My hair’s been a little down lately with all this dry winter weather we’ve been having (limp, lackluster, frizzy-ended…sound familiar??) so I figure this super-moisturizing hair mask would be the perfect thing to perk it back up.  It’s just 2 ingredients but boy, do they both have some pretty impressive profiles!

The combination of henna and yogurt has both the moisture and the protein that your hair needs to look shiny and soft.  It also makes it resilient to breakage and damage that either you or Mother Nature throw at it.  Yogurt is also slightly acidic which closes off the hair cuticle to give it that sheen we’re all after and the combination of lower pH and beneficial probiotics are key to a healthy scalp.  (And a healthy scalp=healthy hair!)

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons henna (see what kind I got below…I’ve had a lot of different kinds and it has never made a difference)
• 4-6 oz plain, full-fat yogurt (use more if you have longer hair)

Steps:

1. Start by mixing the yogurt and henna together in a glass jar or cup (I used a small mason jar).  The glass is so that you don’t stain your dishes (you’ll be letting it sit in there for a little while…).

2. Next, you’ll be warming up the yogurt and henna mix that you just got.  I used a heat pack…you can see how I wrapped it around the glass in the picture below. (If you want to make your own like I did, all you have to do is empty a bag of rice into a pillow case and tie it off.  Tada! Reusable heat pack! Now microwave it for 2 minutes or until you think it’s hot enough.)

Alternatively, you can get a slightly bigger jar or pan and pour hot water in it.  Then place the jar with henna and yogurt into it. (Just make sure the water isn’t high enough to get into the smaller jar, obviously.)

3. While the henna and yogurt mixture heat up (it releases all of the henna goodness!), go shower and shampoo your hair so it’s nice and clean.

4.  This step is optional but encouraged.  When you get out of the shower, transfer the mix to a condiments bottle for easy application, see picture below.

5.  Apply it to both the scalp and the length of the hair and let it sit anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours. I usually leave it for about 2 hours if I have the time.  I throw on a extra-sexy shower cap (oh yeah) and put a towel over my shoulders to prevent any clothes disasters should the shower cap leak.  I tend to use this time to slap on a face mask, whiten my teeth, and even clean the kitchen and bathroom! (Hey, it’s 2 hours…)

6. Lastly, rinse the mix out of your hair.  I don’t follow it up with anything but you can always do a apple cider vinegar rinse (1 part ACV to 9 parts water) for extra shiny hair! It doesn’t take any shampoo to wash this rinse out but occasionally it’s taken a little persistent rinsing to get all of the henna bits out.

Notes: 

Henna does have the power to change hair color to a red/copper tone.  We’re using very little henna in this mix so it’s less likely to occur but if you’re very light-haired, you may want to try the first time with just 30 minutes and go from there.  You’ll get a lot of the uber-moisturizing properties of this mix without any of the color change! I have pretty dark hair and it doesn’t change my color at all.

Ah, so smooth and shiny!