Yo-Coco & Honey Mask

My hair has been feeling so fragile lately and after my half mile swim this morning, I knew it was going to need some much needed TLC. Normally after my weekly swim, I’d shampoo my hair which obviously has been stripping it of all it’s wonderful moisture and sheen. It felt brittle, looked dull and was not responding positively to coconut oil anymore.

The lovely Felicia Leatherwood at Curlvolution 2015 advised me to do an Apple Cider Vinegar rinse after my swim. I used to do it prior to my swim to detangle my hair. In retrospect, that made absolutely no sense so thank you Ms Leatherwood.

Now back to my mask…

Ingredients

• 150g Yeo Valley organic greek yoghurt

• 1 tbsp organic honey

• 1 tbsp raw extra virgin coconut oil

I chose Greek yoghurt because of it is high in protein. As you know, hair is made of protein and adding some more to it helps strengthen it when it becomes lifeless like mine was.

Honey is a humectant and draws moisture from the air. I used this as part of my mask as it appeared like I’d lost all moisture in my hair. My mum popped over during this carry on and looked bemused before asking “You’re adding honey to your hair? If we were back in Africa, anch go bet you“. Translation: “you’d be bitten by ants“. Never a dull moment with my mum. Lol.

Coconut oil as you know is one of the oils that can actually moisturise your hair as it penetrates the hair shaft.

Tip: One thing to note is to take your yoghurt out at least an hour before making the mask because coconut oil hardens when it is cold. When mixed with cold yoghurt, it makes the mixture lumpy and it’s harder to apply. I learnt the hard way.

I mixed all the ingredients in a bowl until well blended…well almost. I just relied on my body heat to melt it after application.

Application

I had dry detangled my hair the night before with coconut oil and sectioned into 5 twists. Before swimming, I always wet my hair thoroughly and apply conditioner to leave less room for chlorine to be absorbed when in the pool.

After my swim, I spritzed my scalp with the ACV rinse and massaged it in before applying it to my strands. My ACV rinse is 1 part ACV to 3 parts water. I use bottled water, Highland Spring to be precise. Tap water has tonnes of bacteria. Anyway, I covered my hair with a plastic cap and let sit for a lot longer than 5 minutes whilst I cut and styled my mum’s new hair which she did herself…she did a fab job!

I then rinsed out the ACV before applying the mask to each section going from ends to roots and re-twisting the section. I covered my hair with a plastic cap and then my turbie. I applied the leftover mask onto my face. I kept the mask in for 45 minutes before rinsing out. If I’d gone to the steam room as normal, I’d have been done in 15 minutes. Maybe next week when I won’t be playing kitchen beautician.

I rinsed out the mask from my hair and my hair felt strong and looked shiny. I did a moisturising cowash afterwards and my hair felt fantastic. My face did too. 😊

Please comment if you try this mask. I’d like to know your views. Enjoy!