A natural hair gel which is deceptively easy to make. This is the first time I have ever done this and I really cannot believe the results I’ve achieved, it’s time for me to throw out all my other gels. This is a lovely styling product that adds plenty of moisture to the hair.
What you need:
flaxseed/linseed (synonymous)
water (you can use bottled water if you want to be pedantic)
tights/cheesecloth/muslin bag/small-holed sieve
jar to store
1. Bring about 500ml of water to the boil on the stove on a medium heat and add to it maybe three handfuls of the seeds. That’s just me estimating because I really do do everything by eye, so sorry about the trending lack of proper measurements.
2. It should start to boil in about five minutes, stir and leave to boil until you can see a mucus start to form. You can see me stirring quite a lot, you don’t need to do this continuously, this is my first time doing this and I was just captivated by the whole process. At around the 10 minute mark is when I saw little strings forming. At 15 minutes is when I think it reached the high point of mucus formation. In total I left it to boil for 25 minutes. 20 minutes should suffice. This is when you should turn off the heat.
3. Leave the gel to cool for half an hour to an hour so you don’t burn your hands while sieving out the seeds. Over time the gel will also start to become more viscous and solidify.
4. Bring out your jar and what you will be using to sieve. I cut off the leg of some tights that had ladders. I will be washing and reusing it for when I do this again. I spread the tights over the jar then tipped the gel into it. Don’t try to add more than you can like I did - I could’ve avoided a lot of mess.
5. Squeeze the gel out and it will be separated from the seeds. This so fun and therapeutic, the gel is so squidgy and such a beautiful honey colour. This is probably the messiest anyone has ever done but it wasn’t hard to clean up. I tried my hardest to get all the seeds out but a few ended up in the jar. Squeeze until you cannot squeeze anymore.
And that’s it! I tried to mix it up and made even more mess. Clean up you jar screw the lid on and it should keep in the fridge for about 14-17 days. If you won’t be able to use this quantity in that period of time, adjust the recipe or you could even gift some to someone.
Next I’ll be showing one such use of this gel with this faux fringe hairstyle.
1. I spray my hair with water then massage it into my hair.
2. I spray my hair with my DIY refresh spray then scoop and spread.
3. Then my hair is ready for detangling. I comb all my hair forward.
4. I use a hard brush to smooth my hair into a bun with some hair left out at the front.
5. Applying some gel now to the back and sides of my head, I brush my hair again and adjust the bun.
6. I wanted to add more to the fringe so I took some more hair out of the bun and applied some gel.
7. You can choose to leave your hair like this since as you can see, the gel has added definition to my curls, but I like to finger coil my hair in little sections to add even more definition. This takes about 20 minutes.
You could also use a styling brush if you don’t have the time/patience/effort to finger coil. This is what it looks like with one half finger coiled and the other using a styling brush.
And here fully coiled.
Allow for shrinkage and be careful in a windy environment.