Honey thread - from TBB and bits from old LHC

[ktani]

Honey 101 - A Technical Glossary by the American National Honey Board - just click on a letter and go.
http://www.honey.com/foodindustry/te...chglossary.asp

[Henna Sooq]

how deep, deep honey can be We personally use honey from Quebec, like I go to the flea market out in the boon docks where my mom goes camping during the summer and they really have all Quebec grown produce and products. Honey is always on my list. I just grab a big old tub of unpasteurized.

[ktani]

Henna Sooq

I am sure that many honeys for sale are just fine but there appears to be a lot of honey out there for sale - worldwide - that is not the equal in quality.

From a culinary point of view - different tasting honeys could be an adventure.

For the purpose of a hair treatment - either conditioning or lightening - the honey may make the difference - just as different quality hennas can for natural hair and skin colouring.

It is not necessary IMO, to buy expensive or raw honey for a honey lightening treatment.

It is the plant source that determines the peroxide level of honey.

A blended honey, IMO would offer a better chance for a higher level and from all the the recent research I have done - I recommend buying a darker coloured honey for the honey lightening recipes (it needs to be diluted well in any case and there have been no reports of honey depositing its own colour on the hair) - pasteurized should be fine.

Ultra-filtered (UF) honey
"It's got a yellowish cast, and it's a little thicker than real honey, ... doesn't taste like regular honey either.
... honey that has been diluted with gallons of water, heated up to a high temperature, passed through an ultra-fine ceramic or carbon filter, and then evaporated down to a syrup again. In the process, every trace ..."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0...265467,00.html

IMO, UF honey would not have any peroxide value - however, because so much is removed from it, and the resulting product is not as I have said, considered to be honey by experts, I doubt very much that it would have any conditioning benefits at all either - certainly not compared to honey that has not been so processed.

[mellie]

I am going to re-post my honey photos since they were lost in the last honey thread.

Here's my before and after:



After one treatment:


After another one:


My recipe (Mellie's Mix):
chamomile
mullein
Alfalfa honey (Clover honey didn't work for me)
squeeze of lemon

Fill a large tea ball with the chamomile and mullein (approx. 1 Tbsp each). Add approx. 1 cup hot water, and the honey (approx. 1/4 c.) and sqeeze of lemon, apply to hair. I sat in cool, low afternoon sun for about one to one and a half hours, then rinsed out.

[ktani]

mellie

Thank you for reposting your amazing pictures - your hair is so beautiful and your recipe and details.

I had forgotton how much lightening you had gotten.

Low afternoon sun IMO, would not add too much heat or light to negatively affect the the results and sure enough - it did not.

ETA: Your recipe is also innovative and interesting. I have noticed since then with your more recent posts, that you are very creative and successful with your approach to your hair in general.

[waidz]

Mellie your hair looks gorgeous. I must say there is much more shine after the honey treatments - looks amazing !

[nayver]

Hello girls! Ktani I have a question...I don´t live in the US so I cannot find any of the conditioners listed above...how can I find a good conditioner for my recipe?? Any suggestions for European residents????

[mellie]

Thanks Ktani, you are very kind! :-)

[ktani]

nayver

You have a number of options.

Here is an example of the ingredients of a V05 conditioner - it is not on the Preferred List but is close enough for you to get an idea of its lightness.
http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...102#ingredient

and the ingrent list for Hello Hydration, which has been reported to work well with honey in a treatment
http://www.walgreens.com/store/produ...962#ingredient

You could try to find something similar where you are.

Or you could try coconut cream and honey with a bit of EVOO, a herbal combination like mellie tried - chamomile, mullein, a bit of lemon and honey, or tomato sauce, EVOO and honey.

ETA: The boosters so far are tomato sauce, EVOO, coconut cream - you can use coconut oil instead - it has been reported to work very well - just not too much of it or any oil in a recipe, and cinnamon - be careful with that - cinnamon can be an irritant. No reports so far on cardamom - another possible spice booster.

[nayver]

Thanks Ktani!!! I already found a website where I can buy the herbs Mellie used in her recipe... After the treatment, I'll post pics with the results.
And Mellie...I didn´t understand the procedure How much water did you use?? Do I need boiling water? Like a tea? Sorry for this stupid questions, but it's my first time and I want to do it well...