DIY Dry Shampoo {with essential oils}

Want to know a secret?  I don’t wash my hair every day.  In fact, sometimes I don’t even wash my hair every other day.

It’s true.  Not washing my hair every day saves lots of time, not to mention that it’s much better for my hair and scalp to be spared a daily stripping.

Stripping Oil Produces More Oil

Did you know that stripping hair of its natural oils every day actually causes the scalp to produce more oil?  It might seem counter intuitive at first–that oily hair should be washed less frequently– but when you really think about it it just makes sense.  (The same is true for the face, which I’ll be discussing in greater detail in an upcoming post about my facial cleansing routine.)

Having said that, it’s still true that my second and third day hair tends to look greasy at the roots, especially around the face.  Here’s the fix for that: Dry Shampoo.

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My Old Dry Shampoo

I’ve been using dry shampoo for years, but there were two problems:

1.  It was white.  My hair is dark brown.
2.  Commercially produced dry shampoo contains nasty ingredients, as you might imagine.

Obviously, they now make dry shampoo for dark hair, but there was still the problem of the ingredients.  Well, guess what: it’s super-easy to make your own nontoxic dry shampoo!

Here’s how…

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DIY Dry Shampoo {with essential oils}

Ingredients:

• 2 TB arrowroot
• 2 TB cornstarch
• 2 TB rice flour
• 2 TB cocoa powder (for dark hair only)
• optional: 6-10 drops essential oil (I used lemon.)

Instructions:

1. Whisk together all dry ingredients.
2. Add essential oil and stir well.
3. Store in a glass container.
4. To use, “paint” shampoo onto your roots using a foundation brush.*
5. Use your fingers to rub the shampoo into your scalp.
6. Use a natural bristled brush to lightly brush your hair from roots to ends.
7. Style hair as usual.
8. Do something productive with all that time you just saved!

*First, I stored my DIY Dry Shampoo in a recycled spice jar with a shaker top.  That shaker top was sort of a disaster.  The holes were way too big and it made a *bit* of a mess every time I used the shampoo. Finally, I realized that a brush would work much better.  And it did!  I highly recommend using a makeup brush–it allows for a much more precise application of the powder.  I use this one: EcoTools Flat Foundation Brush

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This is my Second Day Hair, after an application of DIY Dry Shampoo.  (Do you know how hard it is to take a picture of yourself in the mirror without showing the camera!?)

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This next picture is from our recent trip to the National Zoo in honor of Little Brother’s 4th birthday. We wanted to leave the house as early as possible in order to nab one of the limited parking spots. Therefore, I decided not to wash my hair that morning, even though it meant I’d be sporting Third Day Hair for our big trip (and the inevitable pictures).

As it turned out, the results of my DIY Dry Shampoo were so successful that I decided to institute more three-day stretches between hair washings.

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Here’s another shot of Third Day Hair–you’ll notice I did not crop out my baby bump. 🙂  That’s Baby Brother, scheduled to arrive on May 27th–about seven weeks from the date of this photo…

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And by the way, a cute jar of DIY Dry Shampoo paired with a foundation brush would make a fun, inexpensive gift, don’t you think?  Check out this post for more of my favorite DIY gifts: 9 Favorite DIY Recipes for Gift-Giving.

Have you tried dry shampoo?

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