I didn't know that! Me, too! I started January 7th, 2023 and have been consistent for the entire year. @snoop hooked me up and gave me a recipe that she was developing at the time. I didn't have a clue about how to use clays let alone figure out a recipe. I came to clay out of desperation. My ends were sticky ate-up. I had no idea that shampoo was the culprit.I'm a Clay-er and a Cleanser. However, I do use a mild when 'Poo (per the instructions when using K18)
Be careful with the skin of the aloe plant as it can be (not automatically for everyone) an irritant along with the yellow liquid within the plant. I would suggest you do a patch test to avoid any possible set-backs when you decide to incorporate the skin in your processes.I used @Chicoro 's moisture drenched pre-poo recipe as the actual wash yesterday. I was under the impression that aloe contains saponin in it, however, a quick google search just now tells me that most of the saponin can be found in the skin. Next time I'm going to blend and strain the entire leaf and wash my hair with it. My hair feels soft and looks and feels much better than it did before. I still need to do some scalp exfoliation, but I might just use Inkey List scalp scrub on my next wash.
I also picked up two jars of apple sauce baby food today. Apple sauce supposedly is used to remove sebum from hair. While I don't want to completely strip mine, removing some might help add a bit of sheen to my hair. Since I'm all about one-stop shopping, I'll most likely add it to a clay mask and see what happens.
I will say, that my hair really likes hot water and long hot detangling sessions in the shower (using my fingers) has helped my hair to clump and also not to mesh when wearing twists for a long time. I just finshed two months in mini twists and taking them down was a breeze, where before two weeks would have my hair meshing. I think that 1, these detangling sessions have trained my strands to stay more uniform downward instead of frizzing out. This helps when I'm twisting my hair since I don't use a comb or any products other than water to make my twists. 2. I'm getting good sebum and oil coverage along my strands. This keeps my hair from acting like velcro and meshing on itself. I would describe my hair as cottony, but after a nice long water sesson, the surface of my hair feels smoother than it used to. I feel like I'm doing a very SLOW version of the The Wolfganglisborg Method.
Be careful with the skin of the aloe plant as it can be (not automatically for everyone) an irritant along with the yellow liquid within the plant. I would suggest you do a patch test to avoid any possible set-backs when you decide to incorporate the skin in your processes.
I just cut the plant leaf, stand it up on a plate, with the tip up and the exposed flesh at the cut point is exposed, and let it drain. It works like a charm.I'm looking into this further now.
Someone on another online forum mentioned that they found that the younger plants (shorter leaves) tend to have more of the yellow liquid in them and that they tend to be more irritating.
I'm going to keep this in mind going forward. If I'm being good with my time, I soak the aloe vera for 30 min, drain the water, then soak overnight. Otherwise, I try for at least 30 min. I should start testing on paper the amount of aloin coming out of the leaf after soaking.
I just cut the plant leaf, stand it up on a plate, with the tip up and the exposed flesh at the cut point is exposed, and let it drain. It works like a charm.
No water. No irritation. No soaking.Ahh... no water in this process? I should try this. I've been doing it in water, but I've never been sure if I'm leeching out nutrients while adding water into the leaf.