Conditioned hair is important for viability and shine! I do a hairmask approximately once a month. Would recommend to do it more often but I like to keep my mask in for several hours and I rarely sit home for that long... so this is how it goes.
I love my hair the most when it is sunbleached, so apart from nourishing ingredients, I sometimes add some that have the ability to lighten the hair. I made a table to illustrate. Depending on your needs, you could choose from these.
Pseudoscience? I would say... a little bit of science. Honey and cinnamon contain peroxide which lyses the pigment in the hair gradually i.e. makes it lighter. I don't know the active ingredient in chamomile, but the acid is responsible for the effect of lemon juice. I would personally never add lemon because it will dry the hair out making it dull and fragile. No thanks!!
How to: pick your ingredients and mix. Today I used honey, olive oil, coconut oil, cinnamon, chamomile. Mix and wear for as long as possible. Wear over night if you can stand it! (I can't.. hehe)
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 tablespoon crystallized honey
1 tablespoon virgin olive oil
½ tablespoon organic coconut oil
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teabags chamomile (break bag, add some hot water, add to mix)
Apply: brush through your hair, dampen a bit with some water (to ease application) and put it there, in any way that you can! To prevent the mixture from drying, take a plastic bag and sprinkle some water in it and cover your hair. Wear that, with some top that you don't care about getting stained, so nice.
Rinse out with hot water (!) and wash your hair as you normally would. I shampoo twice though because I find that it's necessary. (yes I'm using shampoo again, but free of parabens and silicones). Enjoy your shiny hair!!
