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A reader emailed me and asked if I’d ever heard of using clay to wash or detox your hair. I hadn’t, but was intrigued, so I started researching…
Mud in Your Hair?
Turns out, clay can be very beneficial for hair in the same way it can be beneficial in the rest of the body: it removes toxins to leave hair super-clean and with a lot of shiny volume.
I still like my coconut milk shampoo, but from the comments, it definitely doesn’t work for everyone. This recipe is another great option that could be used regularly. It seems especially good for those with fine or naturally oily hair as it leaves the hair very clean, but I also found sites recommending it for those with coarse or frizzy hair for its ability to tame the hair (I can’t speak personally on this one as my hair is very fine).
If no-poo hasn’t worked for you, and homemade shampoo hasn’t worked for you, I’d encourage you to try this option. It can be customized for your hair type and lasts up to a week in the shower.
Sound strange to wash your hair with mud? Give it a try…
How to Detox Your Hair
As I mentioned in my herbal hair colors post, different herbs can have darkening or lightening effects on hair. Nettle is said to be great for hair, so I would use this on any hair color. I used chamomile flowers on my hair since it is blonde, but rosemary would be a better choice for dark hair (and it is also supposed to be a good natural remedy for dandruff).
These are the mixtures I’ve tried:
- For blonde hair: 1/4 cup chamomile flowers + 2 tablespoons nettle leaf in 2 cups boiling water
- For dark hair: 1/4 cup Rosemary leaf + 2 tablespoons nettle leaf in 2 cups of boiling water
After the mixture cools, I strained out the herbs and used 1 cup for the clay recipe and 1 cup for the final rinse with 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar added.
Hair Detox Recipe
Materials
For Blond Hair:
- ¼ cup chamomile flowers
For Dark Hair:
- ¼ cup rosemary
Remaining Ingredients:
- 2 cups water (boiling)
- ½ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¾ cup bentonite clay (or redmond clay)
- 10 drops essential oil (optional- I used lavender and rosemary for hair growth)
Instructions
- Combine the herbs of choice with the boiling water and allow them to steep until the water cools slightly.
- Strain herbs out.
- Combine 1 cup of the herbal tea and the apple cider vinegar in a blender, food processor, or non-metal bowl.
- Add the clay 1 tablespoon at a time while blending or whisking.
- Keep adding clay until the mixture is smooth and about the consistency of yogurt.
- Add the essential oils if using and mix in.
- Store in an air-tight container in the shower for up to a week.
To Use:
- Wet hair.
- Starting at the roots, massage a handful of the clay mixture into hair and work down to the tips.
- Repeat until all hair is coated. Leave 5 minutes or up to 20 minutes (do not let dry!) and rinse out with warm water.
- Optional: I use the remaining 1 cup of herbal tea combined with 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to rinse with.
Notes
Do you prefer a pre-made option? Morrocco Method offers an excellent hair and scalp detox product that is made from raw, wildcrafted ingredients.
Would you put mud in your hair? Why or why not?
Thyroid Problems & Coconut Oil
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I made a tweaked recipe of the Terressentials Mud Wash that is similar to this, but my recipe is
4 oz Aloe Vera juice
1 oz Rhassoul clay
4 drops Nettle oil
4 drops Ylang ylang essential oil
BOOM. This stuff does wonders for my oily scalp but dry end natural curls. Adds body, moisturizes, and defines my curls. I do this once a week to clarify.
Thanks this sounds awesome! My body has been craving Aloe Juice for some reason lately, or I can tell it’s “calling me” which is never has before. I feel so in a twirl with all this shampoo stuff, now that I went no-poo but dont’ want to use baking soda, but feel all greasy… this recipe just hits the spot. I haven’t tried it but it’s just want I want, and I don’t even know why! haha… I dont’ want to overdry my hair with the clay, this sounds nice.
Anyone ever use a clay shampoo with honey? Or anything like that?
🙂
Hi Jamie! I made a Bentonite Clay shampoo yesterday using the clay, alovera gel, honey and a bit of filtered water. Shampooed with it, left it on about 5 minutes, rinsed it, then used my regular acid rinse of water and lemon juice. My hair came out wonderful! It’s soft, shiny and voluminous!
