Stop wasting your hard-earned cash on toxic products and turn everyday kitchen ingredients into the hair care products you’ll feel safe using.
I love my hair. In fact, it’s always been one of my favorite features. I like to curl it, straighten it, style it, well, do just about anything to it.
After years of playing hair stylist to myself, I've gone through endless bottles of hair spray and gel, tried every volumizer there is on the market, and purchased (and wasted) several other products. The one thing all these products had in common was that they cost me a small fortune over the years. This doesn’t even take into account how terrible they were for the environment (aerosols are full of CFC’s) and how ripe they were with toxic ingredients. Don’t believe me? Well here’s a fun fact: Mineral oil, a common ingredient in several hair care products, is also a derivative of crude oil. Eek!
In an effort to green my hair care routine I decided to stop spraying my head with chemicals and instead, use some natural and clean hair product alternatives.
Nature’s Hair Spray
Say goodbye to hazardous CFC’s and hello to raw sugar! Grab yourself 4 teaspoons of raw sugar, 1 cup of hot water, 3 drops of your favorite scented essential oil and a fine mist spray bottle. After bringing your water to a boil, add in your sugar and stir until it has dissolved. Remove from heat and allow your sugar water to cool to room temperature. Once cool, pour into your spray bottle and drop in your essential oil of choice. Shake, shake, shake then style and spray! You’ll be surprised at how great this concoction holds your hair. If you want a lesser or greater strength of hold just play around with how much sugar you add.
Quick tip: You can add a tablespoon of vodka to your spray to preserve it longer!
Coconut Gel
Coconut oil is an incredible substance. Not only does it taste great, moisturize your skin and do a million other things, but it also makes for the perfect hair gel. Find yourself a bottle of 100% cold-pressed virgin coconut oil and use a dab of it to create texture in your hair. Don’t overdo it though. You wouldn’t want to look like a grease ball, now would you? Coconut oil also acts as a phenomenal serum for those suffering from dry, dull, limp locks. Rub a little in the palm of your hands then smooth over your hair for sleeker, shinier hair.
Build Body with Beer
Suffer from limp locks and want to give your mane a little extra volume? Make yourself a volumizing spray out of beer! All you need is 1 ½ cups regular beer (avoid using light beers), ¼ cup water and 1 tablespoon of lime juice. Mix your ingredients together in a spray bottle then mist the roots of your hair. Tossle your hair upside down to let gravity give you a hand. Beer’s yeast content helps build volume while the lime juice covers the scent. If you think this is a waste of a perfectly good brew then perhaps I can tempt you to use coconut milk instead. Just spray coconut milk on your roots, blow dry and style as usual. Easy, right?
