Moisture. Strength. Growth. Detox. Whatever you need from a mask you’ve picked your base to tackle that, and your add-ons will give you a boost for not only adding strength or improving growth results but also to help with shine and removing impurities. We’ve chosen a few of our team’s favorite add-ons to share with you below.
Essential Oils (Rosemary, Lavender, Lemon, Ylang Ylang, Tea Tree, Clary Sage, and Geranium) The time for essential oils is now because there are a ton of health and beauty benefits these babies offer. Many of these essential oils listed can improve the texture of your hair and give you a more youthful scalp when added to your daily shampoos and DIY hair masks. If you are someone who washes their hair daily, you may find you experience an itchy scalp so something like rosemary and lavender will fix that issue. A great alternative to this is a botanical conditioner like the NuMe White Truffle Conditioner.
Ylang Ylang is a combination oil to enhance the effects of growth and moisturizing components of Tea Tree and Clary Sage. Tea Tree is the king of cellular repair, which means that dead skin responsible for clogging pores in your scalp -- that can lead to inflammation -- are wiped clean. If you’re looking to balance pH naturally, then add a little Geranium Oil into the mix. Remember you don’t need much, and a few drops go a long way.
Banana can save your hair from split ends and soothe a dry, irritated scalp. For women who are in their 30s and up, anything you can do to replace the loss of natural collagen and protein in your hair is great. As we age our hair tends to become thin and weak when brushing and styling, so it can break easily. Banana can put some bounce back in your hair so that it’s more elastic and resistant to breakage or split ends. Not to mention, adding banana makes the mask smell like pancakes and adds shine from all the natural oils. Banana offers a high concentration of vitamins including B6, B12, and magnesium which support healthy hair growth.
Avocado is a natural volumizer when added to your base of choice. So ladies and gents with fine hair can benefit from the bounce it provides. A, C, D and K vitamins, amino acids, iron, B6, and magnesium add strength and thickness to hair follicles. Avocado coats your hair for protection from UVA and UVB rays, as well as from pollution and heat styling.
Oats are magical because they’re great for both topical applications and internally to balance your diet. Remember oatmeal baths when you had chickenpox as a kid and how good it felt? That’s because oats soothe irritated skin and can help put moisture back into your tissues, especially in hair. Adding oatmeal to the base of your hair mask can reduce dandruff, lock in moisture, and improve texture.
Lemon is a natural lightening additive, so if you’ve got color-treated hair skip this one. Adding lemon to a quick leave-in conditioner can brighten your hair for the coming summer months. Lemon juice can act as a clarifying ingredient for a deeper cleanse -- it can purify pores, pull excess oils from oily scalps, and stimulate hair growth.
*One add-on we don’t recommend that you’ll find in surprisingly a lot of DIY beauty creams (especially for skin care) is cinnamon powder. Cinnamon is an irritant, so if you have sensitive skin or scalp, please steer clear.
Now it’s time to get crafty and customize your hair mask, by cocktailing these common ingredients and letting us know what you find useful. And as always, know your skin before you apply anything to it -- spot tests are a great way to figure this out beforehand. Those of you who need a deep repair session now, check out our hair care for gorgeous hairstyles.