Frugal Tip: Make your own hair detangler

Last year, there was a Target coupon that enabled me to stock up on their up & up brand  hair detangler pretty cheaply, which was great because I have 2 girls with long hair.  I still have some in my stockpile, and it works well for my younger daughter whose hair is thin and fine and never tangles too badly.  However, my older daughter's hair is thicker and coarser and tends to tangle and knot to the point of me wanting to shave her head, and the cheaper brands of detangler don't help much. 

I rarely buy salon products, but a while back I bought a leave in treatment because I absolutely loved the way it smelled and made my hair feel.  I noticed on the bottle that it also detangles, so out of desperation one day, I used it on my older daughter's hair.  It worked like a charm, but when it was gone I couldn't stomach the thought of dishing out big bucks for such a little bottle again.  So, I decided to play around with what I had on hand to see if I could make my own.

I now use a detangler that can be made very inexpensively and can also be customized for particular needs. 

All you need is a spray bottle, conditioner, and water.  I use whatever conditioner I have on hand (I'm currently using a free sample -- how much better could that get?!).

Pour some conditioner into the bottle.  This is where you can play around with what you need in order to customize it for your hair.  I probably wouldn't need much more than 1/8 of a bottle for my younger daughter, but I've found I need closer to 1/4 or 1/3 of a bottle for the older one.

Fill up the rest of the bottle with warm water, then give the bottle a good shake to mix it up.

Voila!  Homemade, cheap hair detangler. I just give it another quick shake before spraying it. 

This has worked really well for my daughter's snarls. If you decide to give it a try, I'd love to read about your feedback in the comments below.