the best curl definer (and maker) Ive ever used

unique1193

I was at whole foods about a week ago and and i got a bunch of different things i thought i could use for hair. So of course when i came home i start mixing up concotions and testing them and having a good time. lol. anyway, I ended up making an amazing curl definer. I've been using it for about week now, and it hasnt failed to put lots of wave into my straight-haired roots. So I figured I'd put up the recipe for all curly girls :

Ingredients:
half a cup of warm water
2 tablespoons epsom salt
1.5 teaspoons jojoba oil

Just mix it in a bowl or cup and wait till the epsom salt is close to being fully dissolved. Then just pour it into a spray bottle, and use!
Hopefully you guys like it :]

Suburbanbushbabe

Hey, all I need is the epsom salts. This sounds better than glycerin based sprays...I'll try it. May not work on my hair though -- every commerical curl-reviving spray I've tried on dry hair has been a frizz-reviver instead

ETA - and this one did too I officially give up on curl-reviving sprays. One less area for my PJ to act out.

wild_sasparilla

Fantastic! Now I really want to get to the store...meh. Well, anyway, I have waves with some ringlets too, and this sounds great!

Do you think another oil would work?

unique1193

Karenmc3 wrote:

Hey, all I need is the epsom salts. This sounds better than glycerin based sprays...I'll try it. May not work on my hair though -- every commerical curl-reviving spray I've tried on dry hair has been a frizz-reviver instead

ETA - and this one did too I officially give up on curl-reviving sprays. One less area for my PJ to act out.

aww Im sorry :[ why dont you try playing around with the amount of salt and jojoba? When I first made my spray I put WAY too much salt in the mix for my hair and I was a frizzball. But when i lowered it to fit my hair, it actually started taking frizz away from my hair. weird, but good. :]

unique1193

wild_sasparilla wrote:

Fantastic! Now I really want to get to the store...meh. Well, anyway, I have waves with some ringlets too, and this sounds great!

Do you think another oil would work?

definitley as long as it moisturizes. Ive found that a moisturizing oil helps balance out the drying properties of the salt.
Good luck with making it :]

sherry7899

Hi,

I just made some, and it worked! I had to add a little extra epsom salt.

Two questions, please:

does epsom salt dry out your hair?
does this need to be refrigerated, or should it be okay kept in the bathroom?

I'm going to try it tomorrow morning for second day hair. It would save me so much money if this consistently works!

Thank you-
Sherry

RedheadCurly2007

I was wondering the same thing about epsom salt. I was considering using some today, ironically I came accross this great curl definer concoction. I, myself, was feeling like an Einstein Mad Hair Scientist while I was cooking my homade spray gel from CG. LOL Fun Fun Fun

parcipany

I just strated playing aroung with epsom salt myself and having great results. Originally I started making the "Homemade All in One Spray" but needed to make moderations by getting rid of the conditioner (it made my hair fluffy). However, the salt is giving me really great curls!

katethegreat

Does the epsom salt actually make your hair curlier, or just better defined?

HalfWavyHalfCurly

For me it does both. Since I have fine hair I have to use WAY less E.S. and no oil. I had not noticed this thread so I put the plain recipe under "Epsom Salt Rinse" with suggestions for variations (I used honey in mine).

Ideally it should be made with distilled water and kept in the fridge. The container and all ingredients would have to be completely sterile (and who can do that!) for any homemade recipe to be kept out without refrigeration even for a few days.

System

del.

jeepcurlygurl

Suburbanbushbabe wrote:

Hey, all I need is the epsom salts. This sounds better than glycerin based sprays...I'll try it. May not work on my hair though -- every commerical curl-reviving spray I've tried on dry hair has been a frizz-reviver instead

ETA - and this one did too I officially give up on curl-reviving sprays. One less area for my PJ to act out.

I can't use sprays either. Frizz city. What I do is put this (or any other spray concoction) in a cup and pour it over my wet hair as a final rinse, before adding my gel.

HalfWavyHalfCurly

I really prefer to use it that way too but right now I'm using a home made flax seed gel to which I added the E.s. and it's working pretty well for me.

flcurly

HalfWavyHalfCurly

How much epsom salt do you put into your aloe gel? How much would you put into 1 cup of aloe gel?

Thanks

Currently I'll put into 1 cup of aloe gel 2 drops of agave nectar (for hold) and 1 drop of glycerin (for shine/moisture).