Hi! This is my first time posting here! 😀 I have read some of your recipes and I loved them! But my experience with mud wasn’t very good… I started to go no-poo on June 10th and the first month I washed my hair with clay (first with kaolin and then with bentonite) but my hair was very sticky and greasy. I have greasy hair so I thought it was the detox period that left my hair like that, but then I saw that my last shampoo left me residues on my scalp, and the clay was stuck in that residues. So now I’m washing my hair with an egg + lemon mix but I’m not sure if the residues will disappear if I only do this and still today my hair is greasy. Do you know any natural remedy to remove all this residues of the scalp? or will they disappear after time? 🙂
I’ve used a mix of baking soda and water as a thin paste, worked into the scalp and throughly rinsed. The baking soda is a mild abrasive that will clear up any residue
Trying this tomorrow.. attempted no poo and it just left me irritated. This actually smells good to me (plenty of lavender and peppermint essential oil) and I even put some on my face tonight as a mask! *crossing fingers*
I’m assuming you’re caucasian? I have African-American daughters… any word on how well this works for dry kinky hair? I’m always looking for natural hair products for them that WORK… seems like it might not add moisture and softness though… clay? I use bentonite in the bath now and then for detoxing, but on hair seems like it might dry out a bit?
I don’t have any personal experience, but have heard others mention using this shampoo but then adding an oil when the hair is drying to keep it from being too dry…
Rhassoul clay is more moisturising I heardand gives good curl definition.
In theory the clay should only pull out the metals, not the oils. I haven’t tried it yet, but I am today. I plan on adding jojoba and argan oil to my conditioner. A friend of mine recently applied a clay masque to her hair. She loved the end results!
what is your conditioner? do you make it? I am using this recipe for the shampoo right now for almost 2 months, but all of a sudden my ends started getting straw like and waxyish feeling and I’m thinking its that im not using conditioner really except once in a while but its crappy ology conditioner that I just don’t want to waste, but no clue on what to use naturally. I also have very curly hair
I use honey and aloa vera and I use this shampoo like once a month. And always AV, I also have curly hair. I also recently made the shampoo with the Coconut milk, I also use that about once a month, I don´t add castile soap to it but i use aloa instead.
On the days I don´t shampoo I have a spray with water, Aloa, rosemary and sometimes jojoba or argan oil and sometime glycerin. It really gives my curls a boost in the mornings.
Jenny, I am curious how much of each of those ingredients do you use for that spray? I’d like to try that.
Hi Kimberly,
I fill a spray bottle with water, add about 2 squirts of Aloa, 10 drops lavender and 10 drops rosemary and then 1 squirt argan or Jojoba oil.
You can play with the amounts until it suits you : ) I also sometimes add sandalwood just for the smell.
Katie, I super-appreciate all your efforts with your recipes and have enjoyed ALOT of them. I always do my best to click on the links to Mountain Rose Herbs so you get a little kickback. I am disappointed however in the shipping charges that they charge. They are OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH in my opinion! Have you had any complaints from others? I emailed them directly as well, but was wondering if I am the only one.
In their defense, I have received shipments packed with natural materials, like recycled paper twists and thought how much more that must cost than styrofoam peanuts. The styrofoam people do charge less, but I don’t like getting it.
Unfortunately, most of the high cost is due to the USPS changes in shipping requirements Some items are no longer able to be shipped via USPS, resulting in either UPS or FedX charges which are usually higher or the charges for them have increased from the USPS. It isn’t MRH fault. I’m just lucky that I drive by their storefront daily so I can pick up my orders…which I do at least once a month!
Love this post! Great job Wellness Mama!!! You will inspire many!
Made this tonight and it was lovely! Because I’m lazy and only wash my hair once a week I’ve popped the rest in the fridge in the hopes it will keep longer 🙂
I also slathered it on my face as a bit of a mask 🙂
Did it end up lasting? I’m curious, because I only wash once a week as well, and I don’t know if I want to spend the time making shampoo every week!!
