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| Beautiful cacao pods! |
The cocoa as dry shampoo worked so well, I decided to put it in my hair mask.
This one is for brunettes.
My objectives were:
- rich brown color
- cover grays
- volumize!
Here's the recipe:
2 tablespoons each of bladderwrack, clay, and clove powder
1/4 cup dark brown henna
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tablespoons molasses
boiling water
Put water in/on to boil.
Mix everything except the water together in a heat-safe bowl.
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| Everything but the water! |
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| Everything! |
Add the water slowly, stirring your mixture, until it forms a paste. I like mine to be on the wet side, a loose paste, so I can put it on dry hair.
Slather the mixture onto your hair, making sure to saturate every single strand.
Cover with a plastic bag or shower cap. Let it sit for at least one hour. This time, I let it sit for almost 3 hours! O yes I did!
And here's how it turned out! I'm pleased, I think.
The color was great. I'm not sure exactly how much influence the cocoa had on the color, though, because it came out pretty much the same color as usual. Maybe a softer brown? I want the cocoa to have done something! But I just don't know.
The texture was a little strange. It was fly-away at first, but then it calmed down. It had a slightly coarse texture. Not unpleasant, and not bad looking. It gave my hair volume. I really liked that.
It's been about 3 days and it's still clean and shiny. This is good for all the no-pooers out there who want their hair to look good for more than one day after cleaning it! Like me!!!
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| loving this color. |
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| In this picture you can see exactly where the healthy hair begins (around the top of the ear and up) and the old, damaged hair below it. Look at all the split ends at the bottom half of my hair. That's the old growth from before I started treating my hair with organic shampoo, vinegar rinses, and these hair masks. It's really amazing what a difference it makes. |
I'm curious to know the effect cocoa has on our hair.
First of all, cocoa powder is made up of all the low-fat constituents of the cocoa bean. The pH ranges from 5.4 to 8.1. Light brown powders are the least alkaline, border on neutral at between 5.4 to 5.8. Darker powders are more alkaline, at 6.8 to 7.2. The reddish brown powders are the most alkaline, at 7.5 to 8.1. You don't want anything too alkaline on your scalp, so stick to the lighter cocoa powders.
Cocoa powder contains calcium, copper, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc, and other minerals. The powder contains caffeine and theobromine.The powder is rich in flavinoids. If it's not heavily processed, the powder can contain up to 10 percent of its weight in flavinoids!
All these constituents are great for your scalp. They also provide an antibacterial environment for the scalp and hair, which is good. I wish I had more time to research the exact mechanisms...
I still can't find out whether the cocoa powder stays in the hair by coating each shaft. It kind of feels like it. I need a microscope!
If you want, you can purchase my hair mask at MIRI and then add the cocoa to it.
YAY!!!!
