Bentonite Clay... My alternative to Terressentials mud wash....

I ordered my clay! It arrived last week and I used it on Monday... Sorry for the delay in posting - I've been a busy bee this week!

So, details:

I ordered it from akomaskincare as I have previously ordered some of their butters. I don't care for the delivery charge, but I think their products are pretty good. (I also bought some african black soap but thats a whole different blog post!)

I tried to keep it nice and easy with simple ingredients:

3 tablespoons of clay

2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil 

1 cup (mug) of water

 (I did mean to add a couple of drops of tea tree oil but I forgot - next time!)

I really didn't enjoy mixing the clay, it was messy and difficult to mix. AND it gets lumpy soooo quickly & the lumps are hard to get out! 

Lumps...

Lumps galore

 Had to resort to using a hand whisk to get rid of the lumps, it was very effective, & when I do my next treatment I'll start by using the whisk!

I didn't expect to use the whole cup of water, & I don't think you need to but I wanted it slightly runny. (I thought if it was runny it would be easier to wash out as I was worrried it would get stuck in my hair and I didn't want to resort to shampoo to get it out.)

The application was pretty easy, (perhaps because I have done henna treatments before?) I just scooped up a bit in my hand and smoothed it through my hair, I didn't do any rubbing or try to wash my hair with the clay as I didn't want to end up with tangles.

I did debate whether or not to co-wash prior to using the clay but in the end laziness took over and I put it straight in on my dirty hair... My hair was straight (roots not so straight) but even putting the clay on didn't make my hair revert there and then.. 

I used the remainder as a face mask - loved it! My skin felt lovely and soft once I'd washed it off. I think for a face mask I would have made the mixture a little thicker as it was harder to apply to my skin as it was so runny. 

 I ended up leaving it in for about 3 hours, (just a bit longer than the recommended 20 mins ha) as I got distracted but it was underneath a plastic cap (shopping bag lol) so it didn't get dry/hard. It washed out easily and my hair felt really clean!

Result!

 This is how my hair looked immediately after washing out the clay. 

...Bit of a surprise, considering my hair is normally a lot curlier than this!! 

But like I said, I'd straightened my hair about 2 weeks prior to using the clay so I'm unsure whether it was straighter than normal due to heat damage ( :( nooo!) or whether the using the clay stretched my hair a little. No clue.

Deep Conditioning - curls back to normal

  It didn't last that long and once it started to dry it was more or less back to normal. I deep conditioned with Grapeseed Oil, ORS Replenishing Conditioner and NAKED Rescue Intensive Care Conditioner and my hair seemed fine after. (Yes, I mix my conditioners - I've been told it's bad but it always seems to work for me...)

After I wash my hair I'm always really tempted to try a wash & go... But I've only tried once before and it was an almighty fail - my hair frizzed up something crazy. I did not look okay. ha.

You can see the variation in my textures in some of these pictures... 

All in all, I enjoyed my experience with Bentonite clay - both as a facial mask and a hair mask/wash/thing. It made my hair soft and shiny and easy to detangle - lovely!

Regarding the curl definition, at the moment the jury is out - I think I need to try it once again (and on unstraightened hair) before deciding whether it has an effect.

This is how I ended up wearing my hair the next day..

Nice & Simple Ponypuff

 Leave me a comment if you've experienced the curl defining properties of bentonite clay :)