Yep! It lasted about a month 🙂 And that’s only cos I ran out.
I made one batch of this recipe with plain water instead of tea, and it lasted me a month of using twice a week. I just left it on the side of the tub, I didn’t refrigerate it. Actually I might have made half a batch, I can’t remember. I think I used more of a 1:1 ratio of water to clay, not 2:1 as this recipe indicates. I just kept adding clay until it seemed the right consistency. I’m not sure how I would tell if it went “bad” but it didn’t smell bad or change consistency or anything over the weeks.
So glad to read this – was just going to post that question but decided to read the comments first
Oh boy, I love this mud shampoo but I also tried the 1Tbls Apple Cider with 1 cup of herbal tea after I washed my hair. I also tried the 1-2 drops of Argon Oil. and both of those don’t work. My hair feels soft but it also feels like waxy straw.(and I don’t mean the kind that you drink from) It’s hard to explain. When I am drying my hair, the brush doesn’t go through my hair smoothly, I have to keep pulling it and pulling it. I can a 1 day without washing but that’s it. This mud shampoo is the only thing that works without having a ton of oil on my hair. I don’t even have oily hair.
This very same thing happened to me. It almost seems to be coated in something. Very soft but not shiny and not easy to comb.
I’ve been using clay for about a year and noticed when I moved to a house with hard water that the same clay that worked before will now leave this terrible, unbrushable, dust-attracting residue. You two might be dealing with hard water too. I wish I had a solution.
I dealt with the same problems due to hard water as well! I have no clue why this works, but I have found that my hair isn’t straw-like if I increase the strength of my apple cider vinegar wash. Once I rinse all the mud out of my hair, I use 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water or tea, and that seems to take the straw-like feeling away. If your water is really hard, you can increase the strength even more until it works for your hair. Hope this helps!
Possibly you are getting a residue from years of using commercial products. It is like ‘die off” result. If you continue, the waxy and oily feeling will eventually go away as your hair is returned to it’s better self.
What Is Your Opinion On Doterra Oils Vs Mountain Rose Oils? IKnow Doterra Claim I Is The Only One To Take Internally And IsThe Strongest. BuT IsTheir Reall A Difference Besides Costs?
It’s hype. There are only a few places in the world that produce EOs and most companys ‘products are not that different from each other. In addition to being a MLM, doDeterra also trademarked their “therapeutic grade EO” – which isn’t backed by any governing body, it’s all their marketing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Thank You for an answer that would much like mine especially after I read the Intelligence of Essential Oils,(or something like that, I checked it out at the library, and felt like I got my use out of it, and didn’t want to purchase, so I don’t have the exact name), and asking many questions of those where I’ve purchase mine. My note to everyone on more than just oils, research, don’t believe all the hype of brand name products, like on groceries, I find that many times the lower price brand is just as good if not better than some brand.
Regardless if what you want to believe about marketing, please stop telling people that “there are only a few places in the world that produce essential oils.” That’s completely false.
The fact is, about 75% of oils come from the same distilleries (obviously different ones for different oils). They are big operations but quality varies because they can often redistill the material. Small distilleries can’t produce the amounts large companies need. And unless the company can afford to purchase everything the distillary products they can’t get exclusivity. I buy some of my oils for my business from the same distillates that doterra buys from. But I only buy first distillation.
Monica, she is telling the truth. Do Terra is just marketing and there are a restricted number of destilleries for oils. I don´t know why you got angry. And the truth is that there are other oils that are food grade just as DoTerra. It´s good to make some research.
Actually I have tried both rose mountain and doterra oils internally and externally and can definitely tell a difference. I hate it. I wish there was no difference. I like to use rose mountain herbs if i am just making something I want to smell nice. But for actual results for a flu bomb or a health dilemma Doterra produces faster results.
I’m going to try this tonight! In the past I have combed in a small amount of apricot kernal oil to moisturize my hair… Do you think it would work now??? You know what, I’m just going to try it now and let you all know how it goes 🙂