What is rhassoul clay and what can you use it for?
What is Rhassoul Clay? Well, basically, just that, it’s clay. I discovered this years ago, maybe 5 or so. And have been using it ever since. It started with an article my friend Amber showed me about the no poo movement. Which is no shampoo – this is a bit hit and miss because our hair has got used to the glossy chemical fuelled products that make our hair look sooo good. I’ve been trying to find alternatives for years. My hair is not good hair, it’s thin and oily and lang and mousey brown. Hair dye and products have been my friends for many years. My natural hair is just pants.
Have you wrestled with natural alternatives? Fed up with not knowing what will suit you and spending money on things that don’t work for you? Yep – welcome to my world of trying to go plastic free au natural with hair care. So many promises, so many lies. It’s very easy to get disheartened and you may be searching for your perfect haircare for a while. But – in the meantime if you want to give clay a go it might just be that thing you are looking for. The beauty with the clay is that if you don’t like it for your hair, you can use it for your face and/or body instead.
I gave the clay a go, because why not. I loved it from the first use. It made my hair thicker and…. drum roll, less oily. Instead of washing my hair every other day and having a shit hair day in between I was able to go 2-3 days before it needed a revamp. Now I wash my hair every 5-7 days, and on some of those days I use only water.
The clay is drying – which is why it suited me. To avoid over drying I use it just in my roots. I then use a shampoo bar for the lengths. This works well for me and it means a low waste, low cost far more natural option for my hair.
You can also use the clay on your body and face. Mixing it up with avocado and honey makes a good face mask and now and again.
How much does it cost?
Initially I purchased this online via Amazon from a local UK seller but after doing a bit of research and when no waste living got going I bought it in bulk instead. The online one I was purchasing was £12 for 250g, it’s now £14.99 for 250g. We can do better than that and make it more affordable for people to try. It lasted me 3 months and I was using it for hair, face and body and the odd face mask. (the disclaimer here needs to be I don’t shower every day or use a lot of product. Sometimes I forget to take my clay in with me and shower just with water so my usage may be far less than yours)
We are aiming to make it even more affordable by bringing the price down.
We are selling it in jars, reused of course, at £5.80 for 250g.
Using the clay
It comes as a powder so it’s not as convenient as ready made products. With a little time and prep though it’s so worth it, feels so much better than off the shelf products. I keep mine in a small pot in the shower, with the lid on, do not forget the lid, it will dry out.
To mix, mix in a larger pot or bowl than the one you will be keeping it in. I mix mine in a bowl about pudding bowl size and keep it in a pot about face moisturiser size.
It’s like baking, you need a bigger bowl to do the mixing. I use about 3-5 heaped teaspoons of clay powder. (this depends on how regularly you want ot make it. It will keep in sealed container but will dry quickly if you leave the lid off)
I have very fine hair about shoulder length so you can adjust to suit your own locks. Bear in mind though you will only really need it in the roots so it’s not like dying your hair where you need full coverage. You can use it as a hair mask every now and again as well. In this instance you will need enough to cover your hair.
I’ve tried many different consistencies and the best one for me is about the same as chocolate mousse. It doesn’t drip through your fingers this way and it goes onto the scalp nicely and stays there whilst you wash your roots.
I then leave it in my roots and carry on with the rest of my shower. Rinse off ensuring you massage it through the head, it is clay, it needs a good rinse. I rinse my hair twice. Once to remove the clay and a second time to close the follicles down by rinsing in cooler water the second time.
Benefits of using the clay
- Works well for oily hair to allow more days between washes
- Completely natural
- Supplied in a second hand glass jar
- Is versatile – can you be used for hair / body / face
Negatives of using the clay
- Needs to be mixed to be used
- Dries out if lid left off
Is it for me?
Like most new things it is an experiment. Reading this will have already put you several steps ahead as i’ve been through the discovery phase for you. If it doesn’t work for you as a shampoo alternative you can still have a go at using it for a hair mask or a face mask.
I use both honey and avocado for these. I add a teaspoon of honey and about a quarter of a mashed up avocado to the clay mix and use either on my hair or face. Either way you are getting some good fats and goodness into your hair and body. When using as a face mask, it is much easier to remove if you don’t leave to dry out completely. You want to keep the moisture in your skin.
Shampoo bars don’t suit me
If you feel you’ve already been let down – I understand how frustrating this is. There is no quick fix. Even off the shelf shampoo can be a bit hit and miss. Shampoo bars are a minefield just like regular shampoo. All hair types are different but mainly hair just wants to be clean. The problem with switching to natural shampoo bars is that they are mainly oils, coconut oil and essential oils and possibly some shea butter. If like me you have oily hair, you are just adding more oil. Most natural shampoo bars come with a disclaimer that there will be a transition phase this is because if you have been using regular off the shelf shampoo they all of your natural oils are stripped out and replaced with the product.
I had one lady buy a shampoo bar from me during our early market days. She came back to say it didn’t work and she looked like a tramp. I should have just given her a full refund and offered her something else but instead I tried to educate and explain how to use it. Her daughter had lovely thick hair so I suggested it may work well on her hair. Thick hair is less can be less oily and respond better to natural shampoo bars. I never saw her back at the stall which was such a shame. Refund the product. If people have decided it’s not for them they are not going to try what you suggest because they don’t want ot wait, they don’t want to ‘transition’ they just want it t work, now.
That is not how we make change, we need to be patient and try new things. Any hint of dissatisfaction now i would refund without even thinking because the worst thing wouldn’t be the loss of income but the loss of faith in doing things differently and trying to make positive changes. I don’t want people to feel that they tried something and it was a waste of money or effort. You can also use shampoo bars as soap or to shave with so it wouldn’t have been a complete loss but people have been so bombarded with a product for everything they don’t tend to think outside the box. You use shampoo for your hair, soap for your body, handsoap for your hands, shaving cream to shave with. Or you could just use one bar for it all?!
This is where the clay helped me – for one it helped me not look like a tramp. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with the term that was used. People who are homeless don’t intentionally set out to have unwashed hair. It’s the last of their worries when they are trying to survive.
The clay is drying so it helped me go from shampoo to more natural products. By using it just in the roots I’ve been able to put some space between the times I wash my hair. I can easily get to 5-7 days now. You also get more creative if you are trying to get one more day out of it.
The shampoo bars as previously mentioned contained oils so I use my shampoo bar mainly in the lengths of my hair more like a conditioner.
If you are finding it hard to go plastic free with your shampoo and conditioner the clay maybe worth a go. Especially if like me you have naturally oily lang hair. Products are not made for our hair type not matter what the bottle says. Whatever I’ve used has always looked great for about 6 hours then it just looks yuk again.
This has been a revelation. Just having my hair look half way decent for 24hrs is a huge break through. If you have any questions about using clay for your hair then please just email me on [email protected]
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