Curly girl method approved zero waste oatmeal hair gel

I had been looking for a good gel for my hair after starting the Curly Girl Method for months. The one I had originally bought had glycerin in it which made my hair just straight-up frizzy. But I didn't honestly feel like spending more money to see if another gel would work, when I came across this video by Swavy Curly Courtney on how to make an Oatmeal Hair Gel. It's only 2 ingredients, oats and water, and takes about 10 minutes to make start-to-finish. 

This has now become a staple of my current hair routine and I make a new batch every 1.5-2 weeks or so. However, I don't use quite as much on my hair as she does in hers so to make mine last 1-2 weeks I only need about a third of the amounts she used. I have thin and fine shoulder length hair, so if you find you need more than this you can continue to increase the proportions until you have the perfect amount!

Here's how I make my oatmeal gel.

• 2/3 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of raw oats

Put both the oats and the water in the pot at the same time and bring to a boil. Then lower to medium heat and begin stirring constantly with a wooden spoon for 5-10 minutes. 

You can tell that the gel is done when it begins to look more blended and if you tap the spoon with your finger and then press your thumb and forefinger together, you should be able to see the gel consistency. ​

Once done, I put a strainer over a bowl and strain the gel into the bowl to cool. Don't forget to stamp down on the oats with your spoon to make sure all of the gel goes through the strainer After the gel cools down I will put it into my gel bottle and then straight into the fridge so it doesn't spoil! ​

All in all: this gel is great, doesn't take a lot of time, and if I did the math out probably costs me $0.02? ​​

Here are the results of the oatmeal gel in my hair after washing! It makes my hair look shiny and healthy!