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Homemade Conditioner – Colloidal Oatmeal

Colloidal oatmeal makes an excellent homemade conditioner, at least for me. I never used it before, but when I tried it on my hair, I was awed by the way it worked. I keep colloidal oatmeal on hand for my bath and Misty’s dog shampoo and rinse and now I use it as a homemade conditioner. I love this stuff. It has so many uses and is so very good for my skin, but I couldn’t believe how soft and shiny it made my hair. My hair is fine, long and straight with an assortment of broken ends. It all started when I noticed how soft and shiny Misty’s hair is after her bath, I wondered if it would work on my hair.

What I did to make this homemade conditioner

What did I have to lose? I knew it wasn’t going to do my hair any harm. The worst case scenario I figured I could always wash it out and chalk one homemade conditioner off my list. I wanted to give it a real test so I didn’t add anything to the conditioner (I usually add a few drops of lemon essential oil to my homemade hair concoctions.) After I washed my hair, I added about ¼ cup of the colloidal oatmeal to a two quart pitcher. I then filled the pitcher to about the one quart mark with warm water. After dissolving the oatmeal into the water, I poured it through my hair making sure every hair was covered as well as my scalp.


I wrapped my hair in a towel for maybe three or four minutes then rinsed thoroughly. I could feel the difference immediately and suspected my homemade conditioner might just be a success because my hair felt silky, but only when it was dry would I know for sure. I could hardly wait. I could have rushed things with a hair dryer, but I don’t normally use a hair dryer so I decided to be patient. (Not one of my virtues.)

Once my hair was dry, I brushed it out as usual and was delighted with the results. It was unbelievably soft and shiny. Colloidal oatmeal is now my homemade conditioner of choice. I’m anxious for all you goddesses out there to try it and report back. It might be the perfect homemade conditioner for me, but unworkable for you depending on the type of hair you have. Come on now, I know you have to be braver than I am and, like I said, the worst that can happen is you have to rewash your hair.  You’ll at least come away with a great scalp treatment. However, I suspect you’ll end up making colloidal oatmeal your hair conditioner of choice too.

Oh, I forgot to mention when you mix the oatmeal with water, the solution will feel slippery. It’s supposed to feel that way and that slipperiness rinses out of your hair. What this homemade conditioner does is coat the hair shaft.

Like I said, please comment on your experience with this homemade conditioner; make sure you tell us about your hair. Is it long, short, curly, straight, coarse or fine? Lori’s going to give it a try too and she’ll comment on her experience.

P.S. Colloidal oatmeal is easy to make for this conditioner. You can grind up regular oats into oat flour, purchase colloidal oatmeal in specialty stores (some carry it in bulk) or buy it online. If you grind your own like I do, you’ll save some money.

To make colloidal oatmeal at home:

To make sure that the oats have been ground to the correct fineness, add a teaspoon of the ground oats to a glass of water and mix. The oats should absorb the water quickly giving it a milky look. If the particles sink readily to the bottom of the glass, grind them a bit longer and retest.

Now go have fun and relax.

Related articles:

Colloidal Oatmeal – A Really Really Simple Bath for Dry Itchy Skin [1]

The Best Colloidal Oatmeal Mask [2]

General Hair Care Information [3] (includes more recipes)