The worst thing about online recipes is they don't give you the dang recipe. First you have to read a whole history of the person, then how and why they made the recipe, then all these details about making it, and finally the last damn thing after many paragraphs is the actual recipe buried at the end somewhere. Please allow me to do all of this backward and give you the recipe first.
- 1.5-1.75 cups okra gel
- 1.5-1.75 cups flaxseed gel
- 0.5 cup aloe vera juice
- 0.5 cup agave extract/nectar/whatever it's called
- 2/3 cup marshallow root extract/tea/whatever
- 1.5 teaspoons pectin powder
- (might just use 1 teaspoon next time?)
- 1/4 cups xanthan gum
- thickener
- (might use just 3Tblsp next time)
- SEE USAGE WARNING BELOW IN THE INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE DON'T DIE
- 1/2 cups propanediol
- preservative & moisturizing alcohol
- Good Smelling Stuff/essential oils
You must store this finished gel cold. I ended up with three good sized jars, so I froze two and kept one in my fridge to use now. CLEAN AND SANITIZE your whole workspace and every utensil you'll be using.
Now I will give you:
- Instructions on how to make it
- Where to find some of these ingredients if you're living in Taiwan like me
- How and why I bothered learning how to do this in the first place; or, the stuff that would be at the beginning of the recipe on one of those other recipe blog posts. The backstory.
- Lastly, if you prefer listening to someone tell you these things rather than having to read them yourself, I'll post a link to my IGTV videos for accessibility. Scroll to the end and look for this color to find those links.
Instructions!
The equipment I used was:
- DISTILLED WATER, not just filtered. I found an 800ml bottle which was enough for my recipe.
- measuring cups and spoons
- a colander with holes small enough to keep cooked flaxseeds out (you might prefer cheesecloth but that stuff gets thick and sometimes the gel won't pass through)
- a cutting board and knife
- a saucepot
- two mixing bowls one medium and one large (I don't actually have a large one so I just used my soup pot for that)
- a whisk
- a blender
- the jars to put the gel in after
- spray alcohol to sanitize all my surfaces and tools... We're using lots of fresh organic stuff here, and my first batch started to get a weird pink mold on it because I wasn't as careful.
Please be aware: every time I mention water below, I'm talking about using our DISTILLED WATER! Never filtered, never tap.
- Make your okra gel
- I've seen recipes that range from 5-7 pieces of okra per cup of water. I wanted more finished gel, so I used 8 pieces and poured two cups of water over. Cut the okras lengthwise, put them in your saucepot, let it simmer until the okra looks mostly cooked and strain off your liquid through the colander into the smaller mixing bowl. At this point I found I had only 3/4 cup of liquid gel, so I threw them back in the saucepot with another cup of water and like two new pieces and let them simmer a little more until I had enough liquid gel. Measured it into measuring cups to check my volume and added it to the big mixing bowl.
- Make your flaxseed gel
- A quarter cup of seeds goes a long way. I poured two cups of water over and let them simmer. They might try to clump so just jiggle the pan around in a little swirly circle and they'll bust back up. Don't cook them too high or they'll make a crazy foam that wants to boil over real bad. Run it through your colander and measure it out, you ought to have enough. If not, use the exact same seeds and just pour a little more water over and simmer again. Pour it into the big mixing bowl with the okra gel.
- Make your aloe juice
- I ordered aloe leaves online but so many people just have the plants around, maybe you already do, too. You're gonna ever so carefully take off the outer green skin with a knife and put the jiggly jelly guts into your blender. The first time I did this I made way too much juice, so I've just frozen it and I thaw out what I need as I go. Some people like to strain their juice and maybe you would too, but I'm not bougie. I like my ingredients hearty.
- Make your marshmallow extract/tea
- I ordered marshmallow root online. I put about 1/4 cup of the dry stuff into a container, and pour about 1 cup of boiling water over it. When I strain it off, I end up with 2/3 cup tea. I also threw a bunch of mint sprigs in mine because I have fresh mint, it's good for your scalp, and I was feeling sassy.
- Add your agave gloop.
- Take your pectin powder and let it dissolve in 1Tblsp water in a tiny little bowl before you add it to the rest of the mix. Honestly maybe let this start dissolving earlier on and let it set for a while until you get near the end of your recipe.
- Xantham. Gum.
- IT IS NOW TIME FOR THE AFOREMENTIONED WARNING.
- Everything I read online said hey, this is a thickener of liquids, please remember you are also mostly liquid, including and especially the insides of your mouth, nose, and lungs. SO WEAR A MASK when you're using this. I'm so paranoid I wear a mask and also hold my breath. It's best to add this also to a liquid, so maybe your pectin stuff above, or I try to sprinkle it in while whisking, but since I put it all in a blender at the end anyway it works out fine, clumps be damned.
- Propanediol
- This is an interesting texture! But again you can just measure it out and stir it in.
- Good Smelling Things
- I used a tablespoon of rose water, I had the mint magic in my marshmallow root extract from above, and I put 1/2Tablespoon each of rosemary essential oil and lavender essential oil. You can read online about what essential oils you think might be good for your purposes, or you can just follow my lead. Personally I prefer to find an actual essential oil rather than an "extract" or flavored oil because I want the real good magic not just the flavor. Even though sometimes those smell better.
