This weird hair DIY treatment promises to be the secret to glossy, shiny hair

How do you like your mayonnaise? In a neat blob on the side of your plate, or recklessly squirted all over everything? Maybe you don’t like it at all? Or perhaps, you might prefer it when it’s in your hair?

That’s right: mayo is apparently the answer to all of our hair’s problems, according to the reliable old internet. We even found tubs of the stuff especially manufactured for hair application selling on Amazon. Apparently, it’s the ingredients in mayo- egg yolks, vinegar, and oils- that work together to nourish and moisturise your hair. It also contains an amino acid called L-cysteine, which promotes healthy hair growth at the scalp.

Mayonnaise also removes hair lice- gross, we know, but if you cover your scalp and hair with large quantities of mayo, it will, perhaps unsurprisingly, suffocate and kill the things. Furthermore, it acts as a conditioning treatment, because of its rich content of amino acids and nourishing oils, and with regular use, it can apparently smoothen frizzy hair and make it easier to tame.

So now we know that mayo is the thing from the gods for hair, how do we go about giving a mayo rinse a go ourselves? All you’ll need is a cup of the stuff and twenty-or-so minutes of time. Simply dampen your hair and work the mayonnaise through from the roots to the ends, as you would a hair mask. Give your hair a good massage and let it sit for twenty minutes before rinsing off, and- voila! Your hair should be smoother, shinier, and tangle-free.

Don’t fancy going to your fridge and pulling out your own tub of mayo just yet? Don’t worry; you don’t have to. Because as is the case in the modern world of bloggers and beauty enthusiasts, many, many people have already tried it for you, and broadcast their results online.

Take Melodi Erdogan, for example. She documented her mayonnaise-hair-washing journey for a week in a detailed blog post which pretty much put us off testing out this weird remedy for life. Despite admitting that after her first mayo wash, her hair felt “smoother than it's ever been”, Melodi then went on to say that “something about how my hair was clumping and sticking to my head just didn't sit right with me”, and that it “looked wet, as if I had just gotten out of the shower”. Oh, and that her hair carried with it an “intense stench” that was impossible to mask. That’ll be the egg.

Yeah, we think we’ll give this one a miss, thanks. But if you’re curious about the benefits of mayo for hair and want to give a mayo rinse a go yourself, we’d recommend starting small. Adding a huge dollop to your hair that you can’t rinse off for days probably isn’t the best idea. Try with a small, penny-sized droplet, and work your way up until your hair is nicely covered. If you notice any smoothness, good for you! But it’s not something we’ll be rushing to try in a hurry.