DIY Conditioner Recipe

I LOVE conditioners but I still haven't perfected my recipes. However, a friend and I got rather close to at least getting something close to an easy to use conditioner.

Don't get me wrong. The other conditioner recipes I have up on this blog are SUPER wonderful. But they are deep conditioners that are messy and require intense shampooing and ACV vinegar rinses after use. I want an amazing DIY conditioner that I can use AFTER shampooing without much worry of an oily scalp.

Here's the recipe we used!

INGREDIENTS
4oz coconut oil infused with sage, thyme, and rosemary
2oz apricot oil
1oz vegetable glycerin (honey would work too)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp vitamin E oil
10 drops of tea tree oil
5 drops of peppermint oil

TOOLS
Wire strainer
Cheesecloth
Small pan
Bowl
Whisk and/or spoon
Bottles for storage
Applicator bottle

Now, if you've ever used DIY conditioners then I bet you're thinking jeeze that's ALL oils!!!

We didn't have emulsifiers and water-oil blends spark bacteria REALLY quickly. So in order to avoid that we decided to follow a different method.

The oils are all stored in a (dark) glass bottles with a a drip bottle. We drip a small amount of oil into another applicator bottle with a nice spout and then fill it with warm water and shake well before applying.

Here's the step-by-step process for making it!!

STEP 1 - Infusing the coconut oil with the herbs!
We used a hot infusion method (stove-top) because we didn't plan ahead much. We put the oil on the heat (low) and then added the herbs. We let them steep in the warm/hot oil for about 45 minutes and then let it cool slightly.

STEP 2 - Strain the herbs
Straining the herbs was a little trickier than usual because of the sage. Sage has very small leaves so many of them slipped through the wire strainer. In order to catch the extra little sage leaves, line the wire strainer with cheesecloth.

Bad lighting.. sorry!

The resulting coconut oil should be nice and green (instead of the usual clear) thanks to the herbal infusion.

STEP 3 - Blend in the other oils and the glycerin
Now you just add the olive oil and apricot seed oil. My friend also added some sweet almond oil to hers but I avoided it because of allergies.

STEP 4 - Add your essential oils (EOs)!
You don't need to add the exact ones we did. Tea tree and mint are nice for your scalp but you can add others if you'd like.

HOW TO USE
Put your oil mixture in a clean and DRY glass bottle. Preferably a dark glass one. Too much light exposure can mess up the potency of the EOs.

Before showering, put about a teaspoon's worth of conditioner into your applicator bottle and then fill the rest with water. Depending on how big your bottle is you may need more or less oil. Just do a trial run first and then determine the ideal oil:water ratio.

You can use this after shampooing and it works great in conjunction with my vinegar hair rinse!

Enjoy! :-)