If you’re anything like me, you’ll do this right after you clean your tub or shower. I’m not sure what’s wrong with me, but every time I do something that will make a serious mess in my tub, it always ends up being right after I’ve scrubbed it out. And yet it never occurs to me until I’m washing poo-like goo gobs out of my hair and watching them splatter all over my tub and shower walls that I probably should have done that before I cleaned the tub. Anyhow, I digress.
When I visited Toronto in May my friend Meredith handed me a book—The Japanese Way of Beauty. She instructed me to read as much as possible before I left, because she was definitely keeping the book. So I did. And it was pretty fascinating.
I was especially drawn to the wide array of recipes that included seaweed… probably because I bought half a kilo of it and am having a hard time using it up. One of the things that caught my eye was a seaweed hair rinse. That got me thinking about how Rhassoul clay is supposed to be really good for hair as well (it’s been used in beauty treatments for over 12 centuries in the Middle East). So, I decided to try out a seaweed and clay hair mask. I added some lemongrass essential oil in an attempt to mask/complement the seaweedy scent. It worked reasonably well, but the mixture still made my bathroom smell like the seaside.
I mixed up a generous amount of seaweed and Rhassoul clay, and combined them with lemongrass essential oil, a bit of phytokeratin (optional), and enough water to create myself about 150mL of greenish brown goop. It did not look terribly appetizing. Good thing I wasn’t eating it.
To use it, I got in the tub, wet my hair under the tap, flipped my head upside down, and smeared it full of brownish-green goo. I then twisted my hair up into a bun and fixed it with a large clip.
After about 40 minutes (an episode of television, give or take), it’s time to rinse it out. I got in the shower and rinsed my hair, section by section, combing under the running water. Rinse, rinse, and rinse some more, or you’ll be fishing clumps of seaweedy clay out of your hair for a while. So, rinse away until no more greeny water comes out.
Et voila! I found that my hair had more volume and texture after the mask.
Seaweed & Clay Mask
3 tbsp powdered seaweed
3 tbsp rhassoul clay
10 drops lemongrass essential oil
5 drops phytokeratin (optional)Mix all ingredients together and add enough water to make a paste. Spread through wet hair. Twist the hair up and let dry for abouu 40 minutes. Rinse thoroughly.
I love eating a fresh Japanese seaweed salad from my local grocery store, but never thought to use it on my hair. Cool!
Seaweed is so awesome! I love that it’s the only vegan source of vitamin B12 🙂
Hi Marie,
Do you have recipes for dry face & hair mask combo as well as wet face & hair mask.
Where would I find phytokeratin?
I get mine from New Directions Aromatics!
Can I use spiralina powder for this recipe? Does it matter what type of seaweed?
I believe you could, but you might find that spirulina is a rather pricey replacement for plain ‘ol seaweed.
Wow! What a great idea. I’m really loving your blog! Thank you for all your devotion and hard work.
Thanks for reading, Gwen! I really appreciate it 🙂 Be sure to let me know if you try this hair mask, I’m always curious to hear how my recipes work for other people.
I am doing this right now, and I smell like the ocean. Is it weird that I like the smell of seaweed? :p
Not at all! This mask smells like summer at the seaside to me 🙂 I love it for that!
hi marie
how long does this mask last for? what preservative can i add to make it last longer want to make a few btls to give away.
thanks
Hi Susan! If you don’t add the water until the last minute it will last for at least a year. Just be sure to blend the phytokeratin and essential oils into the clay very thoroughly so it doesn’t clump. Store it in a sealed container and include instructions for use (add water to make a paste, basically) and it’ll make a great gift!
Hello Marie! I think it’s finally time to make this, just searched green tea and this was the previous or next post off one of the posts I found..and got distracted hehe.. Wondering, should you follow this up with a moisturizer? Like maybe a smoothing of Argan or jojoba, or maybe a serum.. If so right away or wait a day or something? Thanks dear!
Hi Colie! I find I can’t really add much oil to my hair without it getting really oily and gross looking. I didn’t follow this mask up with any oil, but a few mists of something like this could be a good idea 🙂
Can I by chance substitute the water for coconut milk?
Hey Nicole! You can, but I would probably only recommend the swap if you’ve got quite dry hair—if your hair is on the oily side it’s probably going to leave your hair oily enough that you’d have to wash it right after doing the mask 🙂
Hi Marie.. Can we add preservative to the paste if we want to package and ship it?
I’ve got an FAQ on this 🙂