A little while ago Frida Ahrlin, who co-runs a good blog called Duurzaamjezelf.nl (literally, make yourself sustainable), joined one of my herb walks. I don’t usually take much notice of my walkers hair condition but Frida’s is quite wonderful and when the topic of Aloe vera arose in conversation and she told me that she makes a shampoo using it, I had to take notice. Frida kindly sent me the recipe that she uses once every week or so, for her thick wavy hair. Today my scalp was in great need of some TLC so I decided to give the recipe a try.

My little girl thought I was putting omellete on my hair and I had to agree that it looked very like it but the results were well worth it. I now have a calm scalp and clean, bouncy, shiny hair! My hair is nothing like Frida’s, it’s pretty fine and straight but the recipe worked none the less.

I used a nice fat Aloe leaf from my Aloe mama who lives on the roofterrace. I filetted out the gel as described below, discarding anything green or yellow, as this contains an acrid chemical that will irritate the skin. But then I chopped the gel with scissors as I was in a rush to try the recipe. I think I’ll blend it more thoroughly in future as I had big blobs of aloe gel filet falling into the bath as I rubbed the mixture in, but other than that I wouldn’t change a thing. Perhaps a vegetable masher would to the trick for the blending? Maybe there’s also scope for a single drop of a carefully chosen essential oil? Or even using a suitable herb infused oil rather than plain olive oil? I’m planning on a drop of Chamomile infused olive oil and a good session with the masher, next time I make this.

If you try this recipe please let us know and do have a look at Frida’s website as it has some very useful ideas and you can see her lovely hair!

Frida previously posted the recipe in Dutch on her website last year. Here is her message to me about the shampoo…

Frida’s shampoo recipe

1 egg
1 tablespoon oil (I often use sunflower oil or olive oil)
1 tablespoon vinegar
Aloe vera gel

My aloe vera leaves are usually quite small, around 15 cm long and one thumb wide. Mostly I only use one but sometimes two. I use a small sharp knife to open the leave and scrape out the gel. I just mix everything together in a cup and it’s ready to use.

After trying out different methods, bending over the shower/tub/sink works the best. I rinse the hair and scalp first and then add the egg-mix. First massage in at the scalp and then combing it with my fingers out in the lengths. The longer I leave it in, the softer my hair gets. Usually I leave it in (with a towel around my head)  around an hour. Then rinse it with COLD water. Warm water with egg is not a hit in this case. To give the hair a nice and fresh shine I do a last rinse with 1 cup water with another tablespoon vinegar. The vinegar smell goes away as the hair dries.

Thanks again Frida! I was so excited to try this that I forgot to photograph the omelette mixture, next time…