Homemade dry shampoo recipes?

[thatlauralass]

I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience in homemade dry shampoos? x_x

 

At the moment I'm trying to train my hair to go a day or two between each wash - since I found out that washing your hair each day is actually bad, and encourages your hair to produce more oils thus being even greasier, I want to settle into a good routine and I think the way my hair is right now, dry shampoo is the only way to do that.

 

But I'm finding that cans of the aerosol dry shampoo just don't last long at all. I mean, the stuff I'm using at the moment is Bed Head's Dirty Secret and it's without a doubt the best dry shampoo I've ever used, but at £10 a bottle and each 300ml isn't lasting more than a couple of weeks, if I can find a good homemade recipe that actually works, I'll be laughing.

 

So a couple of questions; what's your hair care routine like? Can you go a couple of days without washing, or do you wash every day? And if so, would you ever consider trying to train your hair to go a couple of days without washing, to make it less greasy?

 

 

[Angeló]

I have medium-length/long smooth black hair that I rinse with Herbal shampoo once every 3-4 days ... i dont use conditioner ... i never tried dry shampoo is but you're right , daily use of chemicals causes natural hair oil to dry and your hair will "break" and look old and tired ...

 

i found this website on how to make your own dry shampoo

 

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Dry-Shampoo

 

1. 1
   Look in your cabinets. You probably already have the ingredients you need for dry shampoo. A mix of powders and starches works well to absorb the oil from your hair. Choose from the following options:
   • Baking soda. This also helps to minimize odors.
   • Corn meal
   • Corn starch
   • Ground oatmeal (if you use this, grind it to a fine powder in your food processor)
   • Talcum powder or baby powder
2. 
   2
   Mix the ingredients in a bowl. Depending on what you have in your cabinet, mix equal parts of as many of the above ingredients as possible. The mix of course ingredients and powders helps absorb as much oil as possible.
   • If you're missing an ingredient, substitute a like ingredient. For example, if you don't have baby powder, double the baking soda. If you don't have ground oatmeal, double the corn meal.
   • Make sure the ingredients are well mixed. If you want to make sure they're ground even finer, you can run them through your food processor together. (Be sure to clean it well if you use baby powder.)
   • To make scented dry shampoo, mix it with dried flowers or herbs (e.g. roses, lavender, hibiscus, violets, mint) in a jar, close the lid, and set it in a dark cupboard for 2-4 weeks. The scent will mix with the dry shampoo so that when you use it, your hair will smell good.
3. 
   3
   Pour the mixture into a spice shaker. An old, clean salt or pepper shaker, or any shaker that was used for a spice, is the perfect dispenser for dry shampoo.

[agrinwithoutacat]

My routine has pretty much become shampooing once a week. If I'm working out and my hair gets sweaty between washes I'll rinse it real good with water, but I try to avoid the shampoo until I need it. I used to do it twice a week but lately my hair just isn't getting oily until it's been a full week, which is fine with me. It saves money on shampoo and conditioner, haha.

Angelo's recipe seems like it should work, but let us know how it goes if you try it! I have all of that stuff already, so if it works I'll whip some up whenever my current bottle runs out. It's always good to have some on hand for hair-washing day if I don't have time before I have to go somewhere.

[thatlauralass]

Ahh thank you so much Angelo! :D I'm pretty sure I have both baking soda and talcum powder; I don't know about the others (I'm the most undomesticated person ever) - would I find those in the baking aisle or something?

I'm really keen to try mixing with dried flowers, so I might make a batch with rose petals and one with lavender or something. :) Thanks so much again, I'm actually really excited to try this out!

 

agrin- Awh man, I'm so jealous of you haha. My hair at the moment is totally awful. If I miss a day washing it is absolutely awful (hence why I'm trying to wean my hair off onto dry shampoo). I'll definitely let you know how it goes! :) I'll pick up a couple of salt shakers tomorrow when I'm in the town so I can start mixing some up tomorrow evening.

