homemade hair perfume/hair refesher spray?

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lindakschickens

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Since I just stated getting into soap making that also means I'm using my own or other's homemade lye based shampoo/body bars to wash my hair but we have hard water and my hair is left greasy as sin, believe this is due to hard water and my hair use to being stripped then coated in demithicone (think that is spelled right or at lest close to) and is transitioning to the shampoo bar/soap but I will admit I miss the smell that shampoo's and conditioner's left on my hair.

I know some people use water and EO's in a spray bottle to refresh the hair but can you use FO's (fragrance oils) in their place?
 
I’ve read that lye based soaps are not suitable for hair due to the high pH of the bar. You might have more luck with synthetic detergent bars. Lots of shops carry those though I haven’t yet tried them. I’m in the market!
 
I will behave.... :D Your hair may be greasy from added oils and butters in the "Soap" you are trying to use for hair. Soap is NOT SHAMPOO and not good for hair. You will be much better off and your hair will like you much better if you learn to use a nice surfactant based shampoo bar. Even a quality surfactant based m&p bar is better for hair. Here is a link for a shampoo base http://www.stephensonpersonalcare.com/products/crystal-ss. I have not used this one but have used one from Essentials by Catalina which was decent. EBC has apparently discontinued the manufacturing of their solid shampoo base. They do carry liquid shampoo base. Be kind to your hair, once you damage it you cannot fix it. Hair is dead and dead is dead ;)
 
Steffamarie I have used synthetic detergent soaps/shampoos etc for most of my 29 years on this planet they have always caused one issue or another for me the worse being reactions on my scalp like rashes/acne and server burning and itching, very few can I use but even those after a few months start to cause me to have reactions. And I'm pretty sure the reasons for these reactions are because they are synthetic detergents only recently with my last reaction to my newest shampoo did I stop and really look what was in it and the allergies & reactions to them, some items that are found in a large percentage of synthetic detergent soap/shampoo etc is dimethicone. Dimethicone is a silicone is coats your hair to make it feel soft and healthy even when it most likely is not. Propylene Glycol is also found it lots of the same products as dimethicone, both cause various skin irritations like redness,itching burning, inflammation etc hence why I have turned to more natural soap.


Cmzaha: Propylene Glycol is found in this as well lots of hair products and causes reactions like stated above which sadly I get from "normal" shampoo that has dimethicone in it as well. also this claims it's SLS free but has Sodium Laurate which on a google search says it's SLS so not very good for that product if thats right but plus side no dimethicone. But I'm sure the PH for this product is higher then our skin and hair PH/acid mantel. Also soap and shampoo do the same thing they both strip the hair and skin of oils and clean, So they are fundamentally the same thing. Also to the best of my knowledge no one has never completely killed their hair, once hair is damaged it can be repaired but it will depend on the damage the repairing is growing it out, and hair is both alive and dead.

Isg while yes not all soaps are made to shampoo the hair that does not mean ALL. thank you for the link but it has dimethicone in it thus can not use it.

Yes most normal natural (lye based) soap has a PH between 8-10. But the biggest issue is that hair and the human bodies PH/acid mantle is 4.5-5.5 all soaps both lye and synthetic are well above this so in short neither are great but one is not full of synthetic's specially one's that cause me to have bad reactions. Hence why I'm making my own soaps or buying them from other's and I am here.

Also I'm not to sound rude ( which I'm sure I already do) but I'm not asking about if the soap I'm using on my hair is good I'm asking if I can use fragrance oil's to make my own hair refresher. Also it's not like I was my hair every day so the damage is going to be about the same or better then that of using the "normal" shampoo.

So Please every keep in mind that not every one can use "normal" shampoos that have dimethicone, SLS, propyline glycol etc. hence why more people are turning to more natural products like bicarb "shampooing" and/or ACV/ citric acid rinse's (which I do when I have a reaction to the "normal" soap and ACV/citric acid rinses help as well as a allergy pill). I preferably don't want to spend the rest of my life eating allergy pills once I have a reaction or continued reactions to shampoos/soaps with the above items.

Again my question is can I make a hair refresher with fragrance oils.
 
The lovely shampoo bar I made 2 or 3 years ago has become my luxurious body bar - only for my skin, not for my hair. At first I loved it, but it was very hard to rinse out of my hair. I don't and won't use a hair condition to rinse my hair (I break out in hives when I do, so I just don't.) I have done the ACV rinse route in the past and don't need to go there again, because it just make my scalp more oil. So I just stopped using it as a shampoo bar.

