks. After each batch is done, I wash out the bottles or jars with warm soapy water, then disinfect with hydrogen peroxide.

One additional thought: because this adds a lot more product to my hair, I will probably have to do a baking soda hair wash every few weeks to cleanse out the buildup (in addition to my weekly TeaTree Tingle conditioning wash and apple cider vinegar rinse. See this post for more info).