Friday 12 August 2011

Mixtress Mischief: Bentonite Baby!

I bought 200g of bentonite clay from Neals Yard Remedies, around the time of the Royal Wedding, because they were doing free shipping over the bank holidays.

Man, I love me some free shipping.

Although you order it in how many quantities of 100g you want, it all just came in one all consuming plastic bag. Better for the environment I guess!




Attempt 1

I actually tried it a while ago, but I'm easily confused and was so used to doing my Cassia and other things with hot water that when I made my horsetail tisane, I simply just added it straight to the bentonite..

...and promptly cooked the clay.



Well, that's what I thought. It's far more likely that I was being extra stingy with the bentonite clay and ended up with a watery mistake. I remember thinking it felt like under cooked porridge.



Ew. I tried to use it but it seemed pretty useless.

The REAL Attempt 1
This time I made no mistake and added my water cold.


I took out 1/2 cup (100-120g) of bentonite clay.


Then I slowly added between 1 and 1.5 cup of water (between 250 - 375ml) of water, mixing slowly with my wooden spoon until a (reasonably) smooth paste was formed.
Mine had quite a few lumps but you know, I thought you either like it or lump it.

I'm sorry. I can't help myself!

When applying, I simple scooped up parts of the mixture, rubbed it gently between my hands to get rid of any lumps, and then added it directly to my hair.

After I finished generously applying the bentonite clay mix to my hair and scalp and bits of my ears, I noted that there was still quite a bit left over.


So I threw it into a plastic bag and stuck it into the freezer.

Then I took advantage of the temporary colour of my hair to dance around the house like a golden oldie.


I was jiving and shaking and being crochety, like a rhuematic James Brown all over the place for the 25 minutes this was in my hair.

Ow! I feel good!
I rinsed it out with warm /tepid water and it didn't take long at all to rinse it out. Halfway through rinsing, I realised that my hair felt a little bit dry, so I decided to nix the idea to see how it felt by itself with no conditioner afterwards. I made sure to condition well with my Tresemmé Naturals conditioner, leaving it on for the full 5 minutes before de-tangling and rinsing.

Then I moisturised with my Giovanni Direct Leave in and my hair butter and twisted my hair up immediately.

My hair felt clean, my scalp was singing and I was content with the results, but I still remembered the drying effect I'd felt in the shower. In my next bentonite experiment I decided to add some aloe vera gel and see how that worked out.

3 comments:

  1. I've got me some bentonite over here too. I tried it on my hair, but as you mentioned, it did feel a bit dry. I kept reading all these rave reviews and I don't remember anyone mentioning (before your post) about this happening. So, I thought it was just me. I'd like to know how the aloe vera works. In fact, I have some of that too. Humm....

    Have you tried it on your face? I love the clay masks.

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  2. All the bentonite clay mixes I've seen, people usually add something moisturising - for example Milan @ a grl can mac has hers here: http://www.agrlcanmac.com/2011/03/mixtress-chronicles-made-my-own-hair.html

    After the drying effect the bentonite clay had on my hair, I was kind of scared to try it on my face >.< I'm one of those girls who doesn't know what skin type she has, except that it's a bit sensitive and prone to change. I don't know if I'm ready to detox my face *cowardly face*

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  3. Weird, I just tried bentonite clay as well this weekend. But I used apple cider vinegar instead of water as the ph of bentonite clay is around 9 and it's better for your hair if to be in a more neutral/acidic environment... and my hair felt great! clean without the squeakiness of shampoo and felt like I could probably use it to detangle my hair as well...

    My mixture was a lot more watery than yours it looks like. I think the next time I try it with coconut milk, although it goes against my slightly anti-mixtress stance (which simply comes down to the fact that I'd rather eat whatever it is than put it on my hair!)

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