Then I watched a youtube video of the making of liquid soap containing lanolin and red turkey oil, among other things, and the soaper said it was going to be so good for the hair that I decided to try it, too. So I made that soap after making sure I bought all the ingredients she used and followed her video and the follow up video (it was in 2 parts) very closely to get it right. Well, it's fabulous as a shaving soap, which is all I used it for now. I love it for shaving my underarms and my legs, because I never nick myself with a razor since I started using this LS. But for hair shampoo, it just did not work out at all!

My lovely waist-length whitening blonde hair began to look and feel like straw in very short order, in spite of the lanolin included in the recipe. My husband tried it, too and he liked it at first, and for a bit longer than I did, but after a couple of months he said his hair felt different and he quit using it as a shampoo as well. Of course he doesn't have a lot of hair, just a bit around the edges, and he keeps that hair cut short. So even a person with very short hair (also of the blonde turning grey variety) did not find lye soap at all acceptable.

Luckily I stopped using it soon enough to not totally ruin my hair, but some people have actually had to cut their hair after using lye soap on their hair, so I feel fortunate.

Others do have more positive experiences with lye shampoo, and Zany, another member here at SMF reports very positive results. She will surely reply with her experience and some suggestions. So perhaps it may work for you as well. My suspicion is that hair type and certain other unknown genetic factors perhaps, plus other adjunct products may contribute to others success. I don't really know for sure because I only have my own experience.

We do also have very hard water, but use a water softener. I do add EDTA to my soap to help reduce soap scum, but suspect soap scum was part of the problem that made my hair look and feel so dull when I was using the lye shampoos.

Since I just stated getting into soap making that also means I'm using my own or other's homemade lye based shampoo/body bars to wash my hair but we have hard water and my hair is left greasy as sin, believe this is due to hard water and my hair use to being stripped then coated in demithicone (think that is spelled right or at lest close to) and is transitioning to the shampoo bar/soap but I will admit I miss the smell that shampoo's and conditioner's left on my hair.

I know some people use water and EO's in a spray bottle to refresh the hair but can you use FO's (fragrance oils) in their place?

Again my question is can I make a hair refresher with fragrance oils.

My concern about using Fragrance Oils in a spray on the hair would be not only concentration, but content in the FO. Same with EOs, I guess. Alcohol or phthalate, just a couple of examples. With some research, you can find phthalate-free FOs, though. Still what other ingredients are in FOs you will never know because a complete ingredients list is covered by the 'Trade Secret' realm.

Also you'd have to take into account the safe usage limits for each FO (just as you would with EOs) because it will come into contact with your skin; i.e. scalp, face, neck, shoulders, wherever your spray or your hair touches.

Women have been spraying perfume on their hair for centuries, so I don't think using Fragrance Oils is a new concept.
 
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What works for some don't work for others thanks for talking about that now shave soap or your think I might look it up :). one of the reasons I think my hair is oily is because the normal shampoo strips my hair and my scalp over produces oil which I think why my hair is greasy as it's not use to not needing to produce lots of oil. atm the soap I'm using has Apricot Kernel Oil 14.60% . Castor oil 8.39%, Cocoa Butter 19.34%, EV Coconut Oil 18.25% , Lard. 22.99%, Shea Butter 16.42%. 2 different liquids were used which was milk and water in even amounts. The only part of my hair that is really greasy or oily as sin is about 1"-1 1/2" from the root on my crown, the back of my head feels normal so do the lengths well minus the dead ends I need a hair cut.

I ended up spilling a few drops of the rose FO I wanted to use on myself and have not reacted to it so think maybe 10 drops in a cup- cup and a half of aloe vera juice with 1 tbs of jojoba and sea buckthorn maybe safe. I have thought of using May Chang EO.

Also thank you earlene for you input on my question :)
 
There are lots of commercially available herbal- herbal shampoos that are suitable for hair. The list of what is not in them is huge. The ingredients are all easily identifiable plant based substances.
Sukin and alchemy to name two.
 
