All-Natural Hair Softening Mask

Even though winter is incredible, from the excuses to stay indoors and drink hot cocoa to the beautiful weather, the worst thing about it is the dryness. Lips get chapped, skin cracks, and hair becomes limp and dry.

As you know if you've read my blog before, I am in love with Birchbox. Awhile back, I got the Amika hair mask in my box and fell in love. The smell is perfect and it made my hair silky smooth. I've been doing some research on natural ingredients that promote growth and hydration in hair, and decided to try my own mask. While it might not smell like delicious berries or come in a pretty bottle, it is cheap and all-natural!

What you'll need:
1/2 ripe avocado
1 tbsp honey (raw honey is best)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp coconut oil (organic is best)
1 ounce water
1 large egg
Blender*

*You could mix these ingredients as well, but blending is best so that you don't end up combing avocado chunks out of your hair!

Directions:

1. Gather your ingredients.

2. Place the ingredients in the blender.

3. Blend until creamy.

4. Time to get dirty! Grab a handful of your mixture at a time, combing it through strands of your hair with your fingers until you feel you've covered it all. Try and really get in there, I flipped my hair upside down, and tried to cover my whole head.

5. Wait 20 minutes, then rinse your hair thoroughly.

There are tons of recipes for different hair masks, but I chose this one specifically because of its ingredients.

My favorite ingredient is the coconut oil. I use this stuff for everything, on skin, lips, hair, and on top of my popcorn. Coconut oil is amazing because it has so many uses. Hair products generally only coat the surface of the hair for shine and a clean look, but coconut oil puts these products to shame! Scientists have found that it has the ability to penetrate the hair, which is essential to improving hair's strength and hydration. This helps with heat protection, damage prevention, and it stays in the hair longer than normal products that usually wash right off. I get my coconut oil at Trader Joe's, it is organic and under $6. 

Avocados contain Vitamin B and Vitamin E, which protect and strengthen the hair. Using this regularly on your scalp helps promote hair growth. Hair loss is related to vitamin deficiency, so avocado is great for preventing hair loss as well.

Eggs contain a lot of protein, so putting this in the mask helps to rebuild damaged hair.

Honey is moisturizing and lightening, so it gives hair hydration a nice sheen. I suggest raw honey because of its benefits.

Olive oil is rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and antioxidants. These will help promote hair growth, keep moisture in your hair for great hydration, and make it much softer.

I hope you give this mask a try and let me know what your thoughts are! Do you have any great natural recipes for me to try? Shoot me an email or comment below, I would love to hear from you! Xoxo

Update day after the mask: Definitely take off the mask using several shampooing cycles, my hair looked uber greasy the day after, especially on the ends, and I know I just didn't work hard enough to get the oils out. I also felt like my hair was a million times easier to brush the next few days, like a natural detangler! Next time I plan on trying just a coconut oil mask, it has such great benefits that it works great as a mask alone.