What Is The "General" Recipe For Making A Conditioner DIY-Style?

Click to Read Queen Ashley's Natural Hair Regimen

Because we dry-haired girls only wash our hair once a week all my DIY Conditioners are designed to be for weekly or twice-weekly use. This makes them a bit stronger and more conditioning than a daily use rinse-off conditioner.

All the ingredients are split into 3 phases:

• Heated oil phase
  
• Heated water phase
  
• Cool-down phase

At a base level, if you have what is called a cationic compound in the right amount, you have a conditioner. So, a very basic daily use conditioner would be:

4% BTMS-50 (the cationic compound)
+ 1% optiphen preservative
+ 95% water

But how bland and dissatisfying would that be - no smellies! I like smellies so I would add fragrance or essential oil to get:

4% BTMS-50 (the cationic compound)
+ 1% optiphen preservative
+ 1% essential oil blend or fragrance oil
+ 94% water

But I have dry hair so I don't condition daily so I would need a more intense conditioner for weekly use so I would bump up the cationic compounds to get:

6-8% BTMS-50 (the cationic compound)
+ 1% optiphen preservative
+ 1% essential oil blend or fragrance oil
+ 90-92% water

But I have VERY dry, tangle-prone hair so I need more than just cationic compounds, I need a fatty alcohol for more moisture and slip plus some carrier oils for greater moisture and nourishment. So I change the formulation to get:

6% BTMS-50 (the cationic compound)
+ 3% cetyl alcohol or cetearyl alcohol
+ 10% carrier oil blend
+ 1% optiphen preservative
+ 1% essential oil blend or fragrance oil
+ 79% water

But that's a lot of water - I'd want something better, something with herbs and extracts that are beneficial to hair moisture, strength, softness.  So I would add an infusion or hydrosol / floral water.

Then I start thinking are there any ingredients that can soften and moisturise my hair further? Perhaps make detangling even easier? And the answer would be, yes, throw in some hydrolysed protein.

As with all kinky-curly hair it's sometimes hard to get it shiny, can any ingredient improve shine? Yep, try adding some silicones or silicone alternatives. Silicones not only help with detangling and softening hair but also boost shine/gloss and a healthy appearance of hair. Plus, they can help you retain moisture for longer, they coat hair and seal it like an oil or butter would.

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You might also like:

• What Are The Best Silicones For People On A Co-Wash Regimen?
• What Are The Advantages And Disadvantages Of Silicones To Natural Hair?
• Water-Soluble Vs. Non-Soluble Silicones Found In Hair Products

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