How to Use Flaxseed Gel Without the White Flaking

Flaxseed gel flakes for four reasons: you put it on hair that was too dry, you layered it over a product it does not get along with, you used too much, or you touched your hair while it was drying. Three of those four are application, not the gel. The fix is usually free.

I get this question more than any other, at markets and in comments, and almost every time we work through it the problem turns out to be the order of operations.

Reason one: your hair was not wet enough

This is the cause about half the time.

Gel is not a moisturizer. It is a shaper. It takes the water that is already in your hair and holds your curl in place while that water evaporates. If you apply gel to damp or dry hair, there is not enough water for it to spread through, so it sits on the surface in a thin film. When that film dries, it cracks. Those cracks are the white flakes.

The fix. Soaking wet. Not towel dried, not damp. Your hair should be dripping when the gel goes on. If your hair starts drying while you work, run a spray bottle over the section again before you touch it. Add water first, then gel, every single section.

Reason two: product layering

Flaxseed gel is water based. If you put it over a heavy butter, a thick cream, or anything with silicone or mineral oil in it, the gel cannot bond to the strand. It sits on top of that other layer, and the two of them ball up and roll off as white specks.

This one confuses people because the culprit is usually a product they have used for years without a problem. It was never a problem until you added a water based gel on top of it.

The fix. Simplify the wash day. Leave in conditioner, then gel, then a light oil on top if you want it. That is the order. If you use a butter or a heavy cream, it goes on after the gel is dry, not before, and honestly it is worth trying a wash day without it once just to see.

Reason three: too much gel

Whatever the strand cannot absorb dries on the outside as a shell, and that shell flakes when you move.

The fix. Less than you think. A quarter sized amount per section for medium density hair. Work it through with your fingers until you can feel that it is distributed rather than sitting on top. If your hands still feel slick when you finish a section, you used too much.

Reason four: you touched it while it was drying

A gel cast is the hard shell that forms while your hair air dries. It looks and feels wrong, and every instinct says to fix it. Do not.

That cast is what is holding your definition. If you break it while there is still water underneath, the gel cracks into flakes instead of releasing cleanly.

The fix. Hands off until it is bone dry, then scrunch the cast out with a few drops of oil on your palms. The definition stays and the hair goes soft. Diffusing on low gets you there faster if you do not want to wait.

What if you fixed all four and it still flakes

Then it is probably the gel.

A lot of what gets sold as flaxseed gel is mostly thickened water with a small amount of flax and a synthetic film former doing the actual holding. Those film formers are what flake. Some homemade gels flake too, usually when they are strained badly and there is fine seed sediment left in them.

Ours is brewed from whole organic flaxseed and organic slippery elm, with a little jojoba and avocado oil in the formula specifically so it dries soft instead of stiff. The slippery elm is doing more work than people realize on this problem. You can see the full ingredient list if you want to check it against whatever you are using now.

The order that works

1. Wash and condition. Rinse.
2. Section soaking wet hair into four or more parts.
3. Add water to a section, then leave in conditioner if you use one.
4. Add gel. Smooth down the section, then rake or shingle it through.
5. Do not comb after the gel. Combing separates the clumps you just built.
6. Repeat section by section.
7. Air dry or diffuse on low. Do not touch it.
8. Once fully dry, scrunch the cast out with a few drops of oil.

If step eight is where you want to be careful, a light sealing oil is the right thing to reach for. That is why the Wash Day Duo pairs the gel with one.

The short version

• Soaking wet hair, not damp.
• Water first, then gel, then oil last.
• Less product than feels right.
• Do not comb after the gel and do not touch it while it dries.
• If it still flakes after all that, the gel is the problem, not you.