Thanks penelopejane I'll look into those but still want to try and make something myself, specially in seeing how I'm making my own lotion again with shea,cocoa, a dollop of coconut and a few spoons of aloe vera gel (great for sunburn DH is a red head and came home looking like a lobster today). Besides that the if my DH and DD can use the same stuff as me then the savings will be decent (or more so as I am finding better and cheaper suppliers) once I add xmas gifts into the mix. My DD is looking like she will be like me she is starting to react to her own baby products *crys*. But I will say a citric acid rinse has made my hair feel less greasy on my crown and does not feel stripped.
 
As an aside, have you tried the "no-poo" method of hair care? My boyfriend has very thick hair and, while he doesn't experience allergic-type reactions to detergents as you do, he finds that after a period of adjustment he no longer needs to use any shampoo. He quit cold turkey, but I know others who have done it over a longer period of time. If you find the grease factor of the lye soap doesn't dissipate as your hair "gets used to" the new soap, maybe this would work. If you find a hair refresher that works, you could still use that for scent and conditioning.

It's worth noting that my boyfriend DOES use Groom and Clean to style his hair, which he rinses out in the shower. I suspect it acts more or less like a conditioner, but I don't see dimethicone or any syndets that I'm familiar with on the ingredients list. Maybe one of the additives you could put in your refresher would accomplish a similar purpose (as you mentioned, jojoba oil).

I recently found aloe juice at my local Walmart and thought about how it might be on hair - if you go that route, please advise how it works!! I'd love to know for my own use.
 
I have gone down the no-poo road, bicarb was overly harsh for my hair (then again when I tried it my hair was growing out from over bleaching by a salon) but the AVC was ok for me. I did not know about citric acid til like 4 days ago tried that today and it works just like ACV so I love it thus far. I was also thinking of trying aloe Vera juice as a rinse. Also just did a PH check (got some strips and a electric ph test stick thing) on some of the shampoo's and conditioners I have used in the last like 2 months they all have a ph of 9-10 my lye based soap is testing at ph 8-9.
 
I have used FO in a light oil like fractionated coconut to apply to the ends of my hair. I'm sure it would be ok in water but make sure you know the usage amount of your particular FO and don't overdo it.

Hair products are the one thing I prefer to use EO's in.

Did you happen to do a deep cleansing before switching to shampoo bars? It really helps the transition if you can get all the gunk out before switching. Suave daily clarifying shampoo is dimethicone free, in fact its free of all cones and oils.
When I was using shampoo bars, I still had to use regular shampoo every couple weeks to get out the soap scum and other build up. Always use a vinegar rinse for your hair and some kind of chelator in your bars.
 
Obsidian. God I wish I had sauve over here in the UK that is like the only shampoo I never reacted to and the only shampoo and conditioner brand my father will use he says everything else makes his hair feel like slime and gack is on it. Was told apple cider vinegar or citric acid ( if I did not want to smell acv). And what is a chelator?
 
A chelator is something that binds the minerals in hard water so it rinses away better instead of sticking to your hair or skin. A popular one for soap use is EDTA, you should be able to find it on amazon.

Stinks about sauve, its the only grocery store brand my hairdresser recommends as its PH balanced. I know there are cone free brands in the UK, I can ask over on the hair forum I go to if you want recommendations?
 
You mention a concern about propelyne glycol. I just wanted to note that some suppliers dilute their fragrances in propelyne glycol or similar substances. If you have issues with it as a shampoo ingredient you may have the same issues if you use FO in a leave on product
 
Edta..sounds like something someone would name their kid. Don't know about sauve pH balanced but it did not bother me as much if at all compared to other brands.

BattleGnome (love the name btw) I totally did not know that and will definitely be sending a email off to my supplier to see if they use propelyne glycol. Thank you for telling me.
 
SHAMPOO BARS
Many soapers make and use lye-based shampoo bars and lye-based liquid shampoo. Myself included. It's important to rinse thoroughly after shampooing, with increasingly cool water until it's as cold as you can stand it to close the hair shaft. Follow up with a vinegar rinse to restore the acid mantle of the scalp. Beer is another option. I have a parsley/lemon rinse recipe in my files that's quite nice if interested.

When I first tried a shampoo bar in 2004 it took about a year for my hair to get used to it. I even went back to OTC shampoo a few times during that year. This is typical of other soapers' experience as well. Once my hair adjusted, I've used whatever bar that we happened to be test driving in the shower without any negative effects.

