Natural Hair Conditioner: Daisy's 2 Flaxseed and Aloe Recipes

Hair that is dry and frizzy after blow-drying, colouring or sun needs a different conditioner from hair that goes flat and greasy. Shop conditioners are made for a large group of people. Daisy makes her own in about ten minutes, and one batch lasts her two months. She says they use no silicones, chemicals or artificial fragrance, and the ingredients come from a local kirana store. Below are her two recipes and how she customises them.

Why Daisy skips commercial conditioners

Daisy says her recipes work for curly, wavy or straight hair, including badly damaged hair. She says she tested them many times to get the balance right, especially the first one.

One point she stresses: with chemical conditioners you must keep the product off your scalp. Daisy says hers can touch the scalp and will only nourish it. If you are a working person, she says five minutes on the hair is enough.

Conditioner 1: for damaged hair

This one is for hair hurt by blow-drying, colour or long hours in the sun. The base is flaxseed gel. Half a cup of seeds gives about 10 tablespoons.

Daisy boils the seeds until the gel is thick, but not so thick that straining becomes hard. She strains it while semi-hot through a stocking cloth. A muslin cloth is too thick, she says.

Blend the cooled gel with aloe vera gel, glycerine, coconut cream and cooked rice, as listed in the recipe card. Glycerine is a humectant, a moisture magnet that holds water in the hair. Coconut cream adds good fats and weight. Daisy says very damaged hair needs those fats to repair frizz, so add more cream if yours is badly damaged.

On aloe vera, Daisy says to use fresh gel from the leaf if you can. If you buy it, choose transparent gel. She points out that aloe gel is not naturally green.

For the rice, you can blend it with rice water first and strain out any whole grains. Daisy is “very lazy”, so she blends it straight in with the rest for longer.

Rosemary oil is optional. Daisy calls rosemary a “master cure” for hair growth and says a few drops may help it seep into the follicles. Hibiscus or rose petals add colour and, she says, extra hair benefits.

Conditioner 2: for volume and bounce

Daisy made this one for very oily, flat hair that sticks to the scalp. It has no oily ingredients to weigh hair down, and she says flaxseed gives a lot of bounce.

Start with just three things: flaxseed gel, aloe vera and glycerine. Add rice later if your hair is still too limp. She keeps the glycerine low at first because hair differs. Very frizzy or damaged hair will want more.

When you use it, keep it on longer. Daisy says the more time it stays, the more bounce you get.

How to customise your batch

Make a small batch first. Daisy says you will then know what to add or cut.

• More moisture: add glycerine and coconut cream.
• More bounce: add more flaxseed gel and more rice.
• Very limp hair: add rice to the second recipe.

Daisy keeps both kinds of cubes in her fridge. She uses the first after long bike rides in the sun, when she wants nourishment more than bounce. She uses the second before a party or event.

Which conditioner should you start with?

Pick by your hair’s biggest problem today, not by hair type alone. If your ends are rough, frizzy or sun-struck, start with the repair version. If your hair is oily at the roots and falls flat, start with the bounce version.

Daisy keeps both in ice trays in her fridge: a repair cube after hard sun or a bike ride, a bounce cube before an event. After a few batches, she says you become “a master” of your own blend, one that no brand can match because brands design for a crowd.

She also says more natural hair recipes are coming, including hair colour, hair gels and collagen blends. She has used such recipes for decades and says they are not talked about much.

What research says

Research on these homemade mixes is limited, and studies of flaxseed gel on hair are hard to find. Daisy’s results come from her own use over many years.

Two ingredients have some support. A trial of 100 people with pattern hair loss compared rosemary oil with 2% minoxidil. Both groups saw more hair after six months (Panahi et al.). Note that this used rosemary oil on the scalp for six months, not three drops in a conditioner. Glycerol is a well-known humectant in skincare, though the study cited here tested skin, not hair (Meyer et al.).

Daisy’s tips

• Warm a cube only enough to use it. Daisy adds that overheating it is a mistake.
• Reuse the boiled flaxseeds 3 to 4 times, boiling longer each time. Afterwards, add them to plant soil.
• Store the conditioner in large ice trays and take out about 2 cubes per wash.
• Do a patch test first if your skin is sensitive, especially before adding rosemary oil.
• Tell Daisy in the comments how it worked for you and what you changed.

Daisy shows both recipes in the video above. It takes about 11 minutes.