Autumn Shedding and a Garlic Treatment!

Ugh! I thought that I would make a quick post about autumn shedding! It seems that it is a common complaint around the blogosphere as of late!

Honestly, I thought that I had avoided it since I have not had an excessive shedding episode since late August. This weekend I lost a nice amount of hair during my Wash Day and when I pulled my hair into a ponytail this morning, I couldn’t help but notice it looked a bit thinner. This could be for two reasons:

1. I cross-wrapped my hair instead of pin-curling it, so my ponytail is longer and thinner.

2. I need to do a garlic treatment this weekend!!

I know shedding spells don’t last too long, but still, I want to mitigate the amount of shedding I have, so I think that this weekend I will do my garlic treatment!

So, here is my garlic treatment for anyone suffering from excessive shedding! It worked for me last year …

You will need:

10-12 cloves of garlic
8-16oz of EVOO or another type oil (I also used sesame)

I am cooking mine in my slow cooker. I am sure this can be prepared on the stovetop as well.

Directions

1. Cut up cloves of garlic. If you do not know how to do this, please google it.

2. Mash up garlic with knife, mincer or whatever is handy. I used my potato masher!!

3. Put desired oil in crock pot or pot on stovetop.

4. Let simmer for about 3 hours to give the garlic time to infuse into the oil.

5. Let cool for as long as needed.

6. Pour oil into a bottle with applicator. You can chose to strain the garlic out or not, but since it’s going into a noozled bottle, garlic chunks shouldn’t hit your hair!!

7. Apply to scalp. Cover with plastic bag. Let sit on for about 30 minutes. This is a great prepoo treatment. LOOK AT HOW BLACK MY HAIR WAS LAST FALL! NOW IT HAS TURNED BROWN AND RED! 🙂

8. Wash, condition and apply leave-ins as usual. Note: due to the drying properties of garlic, it is recommended that you incorporate a deep conditioner treatment into your wash day.

Notes:

– Left over oil can be stored in the fridge for about a week.
– You can add this mixture (strained, of course) to shampoos or conditioners for a garlicky boost!
– Essential oils such as lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree can be added to mask the scent.

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Excessive Shedding and a garlic treatment

As I have mentioned in the past few weeks, my hair has been shedding more than its normal rate. Even throughout the week, I see strands of hair come out in my hand whereas that sight was normally reserved for wash days.

I figure this is happening for two reasons. The first is that it’s that time of year for hair to shed. Late summer/early fall tends to be a time where hair sheds a lot. I hear this is due to growth cycles throughout the year, with hair coming into the resting phase ready to be shed around this time. My cat Gabrielle is even shedding a bunch! I find globs of hair all over the place!

Secondly, I was not consistent with taking my Ortho Tri Cyclen birth control pills this month. I was off schedule when I went home late August so I just didn’t take them this month. I hear that stopping birth control pills with the resulting changing hormones can also impact hair shedding. I will be back on them in a week.

While shedding is normal, I can’t help but worry if my hair will thin out while the other hair is coming in. The right side of my hair is already thinner than the left and that’s where a lot of the shedding is coming from!! I made sure it wasn’t breakage, because I can see those white bulbs. Sigh!!

With that said, I decided to make a garlic concoction. I am not sure what it is about garlic, but it tightens the pores and can reduce shedding greatly. I decided to make a homemade concoction because Sally’s did not have any garlic shampoo.

I call this my Garlic Oil Treatment

You will need:

10-12 cloves of garlic
8-16oz of EVOO or another type oil (I also used sesame)

I am cooking mine in my slow cooker. I am sure this can be prepared on the stovetop as well.

Directions

1. Cut up cloves of garlic. If you do not know how to do this, please google it.

2. Mash up garlic with knife, mincer or whatever is handy. I used my potato masher!!

3. Put desired oil in crock pot or pot on stovetop.

4. Let simmer for about 3 hours to give the garlic time to infuse into the oil.

5. Let cool for as long as needed.

6. Pour oil into a bottle with applicator. You can chose to strain the garlic out or not, but since it’s going into a noozled bottle, garlic chunks shouldn’t hit your hair!!

7. Apply to scalp. Cover with plastic bag. Let sit on for about 30 minutes. This is a great prepoo treatment.

8. Wash, condition and apply leave-ins as usual. Note: due to the drying properties of garlic, it is recommended that you incorporate a deep conditioner treatment into your wash day.

Notes:

– Left over oil can be stored in the fridge for about a week.
– You can add this mixture (strained, of course) to shampoos or conditioners for a garlicky boost!
– Essential oils such as lavender, eucalyptus and tea tree can be added to mask the scent.

:o)))

Update: When I washed my hair this morning, it felt like I had a protein treatment or something. My hair felt firmly secured to my scalp!! It also felt strong!! It also felt a bit dry after washing my hair three times to get the garlic scent out. It is über important that you deep condition after this type of treatment!!

Here is the amount of hair that I lost after detangling and roller setting. It’s definitely not as much as last week! I wish it was none, but I will take a reduced amount!! Shedding after all is normal and healthy! It is right on par with the amount I lose each week due to my low-manipulative hair styles. The test will be how much I lose this week!! Stay tuned!!