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What is Garlic Conditioner?

Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

Garlic conditioner is a hair care product used to help keep hair healthy and moisturized. It is also often used to add shine and luster to hair. It may sound a bit strange to use an ingredient most common to fragrant Italian dishes as part of a beauty regimen, but many people swear by garlic conditioner. This product is especially popular among people who wear their hair long and therefore need to keep their hair in healthy condition to avoid frizziness and unruliness. Garlic conditioner is also reported to help reduce tangling in the hair.

Most companies that sell garlic conditioner use an unscented garlic extract. This is good news for those who want to use this product in order to boost their level of hair care but would rather not walk around smelling like garlic bread all day. There are some home beauty treatments that include instructions to make homemade garlic hair treatments. These, however, are often quite pungent in their aromas.

Head of garlic.
Head of garlic.

In addition to being used as a rinse following shampoo, garlic conditioner is sometimes use in other ways. It is sometimes used as a deep conditioner, which means that the product is left on the hair for up to 15 minutes before it is rinsed away. In other cases it is used as a leave-in conditioner, meaning that it is applied to damp hair that has been shampooed followed by one's usual styling process. Finally, some people use this product as a scalp treatment to help keep the scalp healthy and moisturized. This can help to reduce dandruff and other scalp conditions.

A bottle of garlic conditioner.
A bottle of garlic conditioner.

In addition to garlic conditioner, there are also hot-oil hair treatments that use garlic or garlic extract as a key ingredient. Furthermore, there are some hair growth systems for people who are losing hair or balding that include garlic or garlic extracts as a primary ingredient. It is believed that garlic can stimulate hair growth as well as improve the shine and manageability of the hair.

Garlic conditioner is sometimes used to treat dandruff.
Garlic conditioner is sometimes used to treat dandruff.

Garlic conditioner can be used on a number of hair types, from very coarse and highly textured hair to smooth and straight hair. There are some brands of garlic conditioner that are packaged and marketed for certain hair types and others that do not specify what types of hair they are for because they are formulated for use on many different hair types. Garlic conditioner is often more expensive than average drug store brands of conditioner.

Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

In addition to her work as a freelance writer for WiseGEEK, Diane is the executive editor of Black Lawrence Press, an independent publishing company based in upstate New York. She has also edited several anthologies, the e-newsletter Sapling, and The Adirondack Review. Diane has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. from Brooklyn College.

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Diane Goettel
Diane Goettel

In addition to her work as a freelance writer for WiseGEEK, Diane is the executive editor of Black Lawrence Press, an independent publishing company based in upstate New York. She has also edited several anthologies, the e-newsletter Sapling, and The Adirondack Review. Diane has a B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College and an M.A. from Brooklyn College.

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Discussion Comments

pastanaga

I'm not sure if it loses its effectiveness, but garlic becomes much less pungent when you bake it slowly in an oven. So, if you really want to make your own hair care products featuring garlic, you might try doing that.

Be careful how you cook it though. It really needs a slow heat. I tried cooking garlic bulbs in a microwave once and it almost immediately turned black and then caught on fire. The smell was really bad and the burn marks wouldn't come off the bowl. Even when I tried again and watched carefully, it was difficult to get to the point between cooked and completely toasted.

So, use an oven instead if you want to make garlic shampoo. Your kitchen will thank you.

bythewell

Garlic can be absorbed into the body through the skin, which is why you will sometimes smell of garlic even if all you did was chop it up for dinner.

Eating garlic for health is also an excellent way to prevent colds and infections. Some people even suggest swallowing whole cloves of garlic.

So, if it can be absorbed into the skin, maybe using garlic products in your hair can help to prevent colds. They certainly couldn't hurt.

And if one of the garlic benefits is feeling healthier, as well as healthier hair there's not much to lose.

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    • Head of garlic.
      By: tospark
      Head of garlic.
    • A bottle of garlic conditioner.
      By: Irina Brinza
      A bottle of garlic conditioner.
    • Garlic conditioner is sometimes used to treat dandruff.
      By: Jasmin Merdan
      Garlic conditioner is sometimes used to treat dandruff.