Donna Marie Miracurls, and A Tweak on my Homemade Flax Seed Gel

I bought a bottle of Donna Marie's Miracurls Curling Gelly back in September. After initial experimentation, I wasn't having much success. It wasn't providing me with the curl enhancement I crave, and left me a bit fluffy. I vastly preferred the results I would get from flax seed gel, which has a similar consistency and feel to me, even though the Donna Marie product is aloe based. I shelved the product because I don't like to put my products on the Swap Board. I don't swap because I know that very often, products work better in different weather conditions than others. Plus, every once in a while, someone will post a raving review, and then I just want to try it again to see if maybe the Hair Gods have changed their wills!

This is one product I'm glad I didn't swap. I've been using it lately with great success. I was inspired to try again based on this thread, where some other curlies noted they were having great success with this in lower dew points, despite its glycerine content (glycerine is an ingredient many avoid in low dewpoints because of its humectant properties).

First of all, I should say that that there was a formula change between my bottle (from September 2009) and the bottle pictured. Not only is my product a different color (it's a very pale beige...very comparable to flax seed gel color), but the ingredients are different on my bottle than what is on the website.

From the website:
Ingredients: Purified water, aloe vera juice, vegetable glycerin, xanthan gum, Provitamin B-5, avocado oil, Linseed extract, herbal infusion of marshmallow extract, plantago extract, Rosemary, Slippery elm and hibiscus and alkanet root, potassium sorbate, silver citrate, citric acid and fragrance.

From my bottle: Distilled water, aloe vera leaf juice, linseed extract, plantago pallium extract, vegetable glycerin, slippery elm root, rosemary leaf extract, avocado oil, pro-vitamin B5, potassium sorbate, and fragrance

Ingredients in red are not found in my formula, but found in the new formula.

As you can see, ingredients were added, but none were taken away. Relative amounts were changed. The most notably and consequential of the relative amounts changes is probably the movement of glycerin from the 5th spot on the list to the 3rd spot.

Silver citrate and citric acid are both preservatives, so not much to think about there. The xanthum gum was added for making the product thicker, most likely. So I'd imagine that the new version is thicker than mine.

So you must take my review with a grain of salt, as I'm reviewing the old formula. I've yet to try the new formula.

The old formula is working splendidly in low dewpoints. It's also working well with the super soaker method. Some general observations: it needs the full complement of products, by which I mean it needs a leave in and a gel for my usage. It's VERY curl enhancing for me. My hair positively sproings for this in low dewpoints in conjunction with a moisturizing leave in.

I apply it by scrunching. It has a similar, runny, gelly consistency to flax seed gel. It goes in easily, and my hair eats it up. I use a lot of it. Not so much as flax seed gel, but more than a typical curl enhancer. More like double a normal curl enhancer, and about 75% of what I'd use for flax seed gel.

My favorite combo so far is using Jasmine's Babassu Butter Cream, "super soaking" my hair, and Herbal Essence's Body Envy Gel. This is my hair yesterday with this combination. Dews were around 30. I've found so long as the dews aren't higher than around 35-40, I can use this product with much curl happiness.

Click to enlarge. Just FYI, the white specks are dust on the bathroom mirror, not dandruff :P

So as promised in the title, I've made 3 tweaks to this batch of flax seed gel. Here is the recipe I'm used yesterday in whipping up this bath:

2 cups water (cool from the tap)
1/2 cup whole, raw, golden flax seeds
1 tablespoon of agave nectar - This is tweak #1
1 teaspoon Vitamin E Oil -This is tweak #2
1/2 teaspoon epsom salt - This is tweak #3

Here is the original post, with the original recipe, and detailed instructions on preparation

In the first batch, I used orange essential oil. Didn't like the way that smelled in the product at all. So, that got taken out. I added more agave nectar in this batch (original used 1.5 tsp.). I like more hold than less, so I figured it couldn't hurt. Also, this gel was thinner due to improved technique. The last batch was definitely too thick (boiled too long). So this batch didn't boil as long, and was much easier to strain. The addition of extra agave nectar I think has helped to enhance the hold of the thinner gel. I added more vitamin E oil just because I have a good bit of it and I may as well use it. The epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) was added for curl enhancement. Some have reported success putting it in the water before boiling and others say put it in the strained gel. I put 1/4 tsp. in before boiling and 1/4 tsp in post-straining. That way, I didn't have to make a decision!

Things I'll tweak in future batches: I need to pick up some real preservative. Vitamin E Oil is an anti-oxidant, so it'll preserve product life, but it is not anti-microbial. I use up my 8 oz that this recipe makes very very quickly, and I keep it at a temperature between freezer and refrigerator temperature (keeping it just barely liquid). But next time, to be safe, I'll add in some Gradefruit Seed Extract (an anti-microbial)

Another thing I want to play with is the addition of olive oil. I don't know if this has been done, but my hair adores this stuff. I want to see if it will be miscible with the gel, and if it is, will it impact the product performance (positively or negatively). I want to do a similar experiment with coconut oil. I'm sure someone has done both of these before, but I haven't seen anything in my cursory readings. I'll have to dig a bit deeper to find out more.

Also, I like the results with the espom salt for curl enhancement. Aloe is enhancing on my curls, so I'd like to throw that in too.

Basically, look for more flax seed gel recipes to come. I've got a lot of seeds and a lot of ideas!

This is the results from today's styling with Flax Seed Gel Version 2.0. As you can see, less curl than the Donna Marie gives me, but that stuff REALLY enhances. For a one product styler, I'm very happy with the flax seed gel. It's a bit frizzy, but I attribute that to the rain today more than the flax seed gel. I thought about using a gel on top, but I really wanted to see how the new batch would do by itself.