DIY : Dry Shampoo

Want to know a secret? You don’t need to wash your hair every day! In fact, it may be better for your hair to take a break from the shampoo every once in a while.

Dry shampoo is making a comeback after being wildly popular in the 1960s-70s. It’s a quick and easy way to get fresher and cleaner-looking hair without going through the hassle of wet washing. It’s an effective way to avoid frequent shampooing, which strips the scalp and hair of its natural oil and can lead to unpleasant overproduction of oil. Just-washed hair is a nightmare to style, so dry shampoo is helpful for getting the cooperativeness of slightly greasy hair without the look.

Dry shampoo works by putting an oil-absorbing substance at the root of the hair, which then gets brushed, combed, or blown through the hair. It disappears, along with the extra oil, and leaves the hair feeling and looking less greasy.

I’ve been using cornstarch as a homemade dry shampoo for years. I remember reading about it in a teen magazine when I was young – I also tried baby powder, but that went badly and it smelled funny. In the past 4-5 years, I’ve been adding cocoa to my homemade dry shampoo so that it blends in better with my darker hair.

The conventional dry shampoos available at the store contain toxic ingredients such as talc, isobutane, butane, propane, limonene, geraniol, and hormone-disrupting paragons, which means that ultimately you are inhaling and absorbing these toxic ingredients. Use natural ingredients, and use them occasionally, and you should get good results. This homemade dry shampoo recipe is a great substitute for the aerosol versions if the strong smells bother you, too. I’m not a bit fan of walking around smelling like alcoholic fruit or candy, and I’m sure you’re not either. 😉

I’ve included a homemade dry shampoo recipe for both light and dark hair – it will make enough for tons of uses and you can fit it in a spice jar. And it gives thin, straight hair great texture – it ends up feeling thicker!

There are a number of different powders and starches that would work well in absorbing the oil from the air. You could consider using something you already might have in your kitchen cabinet like baking soda, corn starch, corn meal, cocoa powder, arrowroot or clays. Mix the dry ingredients together well in a small glass bowl, slowly add your essential oils one drop at a time and then put into a clean spice shaker bottle. These make great dispensers for dry shampoo. If you don’t want to use the spice shaker bottle you could use an old make up brush to apply the powder to the hair roots.

Recipe 1

(for Lighter Hair)

4 Tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

2 Tablespoons of baking soda

5 drops of scented essential oil (aroma of your choice)

Recipe 2

(for Dark Hair)

4 Tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch

2 Tablespoon cocoa powder

5 drops of scented essential oil (aroma of your choice)

To Use: Comb out your hair well to remove all tangles. Section hair into parts and shape small amounts of the shampoo near the scalp along the lines of the parting. Use your finger tips to work the powder evenly into the hair, focusing on the roots. If your hair needs freshening up you could brush the powder down along the length of the hair to its tips.

If you are in a really big hurry you could try just dusting your hands with the powder mixture and then rubbing it in on the roots of your hair, focusing mainly on your part line and around the sides of your face and temples. The warmth of your hands will help to blend it in. Wait for about 5 – 10 minutes to allow the powder to absorb the oil from your hair. Finally, comb and brush the powder completely out of your hair. Some people like to use a hair dryer to help the process along.

Remember: You don’t want to apply too much powder, just enough to absorb some of the grease and you don’t want to have it build up on the scalp.

XO Kimberley