LIQUID SHAMPOO
I now make and use my own Flaxseed & Rosin (Liquid) Shampoo, Hog Wash Hair & Body (Liquid) Shampoo (50/50 PKO & Lard), & Dr. Bronner's Type Baby Mild (Liquid) Castile Soap and just love the results. I don't even need conditioner. But I do use a few drops of Argan Oil to add shine and nourish the hair.

Read more about Shampoo Bars on the Chagrin Valley Site. Links:

Why Use A Natural Shampoo Bar?
https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/why-use-a-natural-shampoo-bar/

Everything About Shampoo Bars
https://www.chagrinvalleysoapandsalve.com/blog/posts/everything-about-shampoo-bars/

On another note, you may want to try Polysorbate 80. Link:

Polysorbate 80 as shampoo
https://www.soapmakingforum.com/threads/shampoo-bars-again.64936/#post-664547

I know some people use water and EO's in a spray bottle to refresh the hair but can you use FO's (fragrance oils) in their place?
Yes. You can do just that but it will need shaking every time you use it. For 100 ml batch:
70% water
20% alcohol (preservative)
6% Polysorbate 20 or 80
1-3% fragrance (to preference)
1% glycerin (to stick)

A couple of other things that come to mind...

Add fragrance to argan oil (or oil of choice) at a rate of 1%. Work a drop or two into towel-dried hair and comb through.

ZANY'S BASIC HAIR CONDITIONER WITH LEMON (Use normal lotion making method)
Makes 200 grams = approx. 7 oz.

178 grams water (89%)
8 grams (2 tsp.) ReaLemon Lemon Juice Concentrate (4%)
6 grams coconut oil (3%) (or oil of your choice)
8 grams BTMS (Conditioning Emulsifier) (4%)
1 gram (1/4 tsp.) Liquid Germall Plus (0.5%)
1/2 teaspoon fragrance

To use: Put a small dollop in your hand. Rub palms together. Work into ends first, then scalp. Comb through. Wrap hair in a towel for 5-10 minutes, then rinse with increasingly cool water until hair squeaks.

NOTES: This basic hair conditioner is quick and easy to make. Feel free to play around with whatever oils/butters/additives you like. Just remember to reduce the amount of water to keep the formula balanced at 100%. Coconut oil is very conditioning for most types of hair, but your hair might like something else.
 
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Since I just stated getting into soap making that also means I'm using my own or other's homemade lye based shampoo/body bars to wash my hair but we have hard water and my hair is left greasy as sin, believe this is due to hard water and my hair use to being stripped then coated in demithicone (think that is spelled right or at lest close to) and is transitioning to the shampoo bar/soap but I will admit I miss the smell that shampoo's and conditioner's left on my hair.

I know some people use water and EO's in a spray bottle to refresh the hair but can you use FO's (fragrance oils) in their place?
Is quite nice to hear someone else is using a bar for shampooing as well! I have actually found it helpful to my bad condition scalp. As for the FO, I would try a smaller section of hair first. Many of the oils are made differently and unless researched cannot tell what or how they've been made. I miss the shampoo smell also. But I use light body sprays when hair is still wet . A just a small spritz as to not dry it out . Everyone's skin and hair react differently to different things often we don't know until trying. Another option u can try is making your own flower hydrosol. I've read up some on this it's basically a simple flower water. I use a rose one from the flowers in my yard. It's also a great face toner! Amazing! Here's a link how to make http://dandelionessherbals.blogspot.com/2013/08/do-it-yourself-hydrosols-making-and.html?m=1
 
Steffamarie I have used synthetic detergent soaps/shampoos etc for most of my 29 years on this planet they have always caused one issue or another for me the worse being reactions on my scalp like rashes/acne and server burning and itching, very few can I use but even those after a few months start to cause me to have reactions. And I'm pretty sure the reasons for these reactions are because they are synthetic detergents only recently with my last reaction to my newest shampoo did I stop and really look what was in it and the allergies & reactions to them, some items that are found in a large percentage of synthetic detergent soap/shampoo etc is dimethicone. Dimethicone is a silicone is coats your hair to make it feel soft and healthy even when it most likely is not. Propylene Glycol is also found it lots of the same products as dimethicone, both cause various skin irritations like redness,itching burning, inflammation etc hence why I have turned to more natural soap.


