0 My Recent Hair Adventure With Fenugreek

Unlike most naturals who love the summer months and get the best hair during the summer, I hate the summer months when it comes to my natural hair. My hair always gets dried out, breaks, sheds and acts like a straight fool. Since going natural I always struggle during the summer to balance maintaining a low manipulation regimen and also providing my hair with enough moisture. This as you can imagine is hard due to having to constantly apply products or do co-washed to remoisturize my hair. I think...hope...pray...I have found the answer in the Indian herb, fenugreek.

I found out about fenugreek while reading about ayurvedic herbs on MopTopMaven which notes that Fenugreek Seed Powder - Prevents hair loss, promotes hair growth, helps strengthen hair shaft, light protein. Fenugreek is also called Methi. 


I had Fenugreek on hand so I got to mixing! [Which I purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs online]


My Fenugreek Treatment Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons Fenugreek (smells like maple syrup)
• 2 Tablespoons Honey (for moisture and shine)
• 1 Tablespoon Molasses (for strength)
• 1/2 Cup Yes To Tomatoes Conditioner (for moisture and to help make the paste smoother)

I mixed all these ingredients up as well as I could considering the fenugreek actually absorbs the liquids/oils and becomes like brownie dough. I literally had to mash it into my hair and smoothed it down. 

Before I tell you how well it worked, let me tell you what I learned.

• I shampooed my hair before applying the mix. While I still believe you should shampoo before applying deep conditoners, I also realized why MopTopMaven shampooed after. Ya'll after 2 rinses without shampoo, I had to do 2 rinses with shampoo to get all the paste out of my hair. I'm still not certain I got it all out, in fact I know I didn't.
• Don't apply the mix to twists. I always shampoo my hair while twisted to prevent tangles and decrease shedding. This made it very hard to get the paste shampooed off of the base of the twist. Next time I will apply the mix to loose hair and then twist it up and untwist each section to shampoo. 
• Take full advantage of my handheld showerhead. Full. Advantage.
• I kept this mix in entirely too long. I didn't just let it sit overnight but, I went 12+ hours. Don't judge me ya'll, I was busy.  Next time I'll rinse either after 1 hours or in the morning.

Final thoughts on Fenugreek:

I loved the results! My hair wasn't soft but, it wasn't dry, it was strong. I believe the fenugreek alos helped my hair absorb more moisture because since the treatment my hair has been staying moisturized longer. One unexpected change was with shrinkage. My hair is hanging longer and shrinking up less. Even with all this humidity my twistouts are defined and full! I have seen less breakage and less shed hair. The real test will be on wash day but, when I co-washed I saw very little shedding a less broken hairs.

I will be doing this treatment again only next time I plan to add hibiscus to the mix. Hibiscus Petal Powder - Conditions hair, promotes healthy hair growth, prevents hair loss, thickens hair. 

This is picture of my current hairstyle 1 week after using the Fenugreek, a 3 day old twistout:

As my hair gets longer as well as older, I find that using products/herbs that strengthen my strands is essential. although I am quite gentle and have a low manipulation regimen; the older my ends get the weaker they get as well and the summer heat is not helping. I got something for this 2011 summer though and it's this fenugreek! I love my results, even if the wash out process was horrible at best but, that was due moreso due to human error....or slowness.

I think I will try adding it to my next batch of shampoo bars and also to my rinse out conditioners along with hibiscus. 

Have you tried fenugreek? Did you like it?

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