Banana Oooh Na Na Pre-poo - DIY

Originally published on January 9, 2018

Welcome back to Dominican Curly! If you're new to my site and haven't subscribed.. what are you waiting for, girl?! I love to share awesome DIY recipes such as this one. I know if you give it a try, your hair will fall in love!

Last week my deep conditioner recipe was slightly extra.. I know! I really do believe that it is absolutely amazing and you definitely should try and stock up on some Ayurvedic herbs. I don’t think I mentioned this already but what I do is make an Amazon wish list for my hair. I include in there tools, products, oils and herbs and whatever else I want to slowly try out. I also have a wish list for skin, my apartment, my son and random things. I order from Amazon way too often. Whenever I’m making an order I always throw in a little something for my hair(treat yourself!!). This is how I’ve managed to stock up. 

Today I wanted to share a simple recipe just to show you that obviously you don’t need much and you can make a treatment with what you already have in your kitchen (for the low too). 

I mentioned a few of the benefits in my Tropical Shea Butter Deep Conditioner post. I use bananas often because I always have them on hand. Banana was one of my son's first words! This recipe was inspired by no one but myself, yay! (Even if I have tweaked something I will always give credit to the originator.)

Below is a list of the ingredients; like always you can replace these oils with your favorites and keep in mind to use more or less depending on how much hair you have. The oil I sell in my shop works perfectly here too. This recipe is great for dry or damaged hair and it also works well for all hair types not just curly. You can share this with your non-natural friends too! Even relaxed I was taught to deep condition. 

First I blend the banana with a little bit of aloe juice. I make the juice myself and it has a few drops of tea tree oil. Then I add the honey, followed by the oils, and I mix it very well. I will usually apply this to my hair as a pre-poo/pre-shampoo treatment.

This works for all hair types - not just curly. I made this for my mother last week before her vacation. She requested I make her one of my treatments. 

For me, the application of a pre-poo is always the same. Here's an example of a video tutorial I posted on my Instagram. 

I section my hair, I damp it with water or aloe juice and I apply the mix from root to tip - paying close attention to my ends. I’m constantly finger detangling. I twist each section up, I put on a plastic bag and then I use my heated deep conditioning cap. I never apply anything to dry hair. The reason for that is because I want my hair to be receptive of what I am putting into in. Water is absolutely essential more moisture!! Also, it’s really important to note that oils are not moisturizers although they do have superb benefits and certain oils do penetrate the hair shaft (coconut, olive..) It’s not a good idea to add them to dry hair and seal in dryness. 

I would leave this on for about 30-45 minutes and then rinse it off with a lot of water. Then I cleanse and condition as usual. I personally don't co-wash after a pre-poo, I always shampoo. 

This method works really well for me. I’m not a professional and I’m definitely not claiming to be a curl “guru” or whatever the hell these people are calling themselves nowadays. I’m just a woman really into her own hair care and I want to share that with you guys so that you can be into your own hair too. I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again I’m not saying that whatever I do is going to work well for you I just want to inspire you to figure out whatever it is that is for you. 

I’m realizing now that if you’re new to all these natural hair terms you may be confused about what a pre-poo is. Honestly, it's basically a deep treatment depending on how you look at it. In my original post about deep conditioning, I mentioned that depending on what I’m using to deep condition, I’ll either do it before I wash my hair or after. So for me, a “pre-poo” is just a deep treatment prior to cleansing. People often use the term pre-poo to describe just oiling your hair before you shampoo. Shampooing can be a little drying and stripping but it is necessary to include in a healthy hair care regimen. So oiling your hair prior to shampoo helps with that. I hope that makes sense, if not I am available to answer questions via email or in the comments. Sometimes I will pre-poo with oil alone but sometimes I do like add a little more just in case I don’t have time to leave my deep conditioner in long. 

Have you ever used bananas in your hair? I think this is a great mix and it penetrates the hair well. If you think you'll try this pre-poo make sure you like this post and let me know what you think!

XO,

Consy