These days, static electricity is one of my constant companions (along with dry air and my emotionally needy 80lb dog). It’s most noticeable when I’m pulling clean laundry from the dryer (zap!), but also pokes its head out when I’m wearing a toque or cuddling up in some flannel PJs (double zap!). I don’t mind it most of the time, but when it works its way up to my hair, it’s annoying.
This anti-frizz hair mist is wonderfully useful for taming flyaways and eliminating static electricity. I added essential oils of rose and cardamom, so it smells wonderfully exotic. I also added a bit of camellia seed oil to help with the frizz after the water dries. Even though the oil is a pretty small percentage of the recipe, you have to be careful not to over-spritz, or you will go from un-frizzy to noticeably oily in fairly short order.
Anti-Frizz Hair Mist
55g | 1.8 fl oz water
10g | 0.35oz solubilizer (polysorbate 20)
9g | 0.31oz camellia seed oil
9 drops cardamom essential oil
2 drops rose absoluteBroad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)
Pour the solubilizer, oil, and essential oils into the bottom of an 80mL (2.7 fl oz) bottle. Swish to combine.
Add a bit of water, cover, and shake. Add the rest of the water, and shake to combine.
Wow, this is great timing! Not 2 weeks ago I was getting fairly annoyed after 3 months of static, so I actually went looking down the aisles of Wal-Mart for some sort of static-inhibiting spray. I was both relieved and disappointed to find NOTHING, since I probably would have bought it but then worried about all the chemicals no doubt pumped into this hypothetical product. I’ll have to add solubilizer and camellia seed oil to my next NDA order!
Do the rose and cardamom do anything other than make it smell nice? Is it just the camellia that’s useful for taming?
I’m thrilled to hear Wal-Mart couldn’t make you happy with some sort of overly scented chemical concoction! Hahah. As far as making substitutions in this recipe—you are more than welcome to use any essential oils that you like, just keep in mind that citrus and cinnamon essential oils can lighten your hair. Also, you could use something other than camellia seed oil, but I would really recommend something that’s known for soaking in quickly, like grapeseed or argan. Camellia is a super lovely oil to have on hand, though—I find it to be very luxurious! I also love the history behind it—I read about its popularity in ancient Japanese hair care at a museum long before discovering I could buy some for myself, and that was thrilling!
Haha yes, my escape from the aisles of Wal-Mart was a little touch-and-go, but I survived unslathered in chemicals! Hmm, I think I’ll stick with the camellia since it sounds like I’ll find other uses for it anyway, but good to know there are other options! The history of camellia sounds pretty interesting, too! Thanks for the heads up about the hair lightening… I knew citrus was a trigger, but never heard that cinnamon was as well. Very excited to try this once I wrangle all the ingredients 🙂
I too, have been looking for hair solutions and come up disappointed! Ingredients including probane, yellow 4, yellow 5, are all too common! Also a beekeeper, who’s sister-in-law sells certified organic essential oils, I find myself making reference to your site & receipes often! Thank you for everything you openly share for all!
Thanks, Heather! I love helping people avoid nasty ingredients 🙂
Hi where does the rose absolute comes in do you add it to the water when you going shake it after ?
It’s grouped in with the essential oils in the instructions 🙂
I know someone asked this ages ago but is there a good replacement ingredient for solubilizer?
Eh… not really. None that I know of. Emulsifying wax will thicken it into a cream, which isn’t a nice, light spray. You could make it without the solubilizer and then shaking really vigorously before use, but then you’ll have a pretty hard time getting equal amounts of oils and water to spray out at the same time. That’s probably the easiest option, though. Tomato paste, egg yolk, and mustard also make nice emulsifiers, but you’ll want to save those for salad dressings 😉
Oh yes, tomato paste! Perfect! It will compliment my light brown hair color perfectly 😛
i used to work in the chemical area and you can use small amounts of soaps to emulsify oils with water….since this will be going on your hair and they have different molecular weights depending on the base of the soaps it would be interesting to try to do different compounds and see if they work…just a thought for those that may not have a way of getting the emulsifiers you have in your list….also it may make it so that separation is not as bad….depending on levels of shampoo/oils ratio
How interesting! Thanks for the tip! I would be worried about the soap being sticky, though—I know I always encounter problems when I don’t rinse my hair thoroughly after washing. How much do you think you would need for this recipe?
What is solubiliser?
Solubilizer is a water-soluble oil & water disperser/emulsifier. It’s super useful for adding small amounts of oil to mostly water based concoctions. I love it for pillow sprays, toners, face masks, and hair spritzes like this one!
