welcome to the first part of the new DIY Formulation Educational Series! today we’re starting out light and formulating hair oils!
as always, NONE of the links provided are affiliates. i do not benefit in any way, i’m just trying to point you to reputable suppliers that i personally use.
here are 3 hair oils that may be worth your time to DIY, taking inspiration from currently sold products.
#1
product inspiration ingredients:
ungurahua oil, palo santo oil
adjustments:
none
notes:
ungurahua is by far my favorite hair oil and i don’t care how bad it smells. i’ve posted about it here and use it in my all time favorite hair oil DIY here. as for formulation, palo santo oil is an EO, so we know it’s not above a 2% concentration. let’s assume 2%.
diy formula:
- ungurahua oil – 98%
- palo santo EO – 2%
#2
product inspiration ingredients:
coconut oil, camellia seed oil, argan oil, moringa seed oil, evening primrose oil, tamanu oil, marula oil, black cumin seed oil, lavender EO, rosemary EO, orange bitter EO, vanilla oil
adjustments:
none
notes:
the ingredient list indicates virgin coconut oil, which is a semi-solid at cooler room temperatures. given this is a hair oil, we have to either assume, 1 – it’s a lower concentration that keeps the end result liquid, or 2 – they’re listing as virgin but using fractionated. for this dupe we’ll be kind and assume it’s not fractionated, and keep it at 20%. argan oil tends to smell not nice, so i’ll keep it at 15% contribution. tamanu is quite viscous and sticky, so i will use it as a line in the formula at 5%. lastly, the total concentration of EOs will not exceed 2% for this formula, even though that’s a tad high. let’s split those evenly for ease of use.
diy formula:
- coconut oil– 20%
- camellia seed oil – 20%
- argan oil – 15%
- moringa seed oil – 15%
- evening primrose oil – 13%
- tamanu oil – 5%
- marula oil – 5%
- black cumin seed oil – 5%
- total EOs – 2%
#3
product inspiration ingredients:
dimethicone, dimethiconol, shea butter oil, cottonseed oil, moringa seed oil, passionfruit seed oil, tocopherol, hydrogenated soybean oil, limonene, citral, eugenol, linalool
adjustments:
no dimethicones, no cottonseed oil, no hydrogenated soybean oil.
notes:
finding the ingredients for this expensive hair oil was really difficult, and that always raises a red flag to me. then when i finally found it, i saw the first ingredient is dimethicone. uh no, bye. also, shea butter oil indicates it is refined and liquid at room temperature. this is overall a terrible blend going for over $100 an ounce and i do not suggest buying it or DIYing it, because you can make a better one. and cue diy.
diy formula:
- shea butter oil – 25%
- olive oil (emollient alternative to cottonseed) – 25%
- moringa seed oil – 25%
- passionfruit seed oil – 24%
- tocopherol – typically used at 0.5%
- citrus EOs – total 0.5%
what do you think? what’s your favorite hair oil blend?
XO, ALEXRAYE
PS – i’m not blind to the fact that being “crunchy” has been dragged in the green beauty community lately. if you care about that sort of stuff, you should know upfront i’m unapologetically closer to the ‘purist’ end of the green beauty scale. all of the diys i post will be closer to ‘crunchy’. there are other wonderful DIY blogs out there to check out that are more flexible with what’s used in their formulations and i support them 100%! 🙂 everyone is welcome here!
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