Banana & Avocado Hair Mask

Hey!

Like most naturalistas, I admit I am moisture-biased. All my shampoos and conditioners are for dry hair, all my deep conditioners are for moisture, and my hair mantra is “moisturise and seal!” But moisture is only half of what our hair needs. There’s a whole other realm that exists out there called PROTEIN that I’ve completely ignored because “natural hair’s strong enough” right? Wrong!!! Protein is the building blocks of our hair and makes up over 90% of our hair’s molecules. Protein treatments are known to strengthen our hair follicles so if your hair’s prone to breakage, weak or sheds like crazy, protein could be your missing link! This is also a good treatment to do when you’re preparing your hair for additional stress like braids or a weave.

So in my bid to be a better natural haired girl, I’ve decided to inject protein into my hair diet once a month. I’ve started out with this all-natural, light protein mask and I loved the result. I figured I’d share it with you.

Originally this mask was going to have just one banana and one avocado but once  I had a little nosey around my kitchen I decided to add a few more ingredients:

• Banana*- packed with vitamins A, B, C and E, potassium and tryptophan (a rich amino acid). Bananas soften hair, improve hair’s manageability by loosening curls, and strengthen weak, dry, brittle or damaged hair.
• Avocado* – high in vitamins B (essential for hair growth) and E (work at the cellular level to protect and strengthen hair and repair any scalp damage on the scalp, which may slow or prevent hair growing). Avocados
  also improve the condition of your hair by acting as a moisturiser for dry or damaged hair.
• Egg – Rich in Vitamin A (helps in the production of sebum which works to cure dandruff), D (promotes hair growth) and E. Eggs also strengthen and condition hair and makes your hair shiny.
• Mayonnaise (1/2 tbsp) – Contains natural lubricants as well as  L-cysteine–an amino acid and powerful antioxidant found in eggs that can give your hair strength, shine and structure.
• Coconut Oil (3tbps)- has sooooo many beauty benefits and uses but in particular, it’s a great conditioner because it contains vitamin E, can promote growth, and is able to bind to the natural protein structure of the hair. reinforcing the hair fiber, making it stronger and reduces breakage. Coconut oil also fights against dandruff.

Just throw everything into a blender, add a little bit of water and blitz it up. I also strained it to get rid of any little chunks of avocado and banana but in the end that was unnecessary – the mix was really smooth as you can see and smells like banana pudding:

Section your hair into about 6-8 twists to make it easier to distribute the mixture. Working on one section at a time, unravel the twist and work the mixture throughout your hair, starting at your scalp. Then pull downward with your fingers over the hair strands to ensure that they are coated, and massage each section. Repeat until your whole head has been saturated.I left it on overnight (with a plastic shower cap and two scarves and the mix still seeped through onto my pillow lol so I think cling film would be better for next time). You could just leave this on for an hour if you don’t have enough time. But make sure you don’t use any heat with this mask (you don’t want to cook the eggs!)

The next morning I rinsed the mixture out (use cold water to prevent cooking the eggs and to seal your cuticles) and my hair felt really good. I washed with a non-sulphate shampoo and detangled with conditioner. Then I tried out African banding for the first time, I used this YouTube tutorial.

My first African Threading result

My hair was super shiny and I noticed there was litleraly less than half shed hair than normal during my detangling process. I absolutely loved the result of this mask. The only thing I wouldn’t do again is sleep with it in because it soaked into by pillow and that was a pain trying to get out. But perhaps I could try again with a plastic bag over my pillow? Hmmm…

Try it out and let me know what you think! What are your favourite protein treatments?