Dry Shampoo has been rising in popularity dramatically. The aspect of not damaging my hair through constant stripping of oil every day as well as making my mornings 50% faster is a bandwagon I can get on. I will say it is not a tool to not shower for a week; but nice for those quick mornings. What’s not okay is the price of dry shampoo and the fact it is considered a liquid during travel. In the end dry shampoo is a powder; but the aerosol can helps distribute the powder evenly and the aerosol is a pressurized liquid. I also have about two things going against me with dry shampoo. I have medium to dark brown hair; finding a 3 oz can for dark hair is not an easy feat. I am also oily, so a 3oz can is good for about one and a half uses. There has to be a better, cheaper solution and thankfully there is! I developed a recipe and an application method for DIY Dry Shampoo that evenly distributes into the hair, is travel friendly, and perfect for dark hair.
Materials for DIY Dry Shampoo
- Cornstarch
- Unsweetened powdered baking chocolate (for dark hair)
- Essential oils (optional)
- Empty Baby Powder Container
- Boar Hair’s Brush (or nylon bristle brush)
DIY Dry Shampoo: Ratio
Cornstarch is a miracle when cooking and with beauty. I use it as an inexpensive mineral veil when my make-up as well as a general powder for any sort of powder lubrication. At $0.50 a box it’s probably the most affordable bit of makeup I’ve ever used. Since it is the key ingredient for this DIY Dry Shampoo it means that this whole recipe is also pennies to the dollar compared to the aerosol dry shampoo! I’ve heard of baby powder being used but I found baby powder to not distribute as nicely and it has the distinctive baby powder smell. The baking chocolate is more for the darker hair types to make it a more appropriate color when distributing. However, I have even used normal plain cornstarch as dry shampoo and it still distributes extremely well even in my dark brown hair.
- Light Hair 1:0 Cornstarch to Baking Chocolate (no Baking Chocolate)
- Medium Hair 3:1 Cornstarch to Baking Chocolate
- Dark Hair: 2:1 Cornstarch to Baking Chocolate
The darker your hair is the more baking chocolate needs to be added to the ratio. The color of the mixture will be much lighter than your natural hair color anyway, however, when properly distributed in the hair it will match dark hair very well.
From here it’s nice to add in a few drops of essential oil for fragrance. This is completely optional if you’re looking for a fragrance free dry shampoo. I added in a little bit of lavender fragrance for my personal enjoyment.
DIY Dry Shampoo: Application
This is the key to the whole DIY dry shampoo is the application. I have seen similar recipes for DIY dry shampoo that don’t think about the application enough. Most just use an old makeup brush and dab it onto the roots. Doing it by this method only puts the dry shampoo at very specific points, doesn’t distribute well, and shows more of the fact that the DIY dry shampoo is definitely not your hair color. When using the aerosol sprays the directions indicate holding the spray at around 8-12″ from the head thus distributing the dry shampoo evenly over the hair. The application I am suggesting is a more manual version of this process. It’s a bit awkward the first few tries but once the finesse is figured out the process is just as quick.
The secret to the manual application to this DIY Dry Shampoo is in the container: an empty Baby Powder container. In last week’s post I decorated my baby powder container with a nail polish marbling technique. This works fantastically for this project to add a little bit of fun, colorful flair to my container.
After carefully popping open the container with a knife load in your ratio mixture and replace the cap. From here the process is similar to applying the spray.
I segment off the sections and tap tap tap the DIY dry shampoo out over a general swatch of hair. Segment again and tap again until the whole head of hair is covered in the DIY Dry Shampoo.
I don’t make my hair excessively covered, but the more oil you have the more powder you may want to use. It is all at your discretion.
Once finished I massage the powder around my scalp and brush it with the boar’s hair/nylon brush for more even distribution; just like I would if I was shampooing in the shower.
This formula can be used in the morning or the night before. Reapply as necessary. From here style as normal – without the excessive oil.
Trial and Error with DIY Dry Shampoo
- Some people can smell the cornstarch when it gets wet. I had that experience with my sister in law being able to identify the smell after we were out in some icky drizzly weather (before the addition of the chocolate). I don’t smell it but this is another reason to add in the essential oil.
- You may smell a little like dark chocolate. Like that’s a bad thing…
- Don’t wear your nice clothes during application. Just like any dry shampoo it kinda goes everywhere. I apply it in my bra or undershirt before putting on my work clothes.
- Using only Cornstarch does work with dark hair too! Using just cornstarch does work in a pinch but it needs a lot more distribution as well as leaving a bunch of powder on the brush. Even better would be putting it on the night before.
- The process of mixing is messy. Cornstarch and baking chocolate are both some extremely fine powders. Use a dry towel to clean up large spills because a wet cloth with just smear and make more of a mess. I like to measure in a bowl then do the actual mixing in a plastic baggie. This makes more a more even mixture as well as an easy place for storage under my bathroom sink.
Thank you for reading my guide to DIY Dry Shampoo! Please send me an email at saturatelife@gmail.com and Thank you again for stopping by.