[Kimbearlyn]

I have long black hair that used to get greasy a lot, but after a tip from my librarian, it only gets greasy after 3 full days of not washing! :) She told me a story of a girl she knows who only washes her hair once every month (crazy I know). The girl waited until she had a long break (summer vacation) and just kept her hair up in a bun and waiting as long as she could stand before washing.Because apparently if you wait a day or two with greasy hair, your scalp will realize it doesn't have to produce so much oil, so by the next time you wash it, it should take a little longer before getting greasy! I tried this out over winter break a couple years ago, and it actually worked!! plus you don't have to spend any money buying supplies, so it was a win-win for me :)

[LillytheGrundo]

I have long hair. I only wash it every two to three days and NEVER use conditioner. I have allergies so I have to wash the allergins out of my hair, or I would definitely let it go longer. If my bangs start to look a little greasy I throw in some baby powder. I've found the dry shampoos smell chemically, and I end up washing my hair just to get the smell out. lol

 

Also, washing with cold water is better for your scalp. Hot water tends to dry your skin out so your scalp will create more oils to combat the dryness.

 

Good Luck!

[Pookies]

I have long black hair that used to get greasy a lot, but after a tip from my librarian, it only gets greasy after 3 full days of not washing! :) She told me a story of a girl she knows who only washes her hair once every month (crazy I know). The girl waited until she had a long break (summer vacation) and just kept her hair up in a bun and waiting as long as she could stand before washing.Because apparently if you wait a day or two with greasy hair, your scalp will realize it doesn't have to produce so much oil, so by the next time you wash it, it should take a little longer before getting greasy! I tried this out over winter break a couple years ago, and it actually worked!! plus you don't have to spend any money buying supplies, so it was a win-win for me :)

 

Im going to try that this week! Whoo hoo, finals week b) haha

 

Usually my hair gets greasy 1 day after I washed it or if it gets wet / humid outside. Once I washed my hair...and the next day was super hot so I took a shower without washing my hair. My hair looked as if I hadnt washed it in 3 weeks :O it looked gross and felt gross :/ i had to wait until the end of the day to wash my hair again.

 

Head and shoulders worked magic. I would wash my hair and it wouldnt look greasy for days! but i started to lose hair and i read online that it could be H&S so now I switched to Tio Nacho and now I am using Palmers Olive Oil...Im not losing hair anymore but it's the greasy problem again :( I considered using the vinegar / dry shampoo formula but I read somewhere that it's only recommended once a month

[Naamah D.]

I wash my hair every 3 days. I always wear my hair in a bun. It's kind of hard to notice if someone's hair is greasy if you can only see the top part of their hair. I also use loads of gel, conditioner and hairspray. The other day I only used a tiny bit of conditioner, but then I put some gel in it.

I also work with children. Wearing my hair down would be a reason to get head lice and believe me that is one of the last things I need since I love my clothes so much :D

 

Sometimes people would complain about when I do wear my hair down that it looks flat and greasy so that's also a good reason to wear it in a bun. Sometimes having your hair all fluffy and clean isn't worth have to literally rip the elastic out. I have insanely curly hair and it mats nonstop. I have to take a comb and get every last knot out of my hair before I use shampoo. My hair is fairly long. I've had it short a couple of times and I always ended up looking like this guy:

 

 

Except my hair is curly and I have dark hair.

 

If I brush my hair I look like I should be back in the 70s. One time I put a blow dryer to my hair and right when I got out of the bathroom my brother shouted "70s hair!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

 

So basically my hair care routine is very basic.

 

Sorry for the long post, but hair care is something that I hate with a passion.

[thatlauralass]

Kimberlyn - I know someone who intensively cleans her hair every 3 months. =)

What sdo you mean about hair not getting greasy until 3 days? :o My hair is definitely not like that, haha. It starts to get greasy barely 12 hours after a wash; it’s awful.

I think it’s very slowly getting better with perseverance, though. ^_^

I’m going 1 day between washes but I’m tempted to move to 2 days between washes now.

Lilly - Yeah, a lot of dry shampoos smell awfully chemically. The Bed Head stuff I have doesn’t smell that bad, but I feel bad at how quickly I go through the stuff.

And ooh, I didn’t realise hot water was so detrimental to your scalp. .__. Shows you how much I know!

Pookies - You sound a lot like me, minus the hair loss issue with head and shoulders. I recommend using a dry shampoo (no vinegar though), if you feel your hair getting greasy. c: It’ll help absorb the grease. It’s working wonders for me!

Naamah - Ugh, I know what you mean if you’re working around children! My hair’s really fine and straight with a slight wave, so when it gets greasy it just sits flat and awfully on my head. x_x The dry shampoo helps me to get a bit of volume. I tend to wear my hair down for the first day or so then I braid it back out of my face.

[dawnshine]

I don't know anything about homemade shampoos but I only wash my hair once a week and it rarely gets greasy. My hair is also super thick though. I think it's something the average person has to train themself to do, though. It's natural to feel a little bit dirty and feel like you need to get a good washing and scrubbing and the whole nine yards in when in reality it's not that big of a deal.

