Did you know that you can make yourself a dandy hair gel from ingredients right in your own kitchen? I've used this idea many times -- actually it was handy before we could go to the cosmetics department and buy a nice hair gel or mousse. Dissolve some dry gelatin dessert mix (the brand doesn't matter) in a cup of hot water. Recipes I have seen recommend diluting the suggested mixture for gelatin dessert by half. If the directions call for 1 package of the gelatin to 1 cup of hot water, then one cup of cold water, then these recipes for hair gel would use 1/2 package. I have found that even less gelatin works very well, maybe even better. The days when ladies needed a hair gel ahead of pin curls which they wanted to be stiff waves are past. As are the days when a cute "spit curl" right in front of one's ear, which was stiffened with gel or sugar water and not combed out. The softer more casual hairstyles which are popular today cry for less stiffening. On the other hand, if you have an extremely sculpted hair style, you will enjoy mixing more gelatin into the hot water. For those of us old enough to remember, hair gel used to be presented in a wide topped jar into which one dipped a comb. It was slimy and almost always managed to drip on me or my clothes!

I have used the colored, sweetened brands of gelatin dessert and have found no effect on the color of my hair, but, I admit I would still be uncomfortable with green or blue or purple. I prefer to use orange, lemon, pineapple, or one of the red flavors. The biggest influence here would be the scent of the flavor on your hair. If you prefer NO scent and/or want to stay away from color dyes and sugar, you could use an unflavored gelatin for your gel.

You will have to have boiling water, of course, to dissolve the gelatin. Add the appropriate cold water and make sure the mixture is cooled down to body temperature or lower before coming the gel through your wet locks.