Cmzaha: Propylene Glycol is found in this as well lots of hair products and causes reactions like stated above which sadly I get from "normal" shampoo that has dimethicone in it as well. also this claims it's SLS free but has Sodium Laurate which on a google search says it's SLS so not very good for that product if thats right but plus side no dimethicone. But I'm sure the PH for this product is higher then our skin and hair PH/acid mantel. Also soap and shampoo do the same thing they both strip the hair and skin of oils and clean, So they are fundamentally the same thing. Also to the best of my knowledge no one has never completely killed their hair, once hair is damaged it can be repaired but it will depend on the damage the repairing is growing it out, and hair is both alive and dead.
Sorry damaged dead hair cannot be repaired, it can have band aids such as conditioners. Hair is only alive until it penetrates the scalp so once you see the hair it is no longer living, it is the hair follicle that is alive and needs nourishment, Using lye based soap is not good for nourishing skin or scalp. Hair follicles can die and is a contributing factor to baldness. I prefer to not take any chances and preserve what I know is alive. Surfactant based shampoos are much milder and do not strip oils from the hair and scalp the same as lye based soap. It can be tricky to keep the scalp from becoming itchy and keeping hair in good shape. If you have short hair cut often it really does not matter, but for long gorgeous hair soap it can be a total disaster and cause one to cut off years and years of growth.

If you can determine exactly the ingredients giving you problems, you can then design a shampoo bar without using said ingredients. Just a side note Sodium Laurate is the sodium salt of Lauric acid which is an acid found naturally in coconut oil. Lauric and Myristic acids are the two cleansing and bubbly acids in soap, and many surfactants are made from Coconut Oil.

I have very itchy scalp due to extreme eczema for which I use a serum containing 0.25% pyrithione zinc that works splendidly without affecting my hair. Natural is not always the answer, and what works on one's hair may not work for one's scalp and visa versa
 
Sorry damaged dead hair cannot be repaired, it can have band aids such as conditioners. Hair is only alive until it penetrates the scalp so once you see the hair it is no longer living, it is the hair follicle that is alive and needs nourishment, Using lye based soap is not good for nourishing skin or scalp. Hair follicles can die and is a contributing factor to baldness. I prefer to not take any chances and preserve what I know is alive. Surfactant based shampoos are much milder and do not strip oils from the hair and scalp the same as lye based soap. It can be tricky to keep the scalp from becoming itchy and keeping hair in good shape. If you have short hair cut often it really does not matter, but for long gorgeous hair soap it can be a total disaster and cause one to cut off years and years of growth.

If you can determine exactly the ingredients giving you problems, you can then design a shampoo bar without using said ingredients. Just a side note Sodium Laurate is the sodium salt of Lauric acid which is an acid found naturally in coconut oil. Lauric and Myristic acids are the two cleansing and bubbly acids in soap, and many surfactants are made from Coconut Oil.

I have very itchy scalp due to extreme eczema for which I use a serum containing 0.25% pyrithione zinc that works splendidly without affecting my hair. Natural is not always the answer, and what works on one's hair may not work for one's scalp and visa versa
Again as I said hair is alive and dead an hair can repair itself by growning out,that does not mean you will not get split ends which u will or other issue the repair part it just grown it out. Also I want to point out NO shampoo or conditioner will really nourish hair they all clean it and strip it and striping oils is still striping oils. Do you know the average pH of surfactant base shampoo/conditioner? Also surfactant is just any name for detergent.

Also in my honest opinion natural is better it always has been more people should advocate for more natural products. Yes we all know people are different but we live in a world where ever one wants a quick fix and that comes at a cost of putting more unnatural products in us for example fake sugars are touted as a great thing for people who have diabetes yet everyone I know what has diabetes avoid it like the plauge as it makes them sick and causes their blood sugar to go nuts.

Yes everyone is different some perfer shampoos with a lye base others do not. You seem to perfer a non lye base that is fine use what you find best for you.

What is not fine to me is tho basically stateing all lye shampoos will damage you dead hair harm you scalp and force you to cut off all your hair like it's a hard and true fact. When ininde that is from from fact before we had the shampoo's and conditioner's we now know we had lye based soap which was used to clean everything even hair. My great grandma used lye based soap to wash her hair for most of her life and had no issues with it. Again everyone is different but I don't want harsh chemical cleaners or silicon's etc on my head any more nor do I want them on my dh or dd.

While I respect your right to state you opinions and veiws. I just don't agree fully with you. But thank you for letting me know about sodium laurate I will need to do more indepth research as my searches keeps calling it sls.
 

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