DIY: Almond Butter Hair Mask - Woeful To FroFull

Almonds are good for your hair. I wrote about some benefits not too long ago. Many haircare products that you buy contain Almond Oil. But what about Almond Butter? I knew it existed so why weren’t the hair community making a fuss about it. Soon after that thought, I ~~went onto Google~~ set out on a mission to find a way to incorporate this version of Almond into my routine. I found an Almond Butter recipe a few years ago. It seemed legit, so when I saw Almond Butter for sale a few weeks later at Aldi or Lidl AND on offer, I had to have it. But then could I find the recipe? Could I find any recipe?

Those are rhetorical questions but the answer is no.

In the absence of a dedicated Almond Butter recipe, I thought I’d use a Peanut Butter recipe, because one nut butter is as good as another nut butter? I’m not a nutty person so it’s all the same to me. But then, nothing happened for like 2 years. However, in the spirit of trying to end my product junkie ways, I made the intentional decision to actually use stuff that had been lingering in my cupboards to make more space for the products I love. And the Almond Butter was one of the first to have at it.

So I looked again and voila! An Almond Butter recipe appeared for my hair. Like out of thin Google air.

The recipe I found was from Apsara Skincare and was pretty simple. I only needed:

0.5 cups of Smooth Almond Butter
4 tsp Coconut Oil
4 tsp Almond Oil
Coconut Milk to get to the desired consistency.

I returned to my dusty, neglected, possibly out of date jar of Almond Butter to find there was a layer of liquid on top, Almond Oil? I tried to stir it through to reincorporate it but I realised that the nut butter was hard. Super hard.

I started to fill my measuring cup with Almond Butter but I realised, firstly, it was too hard and secondly, I’d have too much if I carried on, so I stopped at about two thirds full. To soften the Butter, I put it in the microwave, unfortunately, it didn’t seem to make too much of a difference. I “persevered” onwards. I added Sweet Almond Oil and Avocado Oil (instead of Coconut Oil as Avocado comes up as its top alternative). Even though the recipe gives specific amounts, I kind of just guessed. And added oil until I could sort of force the Almond Butter to absorb it and start mixing.

I also added a splash of Vitamin E because, well, Vitamin E! It’s funny while I’m writing this post that I’ve only just realised that I was missing the Coconut Milk. Yikes!

You know when something says it’s smooth, what does that conjure up for you? For me – something that’s silky and nice to touch. This hair mask was not. Smooth Almond Butter ain’t that smooth. I didn’t enjoy putting this mask in my hair at all. I didn’t like the overpowering smell, I didn’t like the gritty texture, I didn’t like how runny it was (perhaps I shouldn’t have guesstimated the oil!), I was most certainly not a fan. Also, I should have probably decanted the runny mixture into a bottle rather than trying to scoop it out of a bowl with my hands whilst in the shower. It still would have been as messy as hell but easier to apply.

I tried to comb it through to make sure it was evenly distributed but it felt like I was combing through three times as much hair as I actually have. The hair version of walking through treacle. I wrangled my hair into 4 twists and placed it under my Hair Therapy Wrap heated cap.

After I rinsed out the mask, my hair felt amazing, it was shiny, it was soft, it was filled with grit. My husband, in the nicest way possible, said it looked like someone had crushed Doritos over my head. Now the parts I could see did not look THAT bad but the parts I could see looked pretty sandy.

I rinsed again.

I was still sandy…and so was my shower tray. It looked like I’d just had a really good time at the beach.

I did an ACV rinse (3 tbsps ACV to 24 Oz water and 3-5 drops of lemon and tea tree essential oils). The essential oils while good for your hair, really help to mask the vinegary-ness of of it all.

I think I could have rinsed 10 more times and perhaps I should have but I couldn’t really put my hair through that much stress. So I moved on to moisturising.

For my leave in, I went for the Garnier Papaya Hair Food. I usually use this product as my deep conditioner but they claim it can be a conditioner, hair mask or a leave in. Plus it smells lush which might mask any lingering Almondy-ness.

I followed up with the Aunt Jackie’s Seal It Up Butter which works a treat.

And finally sealed it all in with Jim + Henry Five.

At the end of the process, my hair was smelling amazing – a mix of the ACV rinse and the Papaya Hair Food, I’m sure.

Conclusion: Pros/ Cons

Pros – After this ordeal – my hair felt so soft. Impressively soft. I was loving how it looked, I wouldn’t say my hair is super coily but in the places where the coils reside, they were popping or rather they were “coiling”?! Very springy indeed.

Cons – My hair was covered in grit and it was in there for a considerable amount of time. After carefully rinsing my hair in sections, then rinsing with an ACV rinse, then rinsing with water and rinsing with water again, I was still full of it. Considering it was “smooth” Almond Butter, my hair felt anything but.

So as you’ve probably gathered, I won’t be doing this again but I’m glad I tried. If I can find Almond Butter with the consistency of Shea Butter, I might reconsider but I’m not sure that exists so this just goes into the memory box for now.

Let’s keep sabotaging our hair together! 😢

xx Lee xx And to you all, single, not single, entangled even – Happy Valentine’s Day!