I also would like to know what solubiliser is and also is that a plastic bottle being used? Just wondering because I always heard that essential oils should never be put in plastic bottles, only glass. I really want to try this. Can we also use different essential oils other than the ones you mentioned? Thanks.
Solubilizer is a water-soluble oil & water disperser/emulsifier. It’s super useful for adding small amounts of oil to mostly water based concoctions. I love it for pillow sprays, toners, face masks, and hair spritzes like this one!
It is a plastic bottle, but with there’s not very much essential oil in this recipe, so I haven’t found it to be a problem in concentrations like that. There is about half a milliliter of essential oils in this recipe, meaning it’s about 1% of the recipe. In concoctions that use more than about 5% essential oil I’ll move to glass—I definitely use glass for my tiger balm and my pillow spray, which are about 50% and 25% essential oils respectively.
And yes, you can definitely use any essential oils you like! Enjoy and let me know how it turned out!
How do you make solubilizer or where do you buy it…don’t mean to sound dumb but I am new to all this.
I buy my solubilizer from New Directions Aromatics. It’s really inexpensive and has lots of uses (toner, masks, sprays, and more)!
I made this but I did something wrong because it did not emulsify. I thought I read something in your blog on what you can do it the oil and water stay separate after using solbuliser but I couldn’t fine it again. Can you let me know what I can do. Thank you.
Kate—I’m not sure I understand what you did here. Did you use solubilizer?
Yes I used solubilizer, followed the recipe for the anti frizz hair mist. Maybe I just need to add more solubilizer
Kate—Did you combine the essential oils with the solubilizer before adding the water? You’ll also need to make sure you’re using equal volumes of solubilizer and essential oils so everything emulsifies properly.
I am super excited to try this. I have exceptionally curly hair… genetics baby and I would love it if this helps tame it some
Heather
Let me know how it works out for you 🙂 Thanks for reading!
I have frizzy hair especially with rain and this sounds like a wonderful solution.
Let me know how it works for you, Jennifer 🙂 We don’t have any humidity here, so I’m super curious to hear how it does in a humid environment!
Do you have a recipe for a stimulator of hair growth? I’d be very interested…
Castor oil is said to be very good for stimulating hair growth—I’ve even heard of people who have had to stop using the OCM on their face as it has begun to stimulate a bit of unwanted hair growth! So, you might give that a go (topically)—I’d recommend massaging a tablespoon or so into your scalp, letting it soak for half an hour or so, and then washing your hair. That said, if you are following an all-natural hair care regime (homemade shampoo bars and the like), you will probably find it quite difficult to get that much excess oil out of your hair. Personally, I’ve found the best way to get my hair to grow faster is to keep the ends in good enough shape that you don’t need as many trims 🙂 Hair balm is super helpful here!
so happy to have came across your blog and have really enjoyed following along and experimenting with some of your recipes as i’m a vegetarian. oh also have to mention the oatmeal facial scrub…LOVE IT!!! i made extra and am going to get some beeswax Thursday to make the tinted lipbalm for little gift bags for Mothers Day. I am going to attempt to make this Anti Frizz Hair Mist today since i’m only working part time and these little projects are helping me stay sane as i heal from a recent neck fusion/surgery. i have very coarse, thick, kinky curly hair and am always on the lookout for DIY remedies to help keep it under control or else i’d be sportin’ an afro most of the time. thanks again 🙂 hugs.
PS…this may be a silly question, but how or where do i go to upload a picture of me??? i’ve clicked around and looked and looked for a place to do so, but to no avail 🙁 any suggestions? it says my first/initial comment is ‘awaiting moderation’-does that have anything to do with it and perhaps after it’s accepted/approved i can get somewhere???
Not a silly question at all 🙂 You’ll need to go to Gravatar and create an account with your commenting e-mail address. Then, it will associate whatever photo you upload there with your e-mail address, no matter where on the internet you are leaving comments! And first time commenters are always set to need approval from me first, just to make sure you’re not trying to sell erection medications or low interest loans 😉
well…whaddya know? my pic is actually showing now. thank you.
Woot!
Hi Jennifer, it’s great to meet another veggie! I’ve got some more great veggie recipes (including a delicious lentil & spinach curry I had for dinner tonight) coming up soon, so stay tuned 🙂
I’m so thrilled the oatmeal scrub is working well for you! I’m sure it will make a great gift for Mother’s Day—I gave some to my grandma for her sensitive skin (along with lots of soap and some argan oil) and she was just thrilled with all of it.
