As I took a whiff of the tea tree oil, I was hit by its distinct and robust scent. Suddenly, a wave of anxiety hit me. What if it ruins my hair? What if it causes even more dandruff? These were some of the many questions that ran through my mind as I mixed the ingredients into a plastic bowl.

Everyday, for the next seven days, I applied a homemade remedy of tea tree oil based shampoo to my hair. I was clueless of how my experience with this experiment would be like and did not have any high expectations.

I first discovered this new and upcoming trend when I was going through the “Discover” section of Snapchat. I read an article about how tea tree oil is now commonly used to treat dandruff. The concept and idea seemed straightforward, yet simple enough to make and follow.

Since I was suffering from a bit of dandruff after recently dyeing my hair, I decided to take a leap of faith and give tea tree oil a shot. My scalp was extremely dry already, so why not?

Not even after a week of learning about the tea tree oil shampoo, I went onto Amazon for some shopping. I added all the materials necessary for making the tea tree oil shampoo into my shopping cart and hit the “Place your order” button. The anxiety inside me was building up, as the shipment came closer and closer to my house. I had to see for myself if the homemade shampoo would change my hair and bring forth positive results.

After two long days of waiting, it finally arrived. I quickly mixed the ingredients together and poured it into a plastic container to rapidly shake, ensuring that it was mixed well.
While applying it to my wet hair, I found the solution to lather very well. It honestly lathered more than all of the other shampoos and brands I used in the past, such as Pantene or Aussie.

While I did not notice a significant difference, I did see some results. After using the product as directed, I found the previously dead and limp locks to be slightly more smooth and silky. My hair was also somewhat shinier, more manageable and had a decent amount of volume. My roots seemed to be more oily later in the day than it used to be.

It took me a while to adjust to the scent since tea tree oil was strong-scented. It was incredibly frustrating because my hair was left smelling like a nasty mixture of tea tree and coconut. This was by far the least pleasant scent. However, this is just a personal preference since I am more a vanilla type of girl.

After the second and third use, I saw a slight contrast to the first day. Running my fingers through my hair, there were no longer any tangles. Each strand felt stronger and thicker. Surprisingly, it worked like magic in that aspect.

However, this is where my compliments on the treatment end. As the third day passed on, I began to notice that my dandruff had multiplied. There was even more than before. Only mere hours ago, I thought the product was my holy grail, but it turned out to be the exact opposite. The dandruff had spread to the front of my head and had also increased in size. Despite this, I continued its use. I was not going to give up on the tea tree oil just yet.

On the fifth day, the large, white flakes had lessened a little, but it was still more than I initially had before using the product. My hair did feel smoother, similar to the first use. It was honestly pleasing to see that the product at least did something.

As the week was nearing to an end, the results were similar to the fifth day. There was no change, and I was beginning to give up hope on the so-called remedy for dandruff. By the end of the week, I was left with complete and utter surprise. The dandruff had lessened.

I later discovered that there were different types of homemade tea tree oil shampoo. Depending on the specific hair types (fine, dry and damaged, or oily), it contains certain ingredients found in the shampoo for those hair types. The one I made was meant for fine hair, which I do not have. This may be one of the causes that the product did not come up to par and have immediate results.

Despite the elaborate timing it took to treat my dandruff, I still genuinely recommend the product for others to use. The materials are both inexpensive and easy to find.

Overall, the product was not precisely life-altering, but it had excellent results in other aspects. One of these aspects include reviving my once dry, dark locks to shiny, smooth. I had finally found a reliable shampoo to use.