Thursday, May 10, 2012

What's Cookin' - Anti-Frizz Shine Spray

Light-hold, anti-frizz shine spray.

This is a recipe for an all-natural spray that is great for your hair.
What it does:
Adds shine and softness
Light hold
Reduces frizz
Contains waves and curls (tames flyaways)
Defines waves and curls (doesn't make hair curlier)
Completely natural look and feel (dries with a bit of crunch, but you can smooth it out and even comb gently through it).
Easy to apply


Ideal for:
A "unstyled" look - for soft and natural-looking hair (basically a wash and go) but without frizz and flyaways.
Putting hair up without getting a halo of "fuzz" on humid days
Kid hair
Refreshing hair during the day
Days when you want your hair to be soft and natural (basically a wash and go) but without frizz and flyaways.


Ingredients: ©Science-y Hair Blog 2013
  • Acacia senegal fiber (large pharmacies or natural foods stores or online) This is a great remedy for allergy-induced intestinal upsets, so it's handy to have around for many reasons. Forms the frizz-reducing film and adds shine. Won't thicken - so the spray is liquid and easy to distribute. Alson known as "gum arabic."
  • Aloe vera juice (edible - the kind you must refrigerate)
  • Oil (apricot kernel, grapeseed or canola for fine hair, coconut or olive for dry hair)
  • Agave nectar or honey
Directions: 
©Science-y Hair Blog 2013
Heat 1/4 cup aloe vera juice, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon (heaping) acacia fiber in a pan until it boils, stirring with a whisk or fork.

Remove from heat and stir in 1/8 teaspoon agave nectar or honey, and from 2 to 6 drops oil. (More oil if your hair is dry, or if the air is very dry)

Cool and pour into a spray bottle. Refrigerate immediately. This should last about 2 weeks in the refrigerator. If you don't want to refrigerate you need to add 1% of a commercial preservative, or at the maximum recommended concentration for that preservative.

To use:
Shake well. Spray liberally on wet hair or dry hair, making sure all hair is covered. Scrunch or comb into hair with hands. When dry, scrunch out the crunchiness or smooth over hair with your hands as though you were gathering hair to make several ponytails.

©Science-y Hair Blog 2013
For dry or porous hair: This product may feel a bit drying for your hair - the acacia gum is to blame. I wouldn't use it every day and my hair is not usually dry. Use coconut oil or olive oil, at the higher amount given. If your hair reacts badly to this much aloe, switch to 1/3 cup water and 1 tablespoon aloe, or leave the aloe out completely and just use plain water or herbal tea (chamomile, nettle, rosemary, marsh mallow) instead.©Science-y Hair Blog 2013

2 comments:

  1. Hi Wendy,
    I would like to know how this Anti-Frizz Shine Spray compares to using other protein additives in leave-ins, such as hydrolyzed Oats and hydrolyzed Wheat proteins (the ones that form a film over the hair strands)? Also is this anti-frizz shine spray a suitable replacement for film forming hydrolyzed proteins? I would like to use something that I can leave in my hair, eliminate frizz but still keep my coarse hair strands soft. Thanks,

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    Replies
    1. This spray is shine-enhancing for some people. It also has some light "hold."
      Protein won't keep coarse hair soft, it might make it feel stiff. This recipe might not feel completely soft and smooth in hair due to the acacia gum, which provides the "hold" and the agave nectar which also provides hold.
      I think for what you're after, if you wanted to adapt this recipe, you'd mix in a little conditioner to the spray after all the other ingredients are mixed to add softness and flexibility. The aloe is the film-forming humectant to help with hydration. But for coarse hair, you might want the extra flexibility from a bit of conditioner to keep your hair soft. Good luck! W

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