Have you tried making some tiger balm for your neck? Of course I have no idea how your neck feels, but when I had the flu in March it really hit me in my neck, and applying homemade tiger balm was the only way I could get enough relief to sleep. And, now that the warmer weather has arrived (knock on wood!), it’s great for my sore hiking muscles!
Let me know how the hair mist works for you if you end up making it 🙂 With your beautiful curls & kinks you might consider adding extra oil as well, since curly hair tends to be drier than straight.
I can really use this spray right now. Thanks for the formula.
Enjoy it! And let me know how it works for you, I’m always looking for feedback 🙂
Does this take away electricity from the hair? I live in Vegas and ever since I moved here I have chronic electricity…not just a little embarrassingly a lot!! I even getting shocked every time I touch a light switch. I have tried everything, from dryer sheets, conditioners, natural bristle hair brush, even static spray for clothes…the only thing that works is hair spray, but the problem is that I can’t get the hair to stay down to style before I spray and if I spray, i am stuck with my hair looking terrible…I can’t brush or comb it after I spray.
Also, I know Alkaline water dissolves oil and emulsifies and stays emulsified after you shake it….maybe that might be an alternative. Where do I get all these ingredients? I have never heard of any of them.
I find it to be very helpful! Where I live (Calgary) is also very dry, though I can’t say I’m getting zapped every time I touch a light switch. I’ve always found water to be great for killing static electricity in the hair, and the oil will give it a bit of extra staying powder. So, basically; it works for me in my dry environment, but I’m not sure how far into desert territory its effectiveness extends!
How alkaline does the water have to be? I know that’s the basic premise behind soap—you make an alkaline mixture of lye and water, and then emulsify it with all the oils. That mixture is very, very alkaline, though, and you wouldn’t want it anywhere near your hair or skin!
I get all my ingredients from New Directions Aromatics. I use their Canadian shop, but it sounds like you’ll need their American store.
Thanks for reading!
There are studies showing that the solubilizer, polysorbates have been linked to infertility in mice, accelerated the maturation of female rats and resulted in severe ovary deformities, and an increased risk of blood clots, stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and of tumor growth or recurrence in patients with certain types of cancer. A PubMed article studying polysorbates said that it was a causative agent of a pregnant woman going into anaphylactic shock. In addition, studies have shown that it could be especially harmful to patients with Crohn’s disease and young children.
Polysorbate-20 has a rating of 3 on Skin Deep, and in the amounts I use it, I’ve decided I’m ok with it. That said, it’s up to every individual to decide what they are comfortable with.
I found this information:
A potential alternative to Polysorbate is to use an alternative liquid emulsifier such as CCC Surfactant. Olivemulse is also another alternative. Polysorbate is a low mole surfactant (they are usually wetting agents) and acts as an emulsifier of oil in water emulsions.
I don’t have anything to do with the company (honestly) but Aussie Soap Supplies carries these alternatives plus the chemical in question.
More info I found –
PlantaSol CCG can be used to replace, or partially replace, Polysorbate 20 and other solubilizers in essential oil or fragrance oil spray mist products. Begin with 1/1 ratio, can increase up to 1/10 ratio.
PlantaSol CCG can be used as a co-emulsifier in leave-on products such as lotions and creams.
This nonionic, vegetable derived solubilizer is EcoCert and perfect for formulations that strive for as natural as can be.
INCI Name: Caprylyl Capryl Glucoside
Thanks for all these awesome substitutions! Sadly I don’t think any of my suppliers carry these, but I’ll keep an eye out.
Incredible! I have much frizz and do not know how to control it, hopefully this will help me lose those stubborn hair
I hope it works for you, too—let me know 🙂
wow thats so cool i have to try this for my hair do you think it would work in my curly frizzy hair ?
It should be perfect for curly, frizzy hair 🙂
Regarding the solubilizer, isn’t that pretty bad stuff to be putting on our bodies? Is there anything “natural” out there that would do the same thing? Thanks, love your tips!
