CLARIFICATION: THE DETOX HAIR NEEDS

Cleansing is as much a part of essential hair care as an oil bath or hair mask. It is especially necessary to get rid of dust and other dirt accumulated on the hair due to pollution. If you use leave-in products, you should be aware that they leave residues that weigh hair down, so you need to detoxify the scalp from time to time. This is where clarification comes in.

How do you clarify your hair and what product should you use?

Here’s all you need to know about clarification.

Why do you clarify your hair?

Cleansing is the action of detoxifying the scalp and lengths to effectively remove residues that clog the hair fiber. It cleanses hair deeply and helps hair care products to penetrate better.

Detoxification is also effective in ridding hair of the silicone contained in certain synthetic hair products. For this reason, clarification is also essential for a successful return to naturalness or hair transition. You can read this article to learn more about the harmful effects of silicone-containing products on hair.

How often should you clarify your hair?

Clarification is a particularly aggressive treatment that should not be performed too often. Professionals generally recommend clarification every 4 weeks or so for those who are starting to go back to natural hair and need to take care of their hair.

If you have generally healthy hair, it’s best to space out clarification sessions by several months, and ideally to do so only when the hair is particularly dull and heavy.

How to clarify your hair?

There are many methods for making a clarification, but the easiest is certainly the one based on baking soda.

To make it, take your usual shampoo – Vao Papaya Shampoo is perfect for this recipe – and mix it with a teaspoon of baking soda. Take care to measure out the usual amount of shampoo you need to clean your hair thoroughly, and make your mixture in a plastic container.

Then wash your hair as usual. Normally, the shampoo should not lather as much as usual, but this is due to the effect of the baking soda. Your hair will still be perfectly washed and even stripped under the effect of this ingredient.

Rinse with warm water and cider vinegar (2 tablespoons per 500ml) to complete the treatment.

You can also use green clay to clarify your hair. To do this, mix the clay with the same amount of water and cider vinegar until you obtain a paste that is neither too liquid nor too thick.

Next, apply all over the hair and leave for 30 minutes, then rinse with clear water. For this method, there’s no need to use shampoo, as the clay perfectly absorbs dirt and makes hair softer and silkier. Just rinse well to remove all the powder.

After-clarification care

Cleansing is very harsh on hair, especially if you use baking soda. So don’t leave your hair as it is after washing, as it may dry out and become brittle.

After clarifying, we recommend applying a nourishing hair mask. You can use your usual hair care product, or make your own using avocado flesh, plain yoghurt and egg yolk. You can find more recipes for nourishing hair masks on this site.

Leave the mask on for 20 minutes, then rinse with clean water. Then apply a little oil to your lengths and ends to prevent them from drying out: shea or jojoba oil is particularly nourishing and suitable for after-shampoo care.