Many moons ago, when I was growing up in South America, my mom needed a solution for my very coarse, thick, kinky hair. I had hair manageability problems and my wash day became a traumatic thing for me. The answer to her problem came from her garden, where she grew Okra, also known as ladyfingers. She crushed the okra for its mucilage, prepared a paste, and spread it across my hair, waiting for it to work its magic!
Fast forward and now I’m living in the US, with my own daughter whose hair is even coarser, thicker, and longer than mine. My daughter has autism, so I needed a solution that would be gentle enough to ensure wash days weren’t a traumatic experience. I tried so many products, but it became a dreaded day for her. We were on this hair care journey together, and I noticed that we both suffered from the same dryness and dullness, which certainly wasn’t helping our hair growth. Then I remembered my mother’s age-old Okra hair recipe. It helped with so much, but the benefits that were most important to me were its ability to make natural hair manageable, moisturize-rich, shiny, bouncy, and help it grow.
With the Okra paste in hand, wash day became a joy for my daughter, and I felt a sense of contentment that our hair was happy as it began to flourish again.
Okra is rich in vitamins A, C, and K and has calcium, potassium, and lots of other nutrients that are great for hair growth, moisturizing a dry scalp and may even help to get rid of dandruff. I began using the Okra recipe on a weekly basis, in lieu of my regular conditioner and noticed a huge difference in my and my daughters’ hair within a few days.
The best part is that my daughter was happy, I was happy, and I began to explore a variety of recipes for developing a hair care product line right from my kitchen using my mom’s age-old Okra secret with other natural products known to aid in healthy hair care.
These recipes were used with trusted friends and family with processed, natural, kinky, curly, and coily hair types. They all became happy users, and I wanted to share my recipes in the form of my Okra Hair products with women all over.
Rochelle Glasgow