Locks au naturale - Homemade Hairspray

Homemade hairspray is easy peasy, and it works!  You may not be able achieve this look,

but that's probably for the best.


What you'll need: 

1 whole orange (for dark hair) or lemon (for light hair)
2 cups filtered or distilled water
1/4 cup rubbing alcohol or clear grain alcohol like vodka or gin
essential oils for scent

Cut the citrus fruit of your choice into wedges and boil with the water until it's reduced by half.  

Or, if you're like me, forget about it and boil it until the liquid is almost all gone, add some more and boil it again.  

Strain into a glass measuring cup and let cool.  If you have less than a cup of liquid, add water to make 1 cup.

Use a funnel to pour it into a spray bottle, add the alcohol and essential oils, and voila!

 Just kidding.  I am SO glad I didn't graduate from high school in 1988.

Anyway.  If you don't want to use the alcohol (it can be drying and is not without it's health concerns) you can omit it and store your hairspray in the fridge.  It should last for a couple weeks that way.  I don't use hairspray very often, so I added the alcohol and one batch has lasted me a good 6 months or more.  I used rubbing alcohol because it was what I had on hand, but I probably will try vodka next time to see if it is less drying.  

I use it when I put my hair up to help things stay in place and smooth flyaways, and and sometimes I use it along with a diffuser to help add volume and define my "curls" if I'm trying to look a little extra fancy.  Like most homemade, natural products it is not an exact replica of what you would buy at the store and there is a bit of an adjustment phase while you get to know the way the product works, but it's worth it to me to know how to pronounce everything I'm putting on my body.

What about you?  Have you ever made your own hair styling products?  Would you?

Locks au naturale - Thirty Two Poo Cubes (say that five times fast!)

UPDATE: I am no longer using 'poo cubes.  I found something simpler, easier, and more frugal that I like even better!


 I apologize for my absence, I've had a little extra trouble keeping up with life the last few weeks.  Sigh.  Moving on.  In my last post I mentioned talking next about hair or skin care.  So I've decided to do a series on natural hair care, then natural skin care.  I am so. smart.

Natural hair care has probably been my biggest struggle.  It took me a year to find a replacement for commercial products that I'm truly happy with, but I'm grateful to report that I have indeed finally found something worth blogging about.  I shall recount my journey for you now.

1.  No 'poo.  No 'poo is crunchy blog slang for washing with a baking soda and water mix and rinsing with an ACV (apple cider vinegar) and water mix.  Tons of people rave about the results.  To be fair, I only tried this once or twice, and everyone says you have to give it time, but greasy hair is one of my "things," and since my hair looked worse after trying this method, I wasn't willing to give it any additional time.  I may try again at some point (if I ever quit my job and work at home), but for now I'm going to stick with what's working.

2.  'Poo bar.  I made my own and also tried a store bought version.  I really wanted to like it because I liked having only one product in the shower, and it was really easy to travel with.  I didn't love the texture of my hair, though, and my ends constantly looked dried out so I ended up trimming my hair more frequently than I wanted to.  I tried a diluted ACV rinse with the shampoo bar, but didn't like the results.  I also tried putting coconut oil on the ends of my hair regularly to combat the dryness, only resulting in really greasy looking ends after the first washing and really dry looking ends after the next.

Side note - Most commercial hair products contain silicone.  Translation: they coat your hair with plastic that disguises dryness and damage.  Anytime you switch from commercial products, your hair will most likely go through a transition/detox phase, and because it will no longer be coated with plastic, it may look dry for awhile.  You do have to give natural products time to really judge how they're working.  

3.   Store Bought 'Poo.  I gave the shampoo bars about 6 months and still had unacceptably dry ends, so I switched to Aubrey Organics.  It's the brand they sell through Mountain Rose Herbs, so I figured the ingredients would be trustworthy.  It was a step in the right direction, but I still definitely didn't love my hair.  Plus it's pricey, and the shampoo contains carrageenan, a natural preservative derived from seaweed, but not without its health concerns.  Just because something is natural doesn't mean it's good for you.  Do your research.  You can't see me, but I'm shaking my finger at you.

4.  'Poo Cubes.  I remembered reading this blog post over at Crunchy Betty about "sorta 'poo" at some point and mentally tucking it away for future reference in case my other options didn't pan out.  They didn't.  So I tried this, and WINNER!  I've been very pleased with the results.  My hair looks clean and shiny and feels soft with no dryness.  Here's a specific breakdown of exactly what sorta 'poo means.


Sorta 'poo is a mixture of 1 Tbsp. castile soap and 1 tsp. coconut milk.  Milk.  Not oil.  If you know my sister, you can ask her to tell you that story.  I make coconut milk myself with a blender, but you could probably use a store bought brand.  The thing that's tricky about this method is that coconut milk is perishable.  You can't whip up a big batch and leave it in your shower.  It will go bad.  Reading through the comments on the aforementioned blog post, one brilliant reader said that she froze coconut milk in teaspoon sizes so she could make a fresh batch of 'poo as needed.  Taking that one step further, I froze the castile and coconut milk together in measured amounts in an ice cube tray.  So now I have a sandwich bag in the freezer containing a bunch of little white 'poo cubes.  My hair is pretty long, but also thin and fine.  I found that I don't even need an entire cube, so I cut them all in half and still have more than enough per washing.  This method also turns out to be very economical.  Without doing the exact math, I was able to make 32 'poo cubes for less than $5, I'm sure.  I typically wash my hair 3 times a week, so one batch will last almost 3 months.  Maybe not as cheap as a .99 cent bottle of Suave (do those still exist?) but ~$20/year for shampoo is pretty durn good.

Admittedly, this method is not as convenient as having a big bottle of something in your shower, but I've adjusted.  If I remember the night before, I pull a cube out of the freezer, put it in a tiny glass jar, and let it thaw.  If I don't, I grab one in the morning and it melts quickly as you rub it in your hands.

Something else interesting about this method is that when I followed it with an ACV rinse, I actually liked the results this time.  Specifically, I use about 1 part ACV to 3 parts water and some essential oils to help it not smell so vinegary.  You can play with that ratio to fine tune the results.  The vinegar rinse is important because it helps balance the pH of your scalp after washing.  

So.  Hair is kinda like fingerprints, or snowflakes, or grass (always greener...).  Ultimately what works well for me may not work well for you, but here's a list of options to try, and hopefully your process will be speedier than mine was!