But maybe you need some more info, for example:
Where to find these ingredients in Taiwan!
* Okra: Any wet market or grocer honestly
* Flaxseed: Sometimes the hippy/organic section of Carrefour; I ordered mine off shopee.
* Aloe: Your balcony, the friendly neighborhood AYi, or again I ordered mine off shopee.
* Agave: I actually spotted a bottle at Jason's Marketplace and scooped it up! I hadn't been able to add it to previous recipes because I thought it wouldn't be a thing here. I hadn't even checked shopee, maybe they have it too. It was over in the section by maple syrup.
* Marshmallow Root: I definitely ordered a bag of this off shopee.
...Now for the weird guys...
* Xanthan Gum & Propanediol: There just happened to be a business outside of the school where I work that sold additives to people making their own food products. I knew from my searches that I would need a thickener and a preservative, so I wrote down all the ones I had found listed in ingredients of gels I trusted to be curly-friendly and safe. I put them in a little word document and searched online to find their Chinese translations - sometimes Google could help, sometimes I had to find the English Wikipedia page and then look at the Chinese version. I went into the store, and of all my list, those were the only one thickener and one preservative they carried, so that's what I left with. Then I did a whole lot of searching to find out what ratios they ought to be added in for best results, and even after that I still had to dial it in troubleshooting earlier recipes. I think I've got those particular ingredients where they need to be now. However as far as helping you find them? The name of the business outside my school was 鑫隴興業有限公司. That might not help you. I guess maybe ask coworkers, search shopee, and I wish you the best of luck in this department. Feel free to message me with any questions and I'll try and help as best I can.
And now finally...
The Backstory: How & Why
aka the stuff that would be first in annoying people's recipe blogs
When did I first start learning about the Curly Girl/Guy method and trying to implement what I was learning? I think some time in 2018 I started doing it actively, although anyone with curly hair can tell you there are some things we already knew before we heard there was an online movement about it. Like never brush your hair when dry for example! Anyway I had started trying different products because I had gone back to the USA and had access to them in stores. I was troubleshooting and dialing in what my hair did and didn't like. I know a lot of people swear by oils, but the woman who first started publishing books on this stuff now says that oils and butters are really harmful, because what our hair needs most is hydration from water, and oils and butters seal our hair's cuticles and we all know they don't combine well with water. I found that my hair was much happier with hydrating products rather than those that contained any types of oils or butters.
Most importantly, I found a woman named Adria making a product called Ecoslay was making the stuff my hair liked most and responded to best. This woman is amazing and I hold her in the highest esteem. When I encountered her, she was still making her products largely from ingredients she had grown herself! She's gotten a little too successful to keep that up these days, and more power to her. I recommend her if you live in a country where you can afford to have her products shipped to you.
But I was leaving the USA for Korea in early 2019, and my previous years in Taiwan had taught me that when I lived in a racially homogenous country with perfectly straight beautiful shiny hair, products would be hard to come by. Fortunately for me, at that time I was able to find a dropshipping service and get things shipped to a US address and then affordably sent along to me in Korea. But then I came back to Taiwan, and that wasn't an option any more. More than that - I got here right at the beginning of the pandemilovato, when worldwide shipping became difficult everywhere.
So I started reading the ingredients in my favorite of her products, her flaxseed and aloe gel called Orange Marmalade. Truly I recommend that stuff so highly - and unlike my preference for avoiding oils it has great reviews from people of all races and ethnic backgrounds. Later, when I couldn't import her stuff any more, she started carrying a new product, Jello Shot, which people with kinkier hair seemed to like a lot and it claimed to have stronger hold. So I reached out to Ms Adria and tried to get in touch with her.
Man I couldn't get her to respond for anything! When she was less successful she would communicate with people but maybe she's just too busy now. I reached out to her three or four times, both though IG messages and also through emails, trying to pay for a consultation on how to start troubleshooting my own recipe - because I kinda hate when white women steal ideas from Women Of Color and I really wanted to compensate her for any possible advice. But despite my efforts I never heard back. Since I wasn't able to pay the woman whose ingredients I based my recipe on, I choose to make my own attempt at a recipe free to the public, because I know most of what we've learned about naturally curly hair has come from WOC (usually Black). So if one of you out there has a need for a recipe, please let me just give this to you.
Now if you can't be bothered to make it yourself:
I get that. It's intimidating at first. Believe me when I say by the second time I tried a recipe I had the whole thing finished in about two hours, so don't be too scared. However maybe you just don't wanna. If there is enough interest here in Taiwan, I will start making batches to sell. As for the price, I will go check out what most hair products go for in stores and make my price fair and comparable to those - and since I got my ingredients from reading the products made by a Black woman, I will always offer 15% off to any Black woman who wants to buy it.
That's it and that's all for now! If there are any good questions in the comments I'll answer them there and also edit the answers back into this post.
Finally, when I manage to make the IGTV videos I will post the links to them here. But I feel like I need to wait until wash day and record them with my hair styled from the gel, right? So give me a couple days please.
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