How to Make Dry Shampoo

January 11, 2008 by Kristie Leong MD  
Published in Hair

If you don’t have time to shampoo your hair, a dry shampoo can be the ultimate in convenience. Here’s how to make your own dry shampoo.

If you’ve ever had the unfortunate experience of awakening at 7:30 A.M. when you have to be at work at 8:00 A.M, you know how little time you’ll have to wash and style your hair. It’s time like these when homemade dry shampoo can be a life saver. Dry shampoo that you buy at the drugstore is composed of a powder that’s sprayed on to the hair to absorb excess oils. The powder is brushed out to reveal clean, fresher looking hair. While it’s not as effective as a wet shampoo, it can make your hair look presentable for the day and can be a real time saver on days you can’t shampoo. If you don’t have time to make a trip to the drugstore to get dry shampoo, there are ways to conveniently make homemade dry shampoo with products you have in your kitchen. Here’s how to make dry shampoo:

Make dry shampoo: Discover the simplicity of cornstarch

You probably have a canister of cornstarch resting on your kitchen shelf right now. This ingredient commonly used to thicken recipes when cooking is also an effective homemade dry shampoo. For convenience sake, you can transfer some of the cornstarch in your kitchen to a pretty container in your bathroom for hair emergencies. When your hair screams of oil, simply put some cornstarch on your fingers and dab it around the roots and oily parts of your hair. Use your fingers to lightly work it into the hair, then brush the cornstarch out with a brush. Your hair looks better already now doesn’t it.? The only drawback to this method is that it’s messy.

Make dry shampoo: Cornmeal can beautify dirty hair.

If you don’t happen to have cornstarch in your kitchen, reach for the canister of cornmeal instead. Cornmeal dry shampoo can be applied in exactly the same way as the cornstarch recipe. It too can be a messy proposition. You might want to have a vacuum cleaner handy just in case. Cornmeal is excellent at removing oil and dirt from the hair and some people believe it makes your hair shinier than cornstarch.

Make dry shampoo: Other homemade dry shampoo formulations

There are a variety of other household products that can be used as a dry shampoo. Some people have good results with baking soda, ground, oatmeal, and even common flour. You can even add a few drops of essential oils to one of these bases to give your hair a pleasant scent. Try combining cornmeal and cornstarch or cornstarch and ground oatmeal and see which gives the best results. You can also experiment with the different types of flour such as oat flour, whole wheat flour, and soybean flour. Once you come up with a formulation you like, prepare a batch of it and keep it in a container in your bathroom.

Next time you wake up late, don’t fret! You now know how to make dry shampoo.Just reach for your homemade dry shampoo and let it works its magic.

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9 Responses to “How to Make Dry Shampoo”
  1. cherrycher Says:

    Very interesting.
    Thanks for posting this.

  2. sexyhair Says:

    i use baby powder when i dony have time to shampoo and it works great!!

  3. It's a secret Says:

    I am currently useing shower to shower powder. The talc/cornstarch mixture seems to work well. I however tried plain cornstarch and am very pleased with the results. I am going to research how to add scent to it… I will let you know how that works out

  4. sue Says:

    I heard that you could use rice flour too. A dry shampoo I have has this in it.

  5. humm??? Says:

    I heard somewhere that you can use cocoa. Is this true?

  6. Jane Says:

    cocoa? lol, by the time you’re done cleaning that up, you’ll be wishing that you had just washed your hair with regular shampoo! whew!

  7. Jane Says:

    Don’t wear soft socks if you get powder all over your floor, or you’ll be snow skiing in no time!

  8. e Says:

    i\’ve heard that cocoa powder is good to use for dark hair so that the white flour doesn\’t show up if you don\’t get it all out.

  9. Elise Says:

    I used baking soda… worked great!! so easy.. I just sprinkled about a tablespoon all over my root and rubbed in.. can’t even see it when its in!!


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