A few more DIYs-for Hair#1

Hi friends!
The weather changing is ridiculous in Kolkata and I had been busy with Exams in college.Today's post is going to be a fun post.Not a review but some great do-it-yourself ideas that I learned from my mother and from articles and some of them are my own innovations.
So lets begin!
I will start with hair.Everyone loves a healthy,shiny and thick mane of hair that also smell pleasant.The whole charm of good hair get spoilt when it smells like rancid food.It is an embarrassing problem that usually source its origin from dandruff,allergies,sweat,leaving the hair unwashed for too many days and product build-up.What not we try to make it smell beautiful and even sensuous at times!While hair perfumes are the quickest solution,it has it's own side effects and the smell don't linger for long.The same goes for fragrant shampoos.For some the problem is so severe that the hair starts smelling awful even a few hours after shampooing.I also face the same problem specially when I suffer from dandruff.At other times,my hair acts like a trap for the fumes and pollution of the road as a result smelling like smoke.While on usual day i just apply my Streax Serum(review will soon follow) which smells heavenly and also the only product whose smell seems to survive at least an hour.But on special occaions I prefer a long-lasting fragnance.I have experimented with quite a few scents and the followings are the ones that lasted the best.

• Coffee mask-

According to your hair length and texture you will need coffee,honey,and a essence of your choice-I prefer vanilla and chocolate because they are very complimentary with the smell of coffee.You can even skip the essence if you want to stick to one smell.I prefer layering different scents.
My hair is wiry and shoulder-length and it requires 15sachets(1 sachet is 1/2 flat tsp roughly)coffee,2tbsp honey(this adds shine and also helps in making  thicker paste),and 1/2 tsp of your desired essence.warm 4tbsp water(not boil) and add the coffee,honey and mix thoroughly so it becomes a smooth paste and no lumps of honey or coffee is left undissolved.Next add the essence and stir it in.Apply on your hair strands concentrating at the ends and leave it on for half an hour.Shampoo as usual.
This mask not only smells great but also create brown highlights on your hair visible in sunlight.After washing I applied streax serum on each layer of hair while it was still wet and blow dried it.The resultant was a floral-caffeine mixed scent that lasted 2days given I did not shampoo my hair the next day,it survived normal rinse with water.The floral smell evaporated though in its usual time.I used loreal's smoothing shampoo and conditioner but their fragrance did not alter much of the coffee-scent.This was my own little innovation since coffee is used along with henna powder,then why not alone?
Pros:

• ingredients very easily available
• Adds shine and soften hair
• my hair looks more voluminous
• not exactly costly if you consider the price in comparison to a whole bottle of hair spray which are Rs.250 and up.
• Lasts for 2days or rather until the next time you shampoo(the smell won't be as strong as first day but it will linger)

Cons:

• time consuming
• shampooing is must
• some may not like the smell of coffee or vanilla or chocolate or honey.
• not exactly cheap when you consider per wash cost in comparison to per spray cost.

This one,though a bit too long process is completely worth it.None other things I tried so far lasted as much.If you have the time to spare then go for it.The only problematic part is sitting idle for half an hour and it could be real sticky and messy if it spills around.Also as an afterthought I would like to add that all the ingredients used appeared to be very arousing for my boyfriend who couldn't work out at first from where exactly was he getting the smell of "coffee and chocolates and something flowery" around me but he felt it was driving him "crazy".So,I suppose this bit of information has already got your naughtier side raking her brains,who knows this might work for your guy as well.

• Essential oil blends:

This one is tricky but works just like a normal hair spray.You will need a spray bottle,the essential oils of your choice,water.The instructions are usually written on the bottle of the oil about it's dosage,but don't use it directly or in concentrated form.Always dilute it in the recommended amount.Usually it is 2-3drops in 1tsp(10ml) of career oil or water.I used Blossom Kochar's essential oils which read that they should be diluted with water.I used Sandalwood and Rose since I did not want to spent huge amount on oils that I did not recognize and since their was no tester for them i didn't risk buying unknown fragrance.I made a batch with 100ml of water where I added the oils in a ratio of 2:3.That is,I mixed sandalwood oil to 40ml water(around 12drops) and rose oil to 60ml water(around 18 drops) since I wanted the floral scent to be more dominant.I just sprayed this mixture under my hair in every layer and dried it with a cold blast from the drier.This method  also contributed to the elongated lasting time of the scent.Shake the solution before every spray and you can keep it for quite some time but not more than a couple of months.
I came to know of this while searching the internet for ways to scent my hair uniquely.Now,essential oils are tricky things to work with,In right proportions they can smell heavenly and wrong proportions will make you stink.Also it is equally necessary to understand the purpose and nature of the oils since few like cinnamon and peppermint smells very nice but are skin-irritants.While Jasmine oil is an anti-depressant but some may find it's smell to flowery for their taste(I do).So your blend should be created keeping many things in mind like what smells best to you and also what type of mood you are in or wanting to create,The blend mentioned above smells great to me and is sensuous and very relaxing in nature-I just can't feel off as long as I can smell this blend.The staying power is not very long-approx 2hours after which the sandalwood smell evaporates and some another 2 hours and the rose evaporates as well.This is so because Rose oil is a "base-note" oil while sandalwood is most likely a "middle-note" one.I made the solution averagely concentrated,strictly as per the dosage recommended so the smell was not as strong.I do not recommend going beyond the dosage recommended by the brand unless you are a dermatologist and know exactly what you are doing.
Pros:

• You can create your own signature fragrance
• Once prepared,you can use this for quite a long time(You can't use 100ml in one go can you??).So no preparation time,sitting idle with a gooey mess on your head etc.

Cons:

• Pricey-Each bottle of oil contains 15ml and cost Rs.285 per bottle so that is Rs.570.But the good news is these two bottles will yield you perfumes for the next couple of years or more depending on how fast you use it up.So then it's not that pricey.
• Please do your own research if you wish to use some different oil than the ones mentioned here.You will find plenty of stuffs about the features of different oils online.But don't dive into the craze and end up with a bald-head.Yes,wrong usage can be that reactive.
• Some might find the preciseness required for blending confusing and tiresome.For them-please don't try.Wrong blend won't smell appealing and accidentally dropping more than required can result in concentrated solution that is not at all good for your hair.
• The smell don't last as long as the coffee mask.

So how did you like the ideas?Do try them and let me know how you find them working on you.I will soon be coming up with new DIys that I have in stock,till then good bye and have a great day ahead.