Natural Nina: Natural Hair Recipes: Molasses and Coconut Cream deep conditioner

This week, I made another homemade deep conditioning treatment for my hair with molasses and coconut cream, and this is the best one yet. My recipe wasn't too different from the last one, it just has a few extra ingredients added that enhanced the original recipe.

One of the ingredients is molasses, and I had no idea that molasses was so good for the hair, especially as a conditioning treatment. Molasses is known to add strength to the hair as well adding both moisture and softness. Molasses is also packed with vitamins like iron, calcium, and potassium, in addition to being a great source copper (healthdaries.com). I purchased a jar of molasses in the supermarket two weeks ago, in an attempt to use it in my hair and diet.

The ingredients that I used for this deep conditioning are in the picture above, and you can see that the second new ingredient that I added to this treatment, is Neem Oil.

Neem oil is known to be helpful with thinning hair by stimulating scalp circulation, and promoting healthy hair growth. Neem oil is also a known cure for itchy scalp because it sooths and nourishes the scalp, while preventing dryness and flaking (neem-products.com). I don't have a dry flaky scalp, but my scalp does get itchy quite often. I was hoping that the Neem oil would help with my itchy scalp and hair growth. The smell of the neem oil is so strong that I don't think I could use it by itself. The molasses and rosemary oil combined helped to over power the smell of the neem oil in the deep conditioner recipe.

This creamy brown concoction was blended by hand in my kitchen with the following ingredients:

Molasses and Coconut Cream Deep Conditioner Recipe

2 Tbsp. of Blue Mountain Country Natural Molasses
2 Tbsp. of Tropical Traditions Coconut Cream
2 tsp. of Jamaican Black Castor Oil
2 tsp. of Vegetable Glycerin
2 tsp. of Grapeseed Oil
1 tsp. of Hemp Seed Oil
5 drops of Rosemary Oil
5 drops of Neem Oil
1 oz. of Distilled Water

The ingredients were blended together one by one in a plastic bowl, in the order that they are listed above. I added the water at the end to make the mixture a little thinner, and ensure proper coverage of my whole head. I applied the deep conditioner in small sections as I always do, until my hair was full covered with conditioner. Then I covered my hair with a plastic cap and a hot towel.

From these pictures, you can see how the conditioning treatment looked in my hair. It looked similar to a henna treatment, and the consistency was smooth and thick. I kept my hair covered for about two hours, including two 10 minute steaming sessions in my bathroom.

After rinsing, I was left with a soft, moisturized, and shrunken TWA. I thinks it's amazing how much shrinkage I get when my hair is wet. My hair felt well moisturized after this treatment, so I skipped the leave in conditioner, and sealed with a little grapeseed oil. Sometimes less is more and that was definitely the case after this conditioning treatment.