Rhassoul Hair Mask

This clay is my new favourite thing. It's amazing! I have used it a few times now as a face mask, and last night, I decided to try it as a repairing hair mask. Spring is on it's way here, and I guess i'm getting excited for that! Unfortunately, the dry wind here has severely damaged my hair, so I thought i'd give this a go!

I waited till Jaxson went down for the night - this kind of thing is just too hard to do while chasing after a little one!

It took me quite a while to find a recipe for a hair mask that I liked... I don't know why it was so hard! Everything I read was for face or body masks, or for using the clay as shampoo (this will be the next thing I try), and that wasn't what I wanted. I wanted something I could leave in for 30 minutes or so. I finally found this recipe:

• 1/2 c. rhassoul clay
• 1/2 c. warm coconut milk
• 1/4 c. rose water or herbal water (make your own infusion by pouring 2 c. boiling water over 2 tbsp. herbs or flower petals. Allow to steep for 30 minutes and strain.)
• 1/4 c. distilled water (double this amount if no herbal or rose water is used)
• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, or jojoba oil

 Source: momsAWARE

*important note: in the reading that I did last night, I read that you aren't supposed to mix clays with metal.

For simplicity sake, and because I wanted to use it on my face too, I used just mixed the clay with warm coconut milk. I was originally going to do it with just water, but then read that if left on for a long time (which I wanted to do), it can dry out the hair. So coconut milk it was, for extra moisturizing in this cold, dry, Saskatchewan winter!

I changed the recipe above a bit, just to make it more simple. For one thing, I didn't measure anything - I just went by feel. I also didn't use any herbal water - just tap water, coconut milk and olive oil. I think next time i'll try coconut oil, because I love what that does to my hair on it's own, and it's a lighter oil than coconut oil.

So I warmed up 1/2 cup coconut milk and mixed it into the clay. It formed a really nice paste and I applied this to my face and neck. I like using other liquids than water for these face masks, i've decided. With water, it just tightened up too much and was quite painful. With milk and now coconut milk, it's softer and gentler. Beautiful!

I then added about a tbsp of olive oil and enough water to make it quite running and poured this into my hair.

It needed to be watered down so I could get it through my hair!

I massaged that in and spread it right down to the ends and then tied it up. Honestly, I ended up needing Adrian's help with this, because it was really messy and I couldn't get it all over my head without making an awful mess!

Then Adrian and I sat down and watched an episode of Heroes while it dried. I was surprised at how wet the clay still was at the end of the episode, but I think that's a good thing - I think it's better to keep it wet so you can wash it out easier.

I didn't shampoo my hair afterwards, though with this recipe, I think I would next time, just because of the olive oil. My hair feels amazing, but it is pretty greasy today. Immediately, though, I noticed a difference in the feel of my hair! It felt extremely soft and detangled, and had quite a bit of volume! It was lovely. It still feels that way today, even though it is a little oily. I'm really excited to try shampooing with this stuff!