Solubilizer is made of Polysorbate 20, which Skin Deep rates a 3/10. The majority of their concerns are related to contamination, so assuming you have a reputable supplier, it is quite safe to use, especially in the low concentrations I work with. That said, another commenter named Janie shared this information:
Hello,
I love this hair smoothing spray! My hair is very thick and curly. In high humidity, I look like a poodle. Often, I use a ceramic straightener and Frizz smoothing creme. Thank you for sharing for all of your recipes. You should think about patenting that Snow White Lip Stain. It could be a real money maker for you! For this hair spray, I’m not a fan of any rose-scented items. Can I use something else as a substitute for the rose oil to make it more “fresh smelling”? I love anything that smells like baby powder. I’d love to try this, though. I’d appreciate your input and suggestions! Thank you so much. <3
Thanks for reading, Amy! Feel free to use any essential oils you like in this hair mist 🙂 Just be careful of the citrus oils, which can lighten the hair when combined with sun exposure. I have no idea which EO smells most like baby powder as it isn’t exactly a natural scent, but I’d recommend something like lavender or mint 🙂
Thank you, Marie. Mint would smell very refreshing in the morning. Great suggestion!!
@Caroline (below): read the other comments. It tells you exactly what solubilizer is as well as a suggestion on where you can purchase it. 🙂
Thanks, Amy!
What the heck is solubilizer?
Solubilizer is a oil-in-water emulsifier that allows you to emulsify small amounts of oils in large amounts of water. I buy mine from New Directions Aromatics.
Hi! I love your site, i will start doing some of your recepies this weekend, wish me luck! jeje.
Can you tell me why you choose, or need, those infredientes, what are they good for? why you need them the in this recepi?
I love to learn what are the benefist of the ingredients…
Thank you very much!
Sorry about my english, it-s not my mother tongue.
Hi Elen! You should definitely check out my “The Basics” section and read some of the articles in there to get an idea of what different types of ingredients do. As for this recipe in particular, the water is the primary wetting agent and provides the majority of the bulk. The solubilizer is the emulsifier, and the oil is to add extra moisture and staying power to the spray. I chose camellia seed oil in particular because it is light and absorbs quickly, and hair does not absorb oil very quickly. The essential oils are to make it smell pretty 😉
Can any essential oil work? I do not have rose or cardamom. Also, could I substitute camelia oil? See above excuse 😛
Yup, you can use pretty much and EO, just stay away from the citrus ones as they’re photo-sensitizing. As for camelia oil, there doesn’t look like there’s any such thing, if you Google it you just end up at camellia seed oil, so I’m assuming they’re the same thing… so go for it, lol. Otherwise argan and grapeseed are good alternatives.
What about broccoli seed oil? It mimics silicone, how about that?
OOoh! I haven’t tried it (though I did just order some, heh heh), but I bet it would work beautifully. In fact, I intend to try it myself as soon as mine arrives 😀
Neat-o! I definitely need something like this for the winter months! Thanks!!
Have fun with it 🙂 Thanks for DIYing with me!
You are a life-saver.
I saw your last hair spritz come through, but ended up working backward to this one (because of the shorter ingredient list). It works so ridiculously well, it’s insane. My hair, no matter what I put in it, would start getting staticy after about thirty minutes, and would be useless for anything but a ponytail. This spray keeps the static at bay for six hours at a time, which is something I never thought I would find! You’ve been an inspiration, in that I feel more comfortable trying to use natural solutions, and your recipes are so amazingly helpful.
I also was intrigued by your labdanam and benzoin love lately, so I ordered those, and used them to scent my spray. My question, however, is how do you get them to “drop.” For me, they were so thick that I finally had to pull off the stopper and try to limit the amount that came out of the open bottle. As a result, my final product is just a touch strong.
I tried using hot water baths, but didn’t have much luck with that (it might have had something to do with the fact that it was stupidly cold when I decided to make the product, though).
Thanks, Marie!
I am so thrilled that this hair mist has been a hair saver for you, Amber 😀 That’s always super thrilling to hear 🙂
With the labdanum & benzoin I’ll use a hot water bath (and the droppers are permanently gone), but I’ve also resigned myself to the drops of those EOs being bigger than usual, and my recipes that call for “drops” of them are talking more about blobs than drops, lol. On the plus side, they aren’t as potent in the scent department as some of the thinner ones, so that’s helpful in preventing overdoses.
Also… is it spring yet? Sigh.
I believe witch hazel is a decent substitute for the solubiliser for cutting oils and aiding the blending of oils with water.
Sadly not—I’ve tried it 🙁 Witch hazel acts just like water in this respect. If the witch hazel has some alcohol in it, it may help a wee bit, but you will still have to shake a fair amount before spritzing.
I want to try this as I have long but also somewhat frizzy (on top!) hair, especially in high humidity here in New England. What I wouldn’t give to live in a dry climate again!
But anyway, I don’t have any emulsifier.
