Today I’m going to show you how to make a natural DIY hair styling clay to create sculpted, stylish yet relaxed looks with ease.
I’ve been concerned that the many clay products we buy at the drug store contain unwanted preservatives and harsh chemicals that can irritate your scalp and other areas of the skin. So a while back I decided to have a go at making my own.
About This Hair Clay Recipe
Natural hair clay is a relatively new product to appear on our store shelves. Ranging in consistency from your average toothpaste to a more dryer sculptor’s clay.
My diy hair clay recipe is designed using Bentonite clay to give a decent hold and build a textured volume to your hair, it will create looks that are breezy and effortless but still stylish and modern.
Organic, natural and preservative free hair products need not cost you the earth, and in just a few simple steps you can have your very own for less than a few dollars, and it makes a lovely homemade gift.
Money saving tip!
Drop the organic tag, pass over the essential oils and go with the standard ingredients to save even more money!
DIY Hair Styling Clay Recipe
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Ingredients
- 40 grams Kaolin Clay (Black is also fine)
- 30 grams Coconut Oil
- 2 grams Shea Butter
- 1 drop Neroli Essential Oil
- 1 drop Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
- Cosmetic Jar
Equipment
- Mixing Bowl (Glass, Aluminium or PET)
Instructions
- Place the solid coconut oil and the Shea Butter together and melt using a double boiler. A microwave can be used as a shortcut, but keep it on a low setting for short bursts of about 10-15 seconds at a time. Continue heating until the fat and oil have completely melted.30 grams Coconut Oil, 2 grams Shea Butter
- A quick word on the clay. All earthy colors will work, but I find black or white to be perfectly fine. As you can see I have used white clay this time. It has been suggested that white is better suited for fair hair and black is suited for dark hair, but I personally think that’s nonsense.Place the clay into a mixing pot or bowl and pour the liquid fat and oil on top. Mix thoroughly to ensure that all three ingredients have fully combined.40 grams Kaolin Clay
- This is where you should add the 2 drops of essential oils. I use Neroli and Ylang Ylang for a fresh, vibrant aroma. For a more familiar fragrance, substitute for a couple of sprays of your favourite cologne. Mix thoroughly.1 drop Neroli Essential Oil, 1 drop Ylang-Ylang Essential Oil
- To finish making your hair styling clay spoon into your chosen container and smooth the top if desired.Cosmetic Jar
- Once you’ve finished obsessively scraping the bottom of your mixing bowl, leave your clay to stand until completely cool. Ensure you leave the lid off for this, otherwise bacteria will shorten the life span of this natural hair clay.
Notes
- Will produce a relatively modest amount, but remember this will begin to lose its best quality after a few months.
- Shea butter can be substituted for other vegetable butters. However, be careful to choose one with a relatively high melting point.
- Readers in hot climates should be aware that the end product may turn out a little looser than desired. If so keep it in the fridge or other cool place, you could also try adding beeswax to make it a little harder.
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed learning how to make hair styling clay, please post any questions or comments below, and let me know if you have an alternative recipe that we can add to our growing collection of homemade hair care recipes.
Hi Angela, I’m a Barber and I messaged you a while back about this Hair Clay as I use Hair clay myself and I’d love to learn how to make this, but my question to you is. Can I use a hob to make this?
Hi
Is it okay to replace shea butter with unsalted normal butter ?
Will it get washed off without using shampoo?
Hi there,
No sorry you can’t use dairy butter in your cosmetics. You must never do this, always use a cosmetic butter such as shea butter or mango butter.
Hi! If you need to make the clay a little harder, how much beeswax would you recommend?
Hi JB,
I’d try about 5 grams at a time. This should give you control over how much you’re adding, but enough so you can noticeably see the difference.
Is the mixture supposed to separate out? After mine cooled, it seems the clay ended up at the bottom, and the coconut oil ended up at the top. I mixed thoroughly when the oil was still liquid.
Hi LC,
No, it shouldn’t separate like that. This could happen if it takes too long to cool down, say if you live somewhere that has a relatively warm climate. Try popping it in the fridge.
Hi – I have tried this recipe a couple of times and it never looks like yours! When I add the oils to the clay is goes very liquidy and smooth and then pours into the container smooth and sets very hard. Any suggestions?
I must say, this recipe is on the hard side. When I use mine, I scoop some out and let it melt between my fingers for a few seconds before applying. If you’re looking for a softer finish, try upping the oils by a few grams and see how that goes.
Hope this helps!
Hey, I was wondering whether the product can be washed out of the hair with plain water. Shampooing every day can be damaging you know.
Hi Rakshith,
Because of the nourishing oils and butter that are included in this recipe, I personally find it’s difficult to remove it with plain water alone. Nevertheless, I find store-bought alternatives aren’t much different and also require washing out with a shampoo. You could make use of dry shampoo, and only wash your hair every other day if you wanted to minimize how much you wash it. While I don’t think that shampooing your hair every day alone will damage your hair, the dryness that this can cause can lead to damage. Offset this with a good conditioner, and use an oil treatment of plain old castor oil once a week to restore strength and moisture.
Hi I was just wondering how much product this makes like how many oz?
I’m allergic to coconut butter. Could you suggest I substitute? Thank you for your help :-).
I haven’t made this recipe yet but. I usually sub avocado oil in for coconut in all my hair and skin products as it is a smaller fat molecule that is absorbed by your skin(scalp) and hair quicker leaving less residue at the end of the day. You also could try grape seed it’s great for faces.
Coco butter was not in the recipe as Shea was so if I assumed you meant coco oil incorrectly I apologize.
Good luck,
Alan
How long it last for tropical climate?
Greetings!
i found it interesting to try out your Hair Clay DIY
however, some folks suggest me to add beeswax and jojoba oil essential in mixture
will it do any better?
FYI, I’m living in hot climate
thanks 🙂
Hi Vincent
If you live in a hot climate, keep it in the fridge 😉
You could try adding beeswax to make it harder, let me know how this goes.
How can I increase the hold of the pomade?
I tried this and I followed the measurements and my end result looks like soup, are the measurements correct? and also when I ordered my clay it said cosmetic clay but when I received it it was facial mask clay will that clay work?
Hi Fred
I’m not sure what’s happened here, this shouldn’t be like soup as all the ingredients are solids, so once it cools it should dry out. Have you used a liquid coconut oil (often referred to as fractionated coconut oil), if so that could be your problem as it’s manufactured by removing some of the important fats, it’s not the same as real coconut oil? The only other thing I can think of is that if you are in a hot climate you might have to keep it in a cool place.
Tighten the mix up with beeswax. Beeswax is good for keeping an oil mixture solid. Oil to beeswax is usually a 1:10 ratio.
I was wondering whether you can use Rhassoul clay (Moroccan red clay) instead as it has more beneficial properties to your hair from what I have read than Bentonite clay does?
Hi Gary
I cant see a reason why you couldn’t use Rhassoul clay but I haven’t used it before, you would have to experiment a little which is fun 😉 … Let me know how you get on with it!
Thanks for the recipe. Just wanted to make sure that is the shea butter amount truly 2g only or is it a typo? Is it supposed to be 20g?
Hi Kevin
Dan made this and he assures me that it was 2g.
Hello Angela,
Thank you so much for confirming this. I will be sure to try the recipe this weekend. I have already ordered the ingredients. Will report after some use. Thanks again! 🙂