Am I the only one who imagines herself as a glamorous women frolicking through clouds of tiny droplets of magical wonder whenever she mists herself with something? I hope not. Misting is basically the grown-up skin care version of running through a sprinkler, complete with prettier smells and a much lower chance of slipping in mud. This particular mist is an excellent one to compliment your imaginary glamour mist frolicking—it’s brilliant on hair (and skin!), leaves you smelling like you sleep in a bed of rose petals, and doesn’t require any heating or emulsifiers, so it’s super fast and easy to make. In short, it’s awesome, I love it, and you should make some.
The conditioning part of this Conditioning Rose Water Hair Mist comes from one of two different “quat” ingredients—Honeyquat or Polyquaternium 7. Both are cationic conditioning agents that help reduce tangles, frizz, and static. They’ll also give leave your hair feeling wonderfully conditioned—this is a hard one to properly describe, but it’s lovely. My hair is softer, slicker, shinier, and feels “richer”, if that makes sense. It’s all-around lovely. The conditioning ingredient really is the linchpin of this recipe; please don’t leave it out! Also, don’t use BTMS-50 or BTMS-25 instead. Yes, they are cationic, but they are also solid, and will not result in a final product that can be misted. If you’re interested in DIY hair care I’d really recommend owning both a solid (BTMS) conditioning ingredient and a liquid one—just like solid and liquid emulsifiers/solubilizers, they have different (awesome!) uses and aren’t terribly interchangeable.
There’s a bunch of added goodies in this mist to help add shine and bounce to your hair, and to keep it hydrated. Plant derived keratin and hydrolyzed silk are both proteins that help make our hair shiny and bouncy, as well as offering some strengthening and smoothing action. Panthenol and sodium lactate are both humectants, which means they draw water out of the air to help keep our hair hydrated. I chose sodium lactate here as it’s a stronger humectant than glycerin; we typically use glycerin because it’s sturdier in the face of washing (in hand lotions, for example), but we don’t wash our hair nearly as often as we wash our hands (I hope!), so we can use sodium lactate in a hair mist. Vegetable glycerin is a good alternative if you don’t have sodium lactate, though.
I’ve opted not to include any oils in this mist; that means it’s even easier to make as there’s no emulsion fussing, and it also makes it quite difficult to overdose on this conditioning mist. I definitely find that I’m inclined to continually mist myself with pretty smelling things, and when those pretty smelling things contain oil and go on my hair, I can end up with greebly looking hair (oops). Since we aren’t fussing with emulsifiers we’re getting said pretty scent from the inclusion of rose hydrosol, which smells downright amazing. If you have a different hydrosol that you prefer over rose, feel free to use that instead!
The making process is a super simple measure-cap-shake-voila, and the final product is pretty darn addictive. I’ve been misting it through my hair and enjoying how wonderfully silky my hair feels afterwards (the lovely rosey wafts are an extra bonus!). I’ve also been misting it over my makeup as a bit of a hydrating setting spray, and it’s brilliant for that, too. So, if you like roses, hydration, and conditioning goodness, you should make some of this Conditioning Rose Water Hair Mist!
Conditioning Rose Water Hair Mist
1g | 0.03oz honeyquat PF (USA | Canada) or Polyquaternium 7 (USA | Canada)
1g | 0.03oz plant-derived keratin (look for products with names like phytokeratin or vegekeratin)
1g | 0.03oz hydrolyzed silk (peptides or amino acids preferred) or other hydrolyzed protein
1g | 0.03oz panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada) (vitamin B5)
2g | 0.07oz sodium lactate (USA / Canada) or vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)10g | 0.3oz rose hydrosol or other hydrosol of choice
34g | 1.2oz distilled water0.25g | 0.0088oz Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada) (or other broad spectrum preservative of choice at recommended usage rate [why?])
Weigh all of the ingredients into a 60mL | 2 fl oz spray bottle. Cap, and shake to combine. That’s it! You can also weigh everything into a small beaker and whisk to combine before decanting the mixture into a spray bottle—your choice 🙂
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this hair mist contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project is likely to eventually spoil as our kitchens are not sterile laboratories, so in the event you notice any change in colour, scent, or texture, chuck it out and make a fresh batch.