After recent discoveries you’ve made about guar gum and TRO, I’m wondering if I could try a combination of those, and what quantities you would suggest, at least to start with. I have guar gum but haven’t used it in anything yet.. Was waiting to see what you had come up with in all your experimenting.
Hi Desba! You can definitely try the gg/tro method here. Go easy on the GG as it is a thickener, and I’ve found that even slightly more viscous liquids have a hard time being misted—they tend to squirt instead, which sort of defeats the purpose of this spray 😛 I’d start with about a “nip” of GG (or less), and then add drops of TRO, whisking, until it emulsifies 🙂
Above * I meant solubilizer, not emulsifier. Although I don’t really understand the difference other than one is more for liquids and the other for thicker heavier stuff?
Solubilizer is a oil-in-water emulsifier, and works by being mixed in equal parts with the oil you want to add to water, and then blended in. It doesn’t thicken the final solution, and can be used with any amount of oil. I find it mostly shines with smaller amounts of oils.
Emulsifying wax thickens, and is water:oil ratio sensitive, so that’s the main difference there. I find you can go as low as 50:50, and up to about 75:25 water to oils, and much beyond that in either direction it’ll split. You also have no choice about getting a creamy lotiony final product 😛
Was wondering if you tried the broccoli oil yet??? 🙂
I have, and it’s very cool! It has a very silicone-like feel to it, and absorbs beautifully. I haven’t tried it in this recipe specifically, but I have tried it in some other hair recipes and I think it would be brilliant in this mist 🙂
Really interested in this recipe + the broccoli oil! How much did you add, and did you leave everything else the same? Thanks 🙂
I’d replace the camellia seed oil with broccoli seed oil—this hair mist can already leave hair looking greasy if you’re too liberal with it, so you definitely don’t want to go increasing the amount of oil in it 🙂
I just made this, and my sister and I already love it! I have straight, flyaway (red) hair, and she has BIG curly (red) hair. This should also work great for my 2.5 year old son’s crazy (red) hair! I love reading your blog every week, I feel like you’re a kindred spirit!
I’ve been wanting to ask you: have you ever tried kumbocha? It’s easy to make at home! I have 2 jars brewing right now!
Yay! I’m so glad you and your ladies are loving it 🙂
I brew lots of kombucha! I generally have 2 gallons of it going at a time, and I have lots of SCOBYs that need new homes now 😛
Do you have an unscented recipe for the anit frizz spray, Shampoo and conditioner?
Just leave out the essential oils. Voila!
Hi Marie
I just made this anti frizz mist and silk lotion they turned out really wonderful and I must say very professional. The texture,smell moisture everything was perfect. Thank you so much.
-laxmi
Wohoo! Enjoy 😀
what can i use instead of the solubizer that i can easily find here in india that’s also natural ?
I know nothing about what you can purchase in India, but a blend of Turkey red oil and guar gum can be used instead—see this recipe for an example of how.
Hello!
How long does this keep ? I want to make it, but don’t want to throw half a batch out if it spoils too soon. Can i use some sort of preservative ?
Hi Helena! Check out the FAQ, there’s a few articles there that will answer your questions 🙂
I have tried this recipe twice and both times it separates, not sure what I’m doing wrong. Can anyone offer some advice on what I may have done or not done correctly? Thanks
What are you using for the solubilizer? You can always try using more solubilizer—that’s the ingredient that keeps everything together 🙂 Happy making!
Hi Marie. I used polysorbate 20 like the recipe. Would polysorbate 80 work better or just add a couple more grams of the 20?
Hey Marie ,,I want to make a mist that is more of a hair growth moisturizer of 64 ounces using the following :
Distilled water
Jojoba oil
Olive oil
Fenugreek seeds oil
Coconut oil
Sweet almond oil
Emulsifying wax
Castor oil
Neen oil
Avocado oil
Peppermint essential oil
Tea tree essential oil
Can I get a procedure on how to make this ,,for it to be more moisturizing than oily,please .Thank you
I don’t do free custom formulation development, sorry.
Hi Marie,
Am I right in thinking polysorbate 80 could work well in place of polysorbate 20 in this recipe?
Thanks Xx
Yup, that should work just fine!
Is this safe to spray on the hands?
Yes, but there is no reason to intentionally apply this to the hands.
thanks marie! can the water also be replaced with rose hydrosol?
You’ll find the answer to your question in my FAQ https://www.humblebeeandme.com/faqs/what-can-i-use-instead-of-water/ Happy making!