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Home » Natural Hair Care » Natural DIY Dry Shampoo for Light and Dark Hair

Natural DIY Dry Shampoo for Light and Dark Hair

Published March 25, 2019 Last Updated June 21, 2019 By Lori Ryman 5 Comments

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Medically Reviewed By: Kimberly Langdon, MD

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure.

Girl applying DIY dry shampoo on hairSometimes you just don’t always have time to wash your hair, so it’s great to have natural DIY dry shampoo on hand to use.

After having a baby, I’ve come to find that I’m using dry shampoo on a weekly basis as I sometimes don’t have time to wash my hair. I’ve really been pleasantly surprised at how great dry shampoo works. It leaves my hair looking like I actually washed it in the shower.

This DIY dry shampoo is very effective at removing grease so my hair doesn’t look dirty.

How DIY Dry Shampoo Works:

DIY dry shampoo contains just one or two simple ingredients from your kitchen. If you have blonde hair, you can just use cornstarch or arrowroot powder. For brunette or darker hair, you should add some cocoa powder to the dry shampoo, that way it won’t leave your hair looking white.

Homemade dry shampoo is typically made of cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Both of these ingredients are oil absorbing. So when you apply them to your hair, they will remove your hair’s natural oils that make it look dirty.

My hair is naturally oily, so I typically have to wash my hair every day otherwise it will look very oily. Now that I’ve been using this DIY dry shampoo, I usually only wash my hair a few times a week and use dry shampoo the other days.

Benefits of Making Your Own Dry Shampoo

You can buy dry shampoo at your local store; however, it often contains added chemicals. Some of the ingredients in store bought dry shampoo include talc, phenoxyethanol, and LPG’s (liquid petroleum gas). These chemicals can be harmful as they are easily absorbed into your skin.

A great alternative is making your own natural DIY dry shampoo. I love making my own natural hair care products to avoid the chemicals. I’ve been making my own coconut shampoo and even homemade walnut hair dye for years. It’s very easy to make your own dry shampoo and inexpensive. Plus, you most likely have the ingredients right in your kitchen already.

How to Store it and How Long it Lasts:

Whether you’re using dry shampoo for light hair (cornstarch or arrowroot powder) or for dark hair (adding cocoa powder), you can leave it out on your counter for a long period of time; pretty much until you use it all up. Cornstarch is said to have an indefinite shelf life.

I like to store my dry shampoo in a small glass mason jar and keep it my bathroom cabinet. As long as you keep the mixture dry without getting moisture into it, it will last a very long time.DIY dry shampoo in jars with brush

Recipe for Light and Dark Hair.

If you have blonde hair, all you need to use is cornstarch or arrowroot powder. Both work great and have a similar result.

Just using cornstarch or arrowroot powder on dark hair, may leave your hair looking white. That’s why it’s best to add cocoa powder to the cornstarch if you have darker hair.

I have light brown hair and always add the cocoa powder to my DIY dry shampoo because the cornstarch is still a little too light for my hair color.

How to Make DIY Dry Shampoo for Light and Dark Hair

Ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup of cornstarch or arrowroot powder
  • 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder (add only if you have dark hair)
    Optional: 2 to 4 drops of lavender or orange essential oil (or any essential oil of your choice)

Steps:

1. Mix cornstarch with a few drops of your choice of essential oil (optional step)
2. Use your fingers or a makeup brush to apply cornstarch to your hair, primarily on the roots and any areas you see grease. Try to spread the powder and massage it into your hair to make sure it absorbs the oil.
3. Use a comb or makeup brush to remove any excess powder.
That’s it! You can style your hair as you usually do.Girl applying dry shampoo using a make-up with text overlay - Natural DIY Dry Shampoo

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Filed Under: Natural Hair Care Tagged With: DIY, dry shampoo, shampoo

About Lori Ryman

Lori Ryman, BS, MS, has been dedicated to researching natural alternatives for the past 15 years. Lori has a background in research methods, health, and nutrition. She started with an Interest in natural alternatives to improve her own health and she continues to share natural DIY projects, recipes and natural alternatives with millions of viewers on treasuredtips.com.

Lori’s research for posts is based on peer reviewed evidenced-based research. Lori is a published author in a peer reviewed research journal. Her work has been covered by MSN, The Huffington Post, wikiHow, The New York Times, and many more.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous

    February 22, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    Thank you for posting these wonderful resources! I am a high school Environmental Science teacher & will be happy to share with my classes.

    Reply
  2. Sapna

    August 13, 2019 at 5:22 am

    Dry shampoo has been the go-to solution for all the times I’ve had a bad hair day, which is quite often given the humid weather where I live. I like your idea of adding cocoa powder for dark hair and will be trying this DIY recipe soon.

    Reply
  3. Kathy

    March 29, 2019 at 7:47 am

    Great blog…I could not find a subscribe button for the blog itself?

    Reply
    • Lori Ryman

      April 6, 2019 at 3:10 pm

      Hi Kathy, I’ll add you to my newsletter if you would like 🙂

      Reply
    • Lori Ryman

      April 9, 2019 at 11:55 am

      Hi Kathy, thank you so much! It looks like you’re already a subscriber to my newsletter. I send them out weekly.

      Reply

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I'm Lori. I love living a natural lifestyle, DIY projects, and trying out new healthy recipes. Read More…

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