Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

***RECIPE*** I have read through a lot of the reviews, it seems a lot of people are dissatisfied with the texture, and the difficulty in washing this out, but very pleased with the results. Let me share a recipe. This will allow you to get all of the wonderful benefits, without the mess, without the gritty texture and without drying your hair out. Take 8oz of coconut oil. Fractionated coconut oil works best as it stays in liquid form and will allow you to put the finished product in an 8oz pump bottle. Put the oil in a sauce pan (or better yet a mini crockpot – I have a 16oz size that is meant for sauces and I use it for all of my DIY beauty products. Add 4 tablespoons of this powder, which is about 1/3 of the package. If you are using a saucepan, put it on the lowest setting. If you are using the mini crockpot it only has a warm function (not hot like the larger models) You are going to want to let this heat for an hour to an hour and a half, stirring periodically (more often when using the sauce pan) After an hour or so, let the oil cool, it will be a deep blackish brown. Strain it into a measuring cup using a funnel and a coffee filter. The oil should be a deep amber color. Do not throw away the “sludge” that will be left in the coffee filter, you want to keep this! Once the oil is strained, the 8 ounces that you started with will be about 6 ounces, to this add 2 ounces of castor oil. I like to add a few essential oils to this mixture that are known for hair growth/health like lavender, cedarwood, rosemary, sage, tea tree, thyme and frankincense. At a minimum, I would put some Rosemary in, as it is wonderful for your hair AND acts as a preservative. Even without the Rosemary, the prepared mixture should last about 6 months, though I go through 8 ounces of it in about 4 months, using it once every two weeks. Don’t add any water, this will cause it to go bad! I put this in an 8oz pump type bottle, use glass or PET plastic, especially if you add essential oils. Then, once every two weeks, I use about 10 pumps to coat my past shoulder length hair and wrap in a plastic cap and then a large sleeping cap, and leave it on overnight. There is no grit and no mess, just wash it out (easily) in the morning. Now for the leftover “sludge”… put this in a 2oz glass jar (or PET plastic jar) and add a little more coconut oil to make it smooth. This will be a very dark brown. I then “paint” this on my gray roots, with a dye brush. I leave this on for an hour or two. It changes my grays from gray to a light golden brown, they look like highlights! This has the grittier texture that others have spoke of, but I don’t coat my hair in it, so it is not that messy or gritty. It will stain though, so cover the area with dark (or old) towels. I hope you found this a helpful alternative to just making a paste, and I hope it helps you get the benefits you are looking for without the grittiness. Good luck experimenting! P.S. This is NOT for blondes, it will turn your hair grayish!