To report on the Do it Yourself! Natural Beauty that’s running in the May issue of Self, I had the pleasure of roadtesting about 36 homemade beauty recipes.

But it wasn’t just  baking soda face masks that were tested—I tested some friendships  too. I asked five friends to try out the recipes and they all took on the assignment with enthusiasm until one night when I got an email from a friend with the subject:  URGENT BANANA MASK EMERGENCY. I hadn’t even tried the hair recipe yet and I could only imagine her bald in her bathroom with a banana in her hand. She had slathered on the mask but then lost track of the time and left it on her hair for an hour. The mask also called for yogurt, honey, egg and lemon, she basically baked a loaf of banana bread on her head. I tried to talk her down with compassionate emails and suggested an apple rinse to dissolve the chunky mess stuck in her hair, but it was too late. She had Chiquita dreadlocks and she was not happy. Six shampoos and I don’t even know how much conditioner later she got it all out. On the bright side, her hair did have a lot of extra body. The takeaway: always whip bananas and even though these recipes seem homespun the directions are precise for a reason.

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