HalfWavyHalfCurly

What I'm using is not aloe gel, it's flax seed gel. I started out with 3/4 tsp. E.s. for the 1 C. of flax gel the recipe makes and it didn't do much so I added more after reading the minimum total amount of salts in the spray was 2 tsp., but then it was too much for me (my hair looked dull and didn't feel right) so I had to fix a little more gel to dilute it. So I would guess somewhere between 1 and 1 1/2 tsp. would be about right.

But since you mentioned AVG, I have to add that twice I mixed the FSG with FOTE AVG and honey and those were the very best days, my hair looked and behaved as well as with any store-bought gel and I had no trouble getting 2nd day hair. I hear agave works even better than honey so this could be a real winner for you.

Sacristia

I tried the curling spray recipe and it works good, but it is making my hair dry and crunchy feeling so I think it has to do with too much Epsom salt and not enough oil. As well it might be the winter air too. I am working on it because I would love to use this instead of having to buy a $4.00 bottle of the expensive stuff.

Thank you so much for the recipe. )

Sacristia

I tried the curling spray recipe and it works good, but it is making my hair dry and crunchy feeling so I think it has to do with too much Epsom salt and not enough oil. As well it might be the winter air too. I am working on it because I would love to use this instead of having to buy a $4.00 bottle of the expensive stuff.

Thank you so much for the recipe. )

flcurly

Halfwavyhalfcurly....

Thanks for your reply. Sorry I meant flax seed gel. What I tried today was this and had fantastic results!

2/3 cup flax seed gel
1/4 teaspoon epsom salt
2 drops agave nectar
2 drops infusium conditioner
1 drop rose fragrance oil
Shake vigorously!

I scrunched the above into wet hair, plopped for 10 minutes, and used my ionic drier on low for approx. 20 minutes. Got good curl formation, minimal crunch. Really happy with this new concoction!

HalfWavyHalfCurly

Sacristia:

Reduce the E.s., apparently it's too much for your hair, especially right now as you pointed out. Also, maybe during the winter you should try a variation of the "All In One" recipe (no gel) which basically is adding a teaspoon of CO to the spray (besides a few drops of oil). Some people prefer using vegetable glycerin instead of oil, supposedly it adds shine and moisturizes as well.

flcurly:

That sounds good! I've heard agave works even better than honey . It's really cool when we can find something that does the job, costs so little and is also easy to make!

jersey8

I'm assuming it probably wouldn't be best to use table salt, right? I've been looking for epsom salt and have been unable to find it.

flcurly

You can find epsom salt at Wal-Mart in their pharmacy area. It is about $2 for a half gallon size container. I think CVS & Walgreens also carries it. Hope this helps.

jersey8

I was actually at Walgreens. I couldn't find it in the beauty section, so I asked and the lady told me it was with the regular salt. ...And it wasn't. But I found some at the grocery.

jujucabana

i'm scared of using salt in my hair ...but i will try it bcause all of the advice in these boards has been great for my hair.

HalfWavyHalfCurly

jersey8 wrote:

I was actually at Walgreens. I couldn't find it in the beauty section, so I asked and the lady told me it was with the regular salt. ...And it wasn't. But I found some at the grocery.

For next time: Epsom salt is usually kept in the pharmaceutical section, near the bandages and wound healing ointments and such at my local Walgreen's. The Dollar Tree also sells it (and other dollar stores) in their "Health" section.

chandistarr

Does anyone know how long this recipe lasts in the fridge? I wonder if adding some grapefruit seed extract would make it last out of the fridge?

kcc

This thread has inspired me! I'm going to Whole Foods tomorrow to get jojoba eo and epsom salt! I've been missing John Frieda's Sea Salt Spray. Does anyone think this is similar?

GrecianCurls

i really wouldn't use table salt!! Have you tried a pharmacy (sorry... drug store if you're in the states)... its also used as a remedy for muscle pain and occassional constipation!

Tasharella

Would any kind of sea salt work for this? Could I use bath salts? I found a cool lavender bath salt that smells awesome and we be cool if I could use it.

chandistarr

Is this used on soaking wet hair as a rinse and then is gel used after the hair has been dried a little with a microfiber towel? Thanks

HalfWavyHalfCurly

Curly&Broke wrote:

Would any kind of sea salt work for this? Could I use bath salts? I found a cool lavender bath salt that smells awesome and we be cool if I could use it.

If you have the list of ingredients and it doesn't contain anything strange you can use it but don't put 2 Tbsp., it would be way too much for sea salt.

HalfWavyHalfCurly

chandistarr wrote:

Is this used on soaking wet hair as a rinse and then is gel used after the hair has been dried a little with a microfiber towel? Thanks

I have used mine as a leave-in rinse follopwed by gel, also as a touch in a small spray bottle up when my roots didn't curl.