Folks, I am not a beautician or a magician. Nor do I claim any special expertise or talent in the area of styling natural hair. I am, as I pointed out in “Waste Not, Want Not!” a little careful about what hair products I buy and how much.

Oh, it’s not like I’m indifferent to the prettily colored tubs of styling cremes, gels and lotions that seem to multiply every time I go to the drug store or beauty supply store. Let’s not even mention the butters, meringues, souffles and whips that are so tantalizing they have me thinking about the dessert course, not hair-grooming rituals. These wonderful looking and expertly marketed products are tempting, which is why I need to give myself a few reasons not to give in and buy them. If I did that, I’d have an episode akin to “The Trouble with Tribbles” on my hands.

In any case, I decided to save myself a beauty product junkie meltdown by buying some pure African shea butter (my hoard comes from Ghana), and mixing up a couple of batches for myself and Baby. It saves money. One 8 oz. tub of my favorite Mizani coconut hair souffle costs almost $19, and an 8 oz. tub of the excellent Amla & Olive Heavy Creme from Qhemet Biologics is pricier  at around $32. So I need to pare down costs. Take a look at how I fared in this video, posted to YouTube.

Although I loved the final results, I don’t think I’ll broaden my concoction repertoire to include conditioners, leave-ins, pomades, holding gels or spritzes anytime soon.  I mixed a spritz with some of the whole-leaf aloe vera juice, and I found that after a few days it started to smell poorly on my hair. This still happened after I stored it in the fridge. Maybe I’ll try again with a second batch, and add a few drops of tea tree oil as a preservative, but don’t be surprised if I stop at the hair souffle.

I told Hubby what I was doing one night a few weekends ago, when I was pulling a stand mixer down from its place in our kitchen. He said maybe that’s our road to fame and fortune, to which I rolled my eyes and thought about all the puddings and hair whips that are already crowding store shelves. The farthest that Paige Turner’s Homemade Hair Souffle will go is into Christmas stockings, if that.

And folks, in case you had the misfortune of opening a brokerage or investment account statement in the last week, you’ll know that stock markets everywhere just endured a thrashing. I’m not tempted to think these are the end of days. You won’t find me stocking up on gold bullion, cash or guns, or brushing up on my survival skills. Just give me my tub of African shea butter, my essential oils and my stand mixer, and I’ll plane down a few rough edges in the family budget.