Homemade Conditioner is NOT CHEAP

I've been Google-ing "homemade conditioner" for the past several months whenever I run out of my hair conditioner. But I haven't found anything cheap and practical so I haven't bookmarked any of the websites.

A lot of websites say homemade conditioner is cheaper than buying one because you can make it with stuff you already have at home... WRONG!  The stuff they are talking about are avocado, honey, olive oil, jojoba oil, etc. As far as my money is concerned, these are not cheap ingredients! In Los Angeles, one avocado costs from 88 cents to $1.50 unless you have a avocado tree in your backyard (if you live in westside of Los Angeles and have plenty of avocados that are going to waste on the ground, consider joining Westside Produce Exchange - bring your avocados and get other produce from others! It's free!). Jojoba oil costs $7.99 or $9.99 (can't remember) per 4 fl. oz. bottle at Trader Joe's and a little bit more at Whole Foods and Sprout, I think.


Some recipe calls for 1/2 cups of honey and 1/4 cup of olive oil and leave the mixture on your hair for 30 minutes! That's so not reasonable or practical! Although this can be a great once-a (or two)-week (or month) deep conditioning treatment, not for everyday!

The cheapest hair conditioner recipe is a mixture of honey and water - 1 teaspoon of honey and 4 cups of water (warm water so that honey dissolves). For my Asian wavy super thick hair, 1 teaspoon of honey is not enough so I use about 1 tablespoon of honey in 2 cups of warm water and leave it on for a few minutes and it works great.

Conditioner from Trader Joe's, an empty bottle,
honey from  farmers market and jojoba oil

However, probably because of  CCD (colony collapse disorder - EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW ALREADY!! Bees are disappearing, people!) and all, honey is not cheap! The cheap honey you find at the 99 Cents Only Store and other supermarkets is HONEY *blend* (yes, it's a fine print)  - a mixture of honey and corn syrup that is made from genetically modified corn, which might be the reason why bees are disappearing according to some sources. So if I use this much honey everyday, it gets pretty expensive. I rather buy a hair conditioner with organic ingredients for $2.99 at Trader Joe's that lasts for a few weeks.

So here's my solution: Dilute that $2.99 hair conditioner with that honey water!

If you have honey in the squeeze bottle, just squeeze about a tablespoon of honey (according to Alton Brown, one squeeze about 1 teaspoon, 1 tablespoon = 2.5 teaspoon, so there you have it) in the empty bottle, squeeze about 1/4 cup or so (eyeball it) of hair conditioner with organic ingredients, add about a cup of warm water (bring it to your bathroom, add warm water while taking shower), close the lid and shake!. And add a little bit of jojoba oil (just because I have it) - just teaspoonful (I would add 1 tablespoon because, again, I have very thick hair). If you don't have it, never mind.

Use it as a regular everyday conditioner! I would leave it on my hair for a few minutes (shave your legs, armpits, face, back hair or whatever while waiting for your hair to consume all the goodness from this conditioner) for the best result. But if you don't have time, no worries.

FYI, I am not a scientist or a doctor or anything. So this recipe may not be good for you or anyone else. So don't sue me if this doesn't work for you, or if this explodes when you mixed honey (and jojoba oil) with your choice of conditioner, etc. It works for me so I'm sharing with the world. If you are not sure about this recipe but you still want to save money, just add water.

P.S. I really recommend you to watch Vanishing Of The Bees when you get a chance. I don't mean to scare you. But we should all be aware about CCD (colony collapse disorder) because we are not only losing honey but also the fruits & veggies we eat! Bees pollinate 1/3 of our diet! No bees = no fruits/veggies & flowers! OMG! Watch this trailer!

P.P.S. According to Vanishing of the Bees' tweet (@vanishingbees), there are only 600 commercial beekeepers in America instead of 3000+ in pre-CCD :(