As well as our skin, our hair is always on show (unless you live your life in hats and/or a burka). So how it looks and feels is important to how we are viewed by the people we meet, but more important than that, how we are viewed by ourselves.

Recently I’ve been feeling a little out of kilter. It’s been nothing major, I just haven’t been totally happy with myself.

You see, as much as I love and care for my skin – I cleanse, tone and moisturise everyday, and make sure to exfoliate once a week, I moisturise after every bath and shower – the same, sadly, cannot be said for my hair!

My hair and I have an understanding… as long as each of us doesn’t do any harm to the other, we’ll get along fine. I’m not one for lavishing time and money on my hair. To be honest, I hardly ever even brush it! My hair care routine tends to consist of shampoo, condition, rough blow-dry, leave the rest to dry naturally. I’m sure there’s many who would be disgusted by this lack of attention, but it’s just how I work. I don’t have any inclination to sit in front of the mirror every morning, with styling products and heated implements. I’m lazy. That’s what it is. But mostly, this routine works just fine.

But just lately, my hair has been looking and feeling a little neglected. The ends were split and straggly, there was no shine, it didn’t feel as soft and smooth as usual.

So I decided to sort it out. I decided it was time to show my hair a bit of love and attention.

I started with a trip to the hairdresser’s to get rid of those awful messy ends! I left feeling miles better, but we weren’t quite there yet.

The second step was to take a bit of time out of my day to give my hair the treat it deserved – a hot oil mask.

Well, you can’t believe the difference. It might seem like a simple thing to do, and it is, but the results are worth it! My hair is now soft and smooth and supple. It’s regained its shine, and just generally looks and feels healthy again.

Like when my skin is looking its best, now that my hair is looking great too, my confidence is back, and I feel like the Sami that I know and love again.

It’s so true that little things make a big difference.

If you want your hair to look and feel a million dollars, here’s the recipe for the hot oil treatment I used…

Ingredients
4 tsp olive oil
1 tsp coconut oil
3 drops ylang-ylang essential oil
3 drops chamomile essential oil

Method

• Put the olive and coconut oils in a bowl and heat gently over a pan of boiling water, or in the microwave.
• Remove from the heat and add the essential oils.
• Stir until mixed thoroughly

To Use

• Cover your shoulders with a towel – this can get a bit messy, you’ve been warned.
• Pour a tsp of the mixture into your palm, then apply to your hair from the tips to the roots.
• Start at the tips as this is the area that is usually the dryest, especially if you have long hair. This is because the natural oil that your skin coats your hair with doesn’t always make it right the way down to the ends.
• Carry on like this, applying the oil all over your hair. You can even give yourself a little scalp massage with the oil. This helps to stimulate the circulation in the skin, and is very relaxing as well!
• When your hair is fully coated in oil, you want to keep as much of the warmth from the oil as possible so that the oil can really penetrate the hair.
• To do this, twist your hair into a rough bun, then cover your hair with a plastic bag {PLEASE BE CAREFUL – DON’T SUFFOCATE YOURSELF!} and hold it in place with a peg or hair clip. On top of this, you can wrap a towel.
• Then chill out!
• That’s right, put your feet up, relax, enjoy a cuppa.
• You want to leave the oil on your hair for at least 30 minutes, but the longer the better. I left mine on for around an hour while I finished some work at my computer.
• Shampoo your hair.
• You can condition as normal if you want, but you might find that your hair doesn’t need it.
• Dry and style as normal.
• Lastly, and this is the important bit, marvel at the luscious locks you see before you in the mirror!

A few notes…

• If you don’t have coconut oil, don’t worry. Olive oil alone will give great results.
• I have mid to long hair, if you have short or very long hair you will need to vary the quantities accordingly.
• Ylang-ylang essential oil is great for hair! I added chamomile because I have blonde hair. If you have dark hair try adding lavender or rosemary, if you have red hair you can try adding cinnamon.
• If you don’t have any essential oils, don’t worry. You can get great results just from the base oils. The essential oils just add that extra kick, and smell great too!

I’d love to hear how you get on with this recipe! You can comment here.