Substitutions:
- If you only have one of either the phytokeratin or hydrolyzed protein, feel free to use two grams of that instead of one gram each
- If you only have one of either panthenol or sodium lactate/glycerin, feel free to use three grams of what you do have
- Feel free to use a different hydrosol in place of the rose hydrosol
- Keep in mind that this concoction is cationic if you decide to use a different preservative; some are incompatible with cationic ingredients.
Hey Marie, I am a huge fan and Love your Book too! I am surprised that you’re using polyquaternium which isn’t natural at all and builds up like silicon. What do you think? Kind regards, Julielovesbeauty
Not all polyquaterniums build up on everyone’s hair. Some experience this while others do not. Also, some polyquaterniums have more potential to build up than others. Polyquaterniums can be removed with C12-14 olefin sulfonate, which is found in many “natural” shampoos. I understand that polyquaternium 7 is not a “natural” ingredient, but not everything considered “natural” is better for you. On the flip side, not everything synthetic or lab created is bad for you. I think you miss out on a lot of fantastic ingredients when you only consider the “natural” ones. A snake bite is “all natural” but I don’t want one!
Thanks Belinda for your thoughts 🙂
I’m not really fussed about “natural” as it is safe, and really, there are no natural cationic conditioning ingredients, so if you want conditioning, you’re already in the “un-natural” realm. Calling honeyquat “natural” is definitely a bit of a stretch—it doesn’t look anything like honey to me, haha! As for build up, in the concentrations we’re using I’m not too worried about it, especially since from my reading it’s only a medium build up “risk”. Hope that helps!
I don’t want to use neither Polyquat 7, nor Honeyquat.
The Polyquat because it isn’t biodegradable (it’s basically microplastic) and honeyquat because I’m vegan.
Do you know of any plant-derived vegan biodegradable alternatives for a cationic conditioning agent? I’m not necessarily crazy for all-natural things (what was described by Belinda is called naturalistic fallacy), but I want to keep my moral integrity and not pollute the environment
I’m afraid you’ll have to do your own research there; I checked with EcoWell and biodegradability is not as simple as “is” or “isn’t”—it is influenced by the formulation the ingredient is present in. Additionally, just because something isn’t biodegradable doesn’t mean it won’t safely degrade. Good luck.
I tried this and really wanted to like it. I did double the recipe so I’m not sure if I messed up somehow. But I sprayed it on my hair and it felt super dry and tacky. Made my hair super tangly. I want to make this work. Perhaps it’s a matter of using too much when I initially sprayed it on? Any thoughts on how to improve the experience?
I’m so excited to make this! I love anything that smells like roses AND I have all the ingredients after making the conditioner bar. I knew they were worth buying because they would re-appear later.
Woohoo! Enjoy 😀 Roses = love
Going off of this hair mist idea I would loveeeeee to see you make a hair lightening spray (great for summer)! I have used John Frieda Go Blonder spray for a long time and it works but I have a lotttt of hair and the bottles are small and expensive. The mix would probably contain camomile and lemon for sure!
Something like this? 😉
ahhh silly me thank u!!
I made this last night and whoa baby, this is going to be my go to leave in conditioner. Thank you so much!
Yay, I’m so thrilled! Woo!
I thought I perfected my summer hair mist with the addition of bamboo extract. Next change is rose hydrosol for the water. Brilliant!
Rose hydrosol improves everything
Hey Marie, this sounds beautiful – I adore the smell of roses and am curious about trying hair care recipes but I’m scared of honeyquat. I bought it to use in some of your recipes and Susan Barclay Nicols (Swifty Crafty Monkey) also features it in quite a few formulas. I used it in your emulsified serum recipe and it was not a good experience :{ I thought being derived from honey it would be lovely and at first it all looked great, the serum came together nicely. BUT then I put the serum on. I couldn’t figure out what smelled faintly like fish then realized it was my face and hands!! I got a friend to try some the next day as a test and didn’t mention the fishy experience -I wanted an objective opinion : )
She loved it at first then after a moment got a whiff of fish on her hands and face.
It was a puzzle to narrow down the culprit ingredient but after researching around and remaking the recipe without it I found that it was indeed the honeyquat. So… the honeyquat sits in my cupboard because I’m scared to try it again and ruin another recipe. I’m not sure if it was reacting with my preservative, was off or why the end product smelled like fish. Anyway, would love to hear your input and understand the chemistry of this reaction. Is this a feature of ‘quats’? Does it make a difference which preservative you use? If you can suggest an alternative I would love to try this recipe! Maybe I’ll try it anyway in a small batch and see if it happens again…thanks!
