Beers and smoothies – but not to drink.

Well you know what they say, right? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Or, more appropriately, beauty is in the eye of the BEER HOLDER.

An old pun a friend of mine used to tell, sure, but tonight I found myself quite literally living out this strange joke.I’ve recently found myself very much intrigued with health and beauty noting that the two terms can be interchangeable. For a while I’ve wanted to test the old theory that pouring flat beer onto your hair and washing it out after a few minutes (like a shampoo) leaves your hair with a nice, glossy shine. Obviously as a student I found no shortage of beer – in fact I’m sure it could make cleaning up after late night parties a lot more profitable (just think – the room is full of free beauty products. Frickin' ace.)

Since I’m notoriously good for forgetting I have a drink when all too engrossed in what’s on my laptop screen I had a spare beer that was more than ready for my little experiment.

That said I’ve also recently been following the work of clinical nutritionist Kimberly Snyder who advertises her Glowing Green Smoothie which I had been drinking religiously for a week or so now. It may look heinous and not taste wonderful but it’s already worked wonders for my skin and the thought hit me: if I have left over smoothie why not use it instead of throwing it away? (I’d put it on a compost heap or feed it so plants in a garden but I live in an apartment so I do what I can) I wondered to myself if, since the ingredients are all natural, would that also provide nutrition to my hair?
I decided to test both.
At the same time.

Guys.
At the time it seemed like a great idea.

Like one of those urban myths or tales that if you do something it'll have a really great outcome.
Nah....

Sure – if this were some actual scientific experiment I’m sure they would test them both individually to compare results and so on but I’m impatient, I had all the ingredients and my hair needed cleaning. First I put the leftover smoothie onto my hair and ran it from root to tip. I let it sit for a while, looking rather ridiculous with my hair full of organic pulp, and then rinsed it out. I continued showering and after a while moved onto the beer. Admittedly I think, in hindsight, that one is meant to apply the beer to dry hair but hey – what’s done is done and fun was had!
I poured it onto my wet hair and allowed it to settle.

The result?
After exiting the shower, towel on head, I found that there were still tiny bits of the smoothie in my hair – bits of celery no doubt. I also found that the beer had left a slight smell upon my hair though it was complemented by the fruity tones.
Success rating?
Although it left my hair with a nice sheen an additional wash was needed to get celery out of my hair. It was a long shot, and a little crazy, but there’s a first time for everything and I’m always up to try new things. It gave my hair some smoothness, a nice scent and gave me a new anecdote to discuss in the future.

The next day I was going out to an alternative night in Leeds and whilst crimping my hair all I could smell was burning celery.

Maybe next I’ll try with just the beer!