 

At the same time I feel like everyone has very different hair, due to genetics, diet, environment, etc. For example if you smoke a pack a day and eat cartons of McD's french fries you prooooobably aren't going to get away with a wash a week or even a wash every few days.

[Naamah D.]

I don't know anything about homemade shampoos but I only wash my hair once a week and it rarely gets greasy. My hair is also super thick though. I think it's something the average person has to train themself to do, though. It's natural to feel a little bit dirty and feel like you need to get a good washing and scrubbing and the whole nine yards in when in reality it's not that big of a deal.

 

At the same time I feel like everyone has very different hair, due to genetics, diet, environment, etc. For example if you smoke a pack a day and eat cartons of McD's french fries you prooooobably aren't going to get away with a wash a week or even a wash every few days.

 

I have thick hair so the way a person with thin hair is going to probably have to care for their hair differently than mine. Some people can get away with using a tiny bit of conditioner only on their ends. I have to use almost a handful of conditioner top to bottom.

 

I also don't straighten my hair. If I washed my hair and used a minimal amount of conditioner and then straightened it, I'd ruin my hair. This is why I love wearing my hair in a bun :)

I think split ends are worse than have "greasy" hair and if I had short hair I wouldn't be able to wear it in a bun :(

 

I would look like Willy Wonka!!!

[thatlauralass]

Ugh; so the last time I washed my hair was friday night… it's now monday and my hairs like a chip pan fryer. I'm not sure how much dry shampoo is appropriate to use but because I'm heading into uni for the afternoon, I had to really blast a whole ton on (and I had to put a lot on yesterday too!).I've also french braided pigtails into my hair, since my hair is so disgusting that I honestly couldn't leave it loose today. ;n;

 

I've taken a note of the stuff I need to but to make my own dry shampoo, so hopefully I'll get a chance to purchase what I don't have today! ^_^ I'll keep you all updated.

 

 

dawn - I actually lead quite a healthy lifestyle; although I -am- guilty of dropping into macdonalds sometimes (who isn't I'm not a super woman so shhh). xD I don't drink alcohol and I don't smoke whatsoever; I drink a lot of loose leaf non-sugared tea and rarely drink any carbonated soda. I'm a little bad for not drinking enough water per day so I'll need to correct that (would that actually have an adverse effect? I know it affects your skin but not sure about your scalp/hair), but yeah. ;n; I've gone years washing my hair every single day which is probably why my hair is so naturally crazy greasy.

 

 

Update.

So I've made my first attempt at making some dry shampoo; I'm actually quite impressed with the results so far. Photos under the cut (if you don't like photos of gross hair, I recommend you don't click show spoiler. .____. )

 

 

Here's the ingredients I used; I actually added some fresh mint to the final thing as well to give it a nicer smell. It didn't actually smell that bad as it was, though. I was pleasantly surprised.

and here's the finished mix. I think I'll just boycott the oatmeal next time, though. Unless the stuff you use really is a powder, it doesnae look too good sitting in your hair when you apply it, haha. I wouldn't like to go out with chunks of oatmeal in my hair (people could mistake it for lice or something.)

And the fun before/ after pics. The one above is my hair before applying… the last time I washed my hair was Friday night (and it's now tuesday at the time of writing this, so… 3 and a half days of no wash); I've used an aerosol dry shampoo for the last couple of days, though. But this is it fresh out of bed. .___. Pretty gross, right? You could fry chips in there. But I wouldn't recommend it.

…And here's my hair after adding the dry shampoo. I think it's a huge difference, I'm quite amazed. ^_^ I'm definitely on the right track; adding the baking powder seems to have been a pretty good substitute for the corn starch. I just need to either skip the oatmeal or make sure if I add it it's as a powder.

The biggest issue I have with this right now is, as you can see in the last image above, it's a very white powder so it turns my darker hair a bit grey.

 

 

So yeah, I feel like I'm on the right track with it! ^_^ I'm going to make a batch with rose petals for fragrance once I find out a way to fix the white hair issue. I heard coco powder (non sweetened) can help with this? I'll pick some up the next time I'm at a shop.

 

Also I thought I'd add; do NOT use a flour shaker to add dry shampoo to your hair. :L It went absolutely everywhere, haha.

