Flax Seed Gel

In Guatemalan markets, there are sections dedicated to different types of seeds and herbs. One of the grains commonly found there is linaza, or flax seed. Flax seed has been known to benefit the hair and body internally, but here's a way to manufacture it into your own eco-friendly flax seed gel.

The recipe is quite simple - you really only need two ingredients: flax seed and water. I would recommend only making a small amount of gel so that you don't make too much (it's generally good for a little more than a week, unrefrigerated).

To begin, put 2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of flax seed in your pot.

Put on the stove and wait until it begins to boil. The mixture needs to boil for 10 minutes.

After the mixture has boiled for 10 minutes, turn off the heat and let the pot cool. You should notice that the mixture has thickened.

While the mixture is cooling, you should get a sieve/colander and a funnel, and a large measuring cup with a pour spout.

When the mixture has mostly cooled, you are ready to strain the flax seeds out of the gel.

This should make around 1.5 cups of gel.

We used a recycled squeeze bottle of honey (well-cleaned, of course) to store the flax seed gel in.

At this point, you can use the boiled flax seed to add fiber to breads, pancakes, granola, or anything else you might normally use flax seed for.

Et voila! You now have a bottle of homemade eco-friendly toxin-free natural hair gel that works and smells just as well as any gel you could buy, and it's cheap, too!

In Guatemala, you can buy a pound of flax seed for less than a dollar, so using only 4 tablespoons means that this hair gel mixture only costs pennies to make!