Photo: Lauren Perlstein.Use Soap As Shampoo
There really is no need to buy sulfate-free shampoo and natural soap. Buy one good all-natural soap bar and use it for both your hair and body. Just lather the bar in your hands, and cleanse your scalp as if you were doing so with a shampoo.
Make A Creamy Gel
Mix your leave-in conditioner with gel, and voilà: You've suddenly got cream gel without paying for a special formula. DIYing it means you also get to have complete control over the proportions and can add more gel as you see fit.
Photo: Lauren Perlstein.Don’t Rinse Out All Of Your Conditioner
We know it’s called rinse-out conditioner, but when do curlies ever play by the rules? Instead of fully rinsing, try standing under the water for a brief five seconds, allowing the conditioner to act as a leave-in cream.
Pineappling
Instead of spending an hour sectioning and styling your hair before bed, just put it into a super-high, loose ponytail before you go to sleep and you’ll have poppin’ second-day curls.
Use Your Leave-In Conditioner As A Refresher
Rather than wash your hair every two to three days, simply scrunch some leave-in conditioner throughout it to revive your curls. As you may have heard, the first rule of curly hair is to wash less, and this practice will help you feel more comfortable doing that.
Make Your Own Conditioning Cleanser
Conditioning cleansers can be expensive, but you can easily make your own by mixing your shampoo and conditioner together. You can control the proportions to make the blend just how you like it. Alternatively, you can dilute your shampoo by adding water to it, decreasing the concentration of sulfates or other drying ingredients. Keep in mind, though: You should still condition your hair after using a conditioning cleanser.
Photo: Lauren Perlstein.Thicken Your Conditioner
If you want your conditioner to be a bit heavier, just pour half to one tablespoon of castor oil into your conditioner bottle, and mix together.
Deep-Condition Faster
Apply conditioner before your shower, and put on a tight shower cap. Step into the shower, and make the water as hot as you like. Wash your body, shave, and let the steam from the hot water heat the conditioned hair for deeper penetration. After a few minutes, pull off the shower cap, rinse out the formula, and continue with your shower.
Put Oils Into Your Products
Put some jojoba oil into your shampoo and some almond oil in your conditioner. Coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil are good options, too. Oils will give your hair extra strength and shine.
Make Multipurpose Oil
Customize your own multipurpose beauty oil. Pour your favorite oil (almond, avocado, and olive are good bets) into a bottle, and use it for hot-oil treatments, to seal your ends, to remove makeup, and to help soften dry hands.