[Kimbearlyn]

 

Kimberlyn - I know someone who intensively cleans her hair every 3 months. =)

What sdo you mean about hair not getting greasy until 3 days? :O My hair is definitely not like that, haha. It starts to get greasy barely 12 hours after a wash; it’s awful.

I think it’s very slowly getting better with perseverance, though. ^_^

I’m going 1 day between washes but I’m tempted to move to 2 days between washes now.

Whoops, didn't notice this til now. sorry x_x And I mean my hair doesn't start to get greasy until 3 full days of not washing :) I think freshman year I went almost 5 days of not washing my hair (during winter break where all I do is hibernate lol) before I couldn't take it anymore, and when I washed it out it stayed non-greasy for awhile! Since then my hair has been very good to me, even during swim season where I'm forced to wash my hair every week day! I just always make sure on the weekends to wait until sunday before I wash my hair - i think weekends are a good time to recuperate your hair because you can sleep longer so that means it's easier to go longer without washing :) Good luck and I think you should definitely try to go 2 days before washing :yes:

[tinti]

I used to have really long hair, grew it for 3 years.

But then I chopped it off to around shoulder/armpit lenght a couple of months ago. My hair routine has stayed the same though. I wash it every 7-14 days, dependding on what I feel like. I've never had very greasy hair to begin with, but I kinda trained it to go that long a summer when I just stayed home and could just put something on my head when I was going somewhere. And I do light oilings every now and then when I feel like I need some moisture, and deep overnight treatments once a month. I have a leave in conditioner I use a little pea size of when i've finished washing my hair, and if I feel like being wavy I scrunch some aloe gel into it, if not I just let it dry. Very convenient ;)

 

I have no idea if this will help but here's a video on DIY natural dry shampoo.

[Batman]

Does your hair have a natural wave to it? There is a whole world out there doing what is called the curly girl method. Basically the idea is to remove the harsh chemicals in traditional shampoos. The main thing to remove is silicone's because they bind to the hair and can't be washed out with water. If you use the silicone's (normally in your conditioner) then you need a harsh shampoo to get it out so that is why you have the sulfates to remove the silicone's.

 

I personally am following this method and they preach removing shampooing all together and using conditioner to wash your hair and massage the scalp. It might sound weird or disgusting but if you remove the silicone's from your conditioner you don't need the shampoo to remove the build up. Just a good scrub and it will clean the area.

 

It will take a little while for your hair to adjust to the new shampoo routine but it should even out and not be so bad. I can go a month between shampoo's and not have any issues with it.

[tinti]

Haha, the only time I got greasy hair whas when I tried the curly girl method. I lasted for a month and then went back to my trusty non-sulphate shampoo, silicone free conditioner and aloe gel. I might try it again though, when my hair gets longer and I have more updo variations lol..

[Pookies]

Well I'm on spring break now so I am trying to not wash my hair like someone above said. Maybe make it to 1-2 weeks and see if my hair regulates itself or whatever. If that doesn't work, I will try Batman's post (lol) although I dont think the stuff I am using has harsh chemicals. I was using Tio Nacho before (not sure if I already mentioned that?)

 

I'm going to recommend this website since I forgot to before:

 

http://cosdna.com

 

you can look up ingredients in your make up and other products...gave me a good starting point (altho' i dont wear make up)

[Batman]

Haha, the only time I got greasy hair whas when I tried the curly girl method. I lasted for a month and then went back to my trusty non-sulphate shampoo, silicone free conditioner and aloe gel. I might try it again though, when my hair gets longer and I have more updo variations lol..

 

If you use a sulfate free shampoo and a silicone free conditioner you are technically curly girl. You don't need to only conditioner wash to be curly girl because it is just meant to remove the harsh chemicals that dry curly hair and replace with things that moisturize (aka conditioner). Just let your hair tell you when it needs to be washed don't wash it every day because that is the way that it seems you should. Eventually you could be washing your hair twice a week or even twice a month.

[Pookies]

During Spring Break I did things I read on this board...and in short, it worked!

 

I stopped washing my hair but after 3 days it was super greasy and I cant remember now, but I had to meet someone or go somewhere and look presentable so I washed my hair but after my shower I put oil at the roots of my hair (since I used warm water -- strips oils). After that, I would brush my hair with a bristle brush everyday to spread the oil of my hair. I think it was around the third day I started to use powder on my head...

 

I think I didnt have to wash my hair for about a week an a half but I lost track of how many days went by...still...I was surprised and super happy! I'm going to be trying this as much as possible!

 

TY everyone who posted suggestions!