Monday 25 July 2011

Mixtress Mischief: Kurly Bella's Detangler

I previously mentioned that I used this detangler to take down my braids and I thought I'd write down a little bit about what I did.

One thing about the original recipe on Kurly Bella's site is that there's no amount of water specified on the site.
So I did the usual and winged it.

Ingredients:

250ml (1 cup) of water
1 tablespoon of hibiscus flowers
1.5 tablespoons of marshmallow root
1.5 tablespoons of dried burdock root

I bought many of the raw materials from Anita Grant during my little end of ban splurge.

The hibiscus in the bag came from my local hippy co-operative
I love receiving packages from her - it's like getting a present in the mail from one of your favourite aunts!
Hi Anita!

I started off by putting the water in a pan and bringing it to a gentle simmer, with tiny bubbles everywhere.


I then added the hibiscus flowers, which dyed the water that lovely hue of pink red that is so particular to hibiscus.


I love it, but please be warned that it can seriously stain your clothes and and other materials (like toilet seat covers) really badly and will be the reason I'm losing about 10% of my accommodation deposit.


After simmering for about 5 minutes, I strained the hibiscus tisane into a bowl and added the marshmallow root and burdock roots.


I would later bury the hibiscus flowers in the deepest depths of the night as part of my secret eco-warrior sentiments.

I covered it with some cling film and went off to do something on the computer. We'll pretend it was work, but I was probably blog stalking again.


 After half an hour, I remembered I was doing something in the kitchen and went back to strain out the mixture into a jug.


Filled with curiousity, I sniffed at the assortment of roots tentatively and then recoiled violently.

I will not be doing that again.

When it had cooled, I poured the pink liquid into a 20 fl oz spray bottle for ease of use.


How I used it:

When I was using it to take my braids down, I spritzed the mix liberally over the area I was working on, then used my rat tail comb end to pick out the braid. 

I found it was incredibly useful when it came to slipping out the shed hairs towards the root of the hair without the weird slick greasiness I sometimes get from conditioner, when my finger slips off my hair and I end up thwacking myself in the face various times with the comb and my well conditioned fingers. 

I wish it had made undoing the actual braids easier though *sad face* Despite the fact it wasn't an all round wonder product, it made slipping out the shed hair easy and simple, with a minimal loss of hair.
So I liked it . But I haven't made it again since, because I am lazy. However, now the holidays have started and no-one will employ me, it looks like I have a lot of time on my hands!

Unless you want to employ me. Maybe?

2 comments:

  1. I love that message from Anita Grant...it is so warm.

    I had no idea that hibiscus flower (sorrel in Nigeria) could stain things that bad. Thanks for letting me know.

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  2. It's such a lovely thing to receive with your order, as well as the lovely products.

    The hibiscus tisane rinsed off the tiles well, but I'd somehow managed to get it on the top of the [plastic?] toilet seat as well. I got most of it out, but it left odd grey blue patches all over.

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