Baking soda dry shampoo is a great invention. Before I did my research, I thought this was a gross thing. If your hair is greasy, why don’t you just wash it?
However, if you look at the science behind it, you’ll quickly learn that too much washing ruins your hair. So this is where my homemade baking soda as dry shampoo comes into play; it helps keep those locks looking and feeling fresh.
Introduction
But what ingredients go into making this recipe? Spoiler alert: it’s a carefully chosen combination of powders.
Along with that, to keep your hair smelling lovely, I’ve also included some essential oil. A few drops of your choice just help customize your dry shampoo to your liking.
So, let’s dive in.
Why Use A Dry Shampoo?
A great question! Let me break it down for you.
As I said, homemade dry shampoo allows you to wash your hair less often. But why do we want to wash our hair less?
- Shampoo (even liquid homemade shampoo) is made using surfactants that change the pH of your hair. This can sometimes lead to adverse effects, such as making your hair more fragile. Split ends can happen more often and much faster after a hair trim.
- Shampoos can also strip your hair of natural oils, making it feel dry.
This might be something you were already aware of. I was, but I just thought that you’d need to accept a few weeks of greasy hair. After some time, your hair becomes accustomed to fewer washes and produces less oil.
But what I didn’t know is that baking soda dry shampoo can be the answer to making your hair look and smell fresher throughout this time. It’s not just for festival goers or backpackers!
Ingredient Spotlight – Baking Soda For Dry Shampoo
Baking Soda (bicarbonate of soda)
Baking soda is our main absorbing ingredient in this recipe. While it has a high pH, we don’t use enough of the product to significantly impact our hair. However, suppose you do have a very sensitive scalp. In that case, I’d recommend swapping this out for more ground oats or arrowroot, or you can substitute it completely for cornstarch or tapioca starch.
Along with its fantastic oil absorption, baking soda has deodorizing properties, which can help neutralize odors in the hair. This can be pretty useful if your hair tends to pick up unwanted smells.
Baking soda can add volume and texture to the hair. It can create a matte finish, which is perfect for those looking to add texture and body to their hair.
Ground Oats
We’re using fine-ground oats for this recipe. Not only is it an excellent co-absorber for our bicarb, but it’s also deeply soothing and will help combat any irritation. Furthermore, because it’s great at absorbing oil, it’s the perfect ingredient to help keep the hair feeling fresher between washes.
Arrowroot Powder
Arrowroot powder is a natural ingredient that also helps with absorption. However, when applied to the roots of the hair, it can help add volume and texture. It’s a great ingredient to use and perfect as a co-absorber in this formulation.
Cinnamon Powder
It smells lovely, and the cinnamon powder adds a little pigment to the formulation. Without it, we’d have just white powder mixed together. Adding a little cinnamon allows the product to be applied to darker shades of hair more quickly and easily.
Sweet Orange Essential Oil
A beautiful aromatic oil that will impart on the hair, making it smell fresher and more pleasant without washing it. It also smells great alongside the cinnamon. However, you can use just about any essential oil you like the sound of.
Substitution Guide
- Baking soda: Substitute it with cornstarch or tapioca starch. Both are gentle on the scalp and are good oil absorbers.
- Arrowroot powder: You could use tapioca starch or cornstarch. Both have a similar purpose in absorbing oil.
- Ground oats: you could use cornflour or add more arrowroot powder.
- Cinnamon Powder: You could omit this altogether because we are using only a tiny amount of this.
- Essential oil: You don’t necessarily need to use any essential oil, as the cinnamon powder does give this shampoo a nice aroma. If you want to elevate it by adding one, you can use any essential oil you choose. Lavender, peppermint, and rosemary would be good. To avoid sensitivity, always follow their recommended usage rate.
How To Make Baking Soda Dry Shampoo
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Equipment
- Mixing Bowl (Glass, Aluminium or PET)
Ingredients
- 50 g Baking Soda
- 20 g Ground Oats
- 29 g Arrowroot Powder
- 0.5 g Orange Essential Oil (Liquid Soap Dye)
- 0.5 Cinnamon Powder
- 1 Cosmetic Jar 4 oz (or Powder Spray Bottle)
Video
Instructions
- Sift the baking soda and arrowroot, ground oats, and cinnamon powder in a bowl and mix it well.50 g Baking Soda, 20 g Ground Oats, 29 g Arrowroot Powder, 0.5 Cinnamon Powder
- Sprinkle in the sweet orange essential oil.0.5 g Orange Essential Oil
- Mix all the ingredients thoroughly to ensure you have an even distribution of the components.
- Store the baking soda dry shampoo in a powder spray bottle or a container with a lid, such as a small mason jar or other small jar with holes in the lid (a clean and empty spice jar is suitable for this)1 Cosmetic Jar 4 oz
How To Store & Use
You’ll want a glass or PET plastic container to store these. You can also use aluminum pots too, like I have in the picture. Because of the inclusion of an essential oil, we can’t just store this in any old plastic container or bottle.
Using this product couldn’t be easier; just follow my simple steps below!
- Part your hair into sections to expose its roots.
- Use a powder spray bottle, container, makeup brush, or powder puff to apply your baking soda as dry shampoo all the way down to those roots.
- Next, gently massage the powder into your scalp using your fingertips.
- Allow the baking soda dry shampoo to sit for a couple of minutes to absorb excess oil.
- Finally, brush or comb through your hair to distribute the powder, then remove the excess.
- Style your hair as desired.
Final Thoughts
So, waiting to wash your hair has never been easier! Baking soda dry shampoo really changed the game for me. I’m now using it to help me go longer between washes. And I’m feeling the difference already; my hair feels stronger!
I hope this post has inspired you to take a new approach to washing your hair. Dry shampoo really is a great product. It’s also straightforward to make. If you can combine powders in a bowl, you can make this baking soda dry shampoo!
Let me know if you have any questions or problems using the comments below, and I’ll do my best to answer.
