All Natural Hairspray Alternative to Aerosol Hairspray
Oh, aerosol hair spray... This was one product that was not allowed in my house growing up. During my teen years, my mom would tell me to go outside to spray my Aerosol hairspray because she was not about to breathe in the "toxin fumes". I thought she was being dramatic, however, it turns out she was onto something and now I make my own that is void of the nasty "forever" chemicals! This recipe took a while to get down, but this is the concoction that works best for me! I have thin, fine, and naturally straight hair.
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Everyone’s hair type is so different, so play around with the recipe as much as you need to to make it work for you. It is cheap and easy to make. If you feel 4 ounces is too much to start with, you can just adjust the recipe to two ounces and test this DIY before making a bigger batch.
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I did create two different versions of this, one being not 100% natural because it does not contain 70% isopropyl alcohol. However, I'm going to launch an email in the near future about that DIY hairspray as well. The biggest difference between the isopropyl alcohol version and the version without any alcohol is that the version without alcohol takes longer to dry on the hair. I want to provide you with a detailed video showing you how to make the one with alcohol because it's a bit more technical.
Alright, let's get into it!
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*2 tips you must follow to see the intended effects of this hairspray:
1. Be patient. It does take time to dry, especially if you go with the no-alcohol recipe. (It can take 10-15 mins to dry completely and have that hard hairspray feel).
2. It works best in layers. Before you even start styling your hair, spray the hair spray evenly throughout your hair and brush it through for one even layer. Give the first layer a few moments to settle in before spraying the second layer.
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Ingredients:
⁃4 oz. fine mist bottle (plastic or glass)
⁃1.5 ounces of distilled water (not tap water)
-2 ounces aloe vera gel (not the bright green kind and NOT juice! Needs to be GEL). You can buy organic Aloe Vera GEL on Amazon.
-1 to 2 tbsp. of organic sugar (I use brown usually)
⁃Essential Oils (optional) start with 10 drops and add more if you want a strong scent. I like using a blend of orange and lavender.
Directions:
Warm up the water enough to dissolve the sugar completely. Combine all other ingredients until fully incorporated. Make sure your brown sugar is completely dissolved so there's no accumulation in the bottle or blockages to the spray mechanism on the bottle.
Yep! It is that simple. =)
However, before you go...
I do want to share why I stopped using conventional Aerosol hair spray. Apart from having general knowledge that Aerosol products weren't the best for health thanks to my mom, I did some deep diving into the dangers of popular aerosol products, including hairsprays. One ingredient that I kept noticing in many big-name aerosol hairsprays was... Formaldehyde. Yes, a class 1 carcinogen that acts like poison to the human body and is linked to all kinds of long and short-term adverse health outcomes that can even be lethal depending on how much is absorbed into the body. Formaldehyde is used in an array of products, including cleaning products, but it is also notably used to preserve things (not to be morbid, but including body parts) for a very long time. It is a very powerful and dangerous substance.
There is not enough space in this email to go over all of the terrible synthetic fragrances and other carcinogenic and dangerous compounds found in aerosols, however, every time you're spraying that aerosol onto your body and breathing it in, you absorb all of these toxic chemicals into your body. The ingredients in aerosol sprays, like your hairspray, contain neurotoxins and carcinogens that are VERY hazardous to you and any living beings around you (children, pets, plants, etc).
As always, I encourage you to do your own research and study the dangers of aerosol sprays and hairsprays. There's quite a bit of easily accessible information out there that may help you make positive changes in this area.
Alright, that's enough for now! I look forward to you enjoying your all-natural, clean, and harmful-chemical-free hairspray!
Happy Misting,
Chelsea Henderson (Founder & Herbalist)