I use polyquaternium 7 (no fish smell in this!) and polyquaternium 10 in shampoo and the polyquaternium 10 definitely smells like fish! I use romesmary and chamomile hydrosols in the shampoo, and at 0.5% usage, I cannot smell the fishy smell of the polyquaternium 10. Did you use anything in your “fishy” formulation to mask the scent or did you leave it unscented? What was your usage rate? I know Susan on POI loves honeyquat and using hydrosols. Maybe that’s one of the reasons she uses the hydrosols. Haha!
Hey Belnda, where do you get your polyquaternium 7? I don’t see it at Lotioncrafter. I’ve noticed the same fishy smell when I’ve used honeyquat in the past but it was when I used it in the heated phase of a lotion. Maybe where this isn’t heated it will make a difference? I’ll give it a try.
Kelly
These are the suppliers I could find…
US – the Herbarie, Essentials by Catalina, Personal Formulator, Save On Citric, and eBay (which is The Chemistry Connection AKA Save On Citric)
I have bought from the Herbarie, Personal Formulator (where I got my Polyquaternium 7), and Save On Citric all with great results.
Canada – Voyageur Soap and Candle
UK – Gracefruit
Australia – Aussie Soap Supplies
China – Ali Baba
Hope this helps!
Thanks for listing all those places! I guess it means starting yet another shopping cart. 🙂
Thanks BelindaSK! I have never tried polyquaternium 7. I did use essential oils – a nice blend I have of mature skin helping essential oils. I didn’t notice the fishy smell until I tried it on so it was subtle but definitely there (wrinkled nose). I used honeyquat at 2%. Marie’s formula called for 2% raw honey which I didn’t have so thought I would get fancy and try the honeyquat…this was for the “evening primrose facial serum”. Anyway I appreciate your response,thanks 🙂
Hey Brenda! So… yeah. The quats are nitrogenous compounds and so can smell… fishy. According to Susan the manufacturer of honeyquat recently changed, and honeyquat has been fishier ever since 🙁 I think I have an old batch, so mine is less fishy, but huffed straight from the bottle, it’s definitely still there. You aren’t doing anything wrong, that’s just the quats. Sigh. Some people can smell it, some can’t. It sounds like neither of us are lucky enough to be in the second category.
That said, I don’t find it to be overwhelming or even terribly noticeable here. The rose water is the dominant scent by a wide margin, and I’ve never caught a fishy waft more than a minute or two after application.
And when it comes to liquid conditioning ingredients that aren’t nitrogenous… I know of none. You might check out this recipe, which uses BTMS instead, but obviously comes together a bit differently and is a different product. Hope that helps!
I can definitely smell the fish! It’s so gross, but I’ve never smelled it in the final product, thank goodness! I never knew the reason why, just knew that it did. Thanks for the scientific tidbit!
Hope you’re enjoying your new goodies!
I actually didn’t notice it until Susan pointed it out, and now it haunts me LOL!
I am absolutely itching to play with my new toys, but with Lottie being off daycare until her incision fully heals I’m really struggling to find time to make stuff 🙁 I need to film a ton of videos this weekend, but then… hopefully?! I need a clone or something LOL.
Ahh, thanks, Marie. Well, good to know all that about quat characteristics! If the smell disappeared after a moment that would be okay but it didn’t for this nose so I guess no more quats for me. There are lots of other nicer smells out there. I’ll check out BTMS, haven’t used that before so will add it to my shopping list 🙂
I find the smell vanishes, but maybe I just get used to it, or maybe that’s because my honeyquat is from the previous less-fishy manufacturer 🙁 I’m sad you can’t enjoy the quat-y goodness because of the fishy ickiness. I do really like the BTMS I get from Windy Point—it doesn’t smell like anything noticeable to me!
Hey Marie! Looks awesome need to get almost all these ingredients before I play but soon! Quick question. Are your bottles glass and where did you get them? They are gorgeous!
Sadly they were discontinued by NDA back in 2013 or so, hence the lack of a link 🙁
WOW! I should do this ASAP (hi frizzy hair haha) By the way , I would like to buy this as shampoo, Do you think it’s good? https://www.iherb.com/pr/Aroma-Naturals-Extraordinary-Natural-Castile-4-in-1-Soap-Tea-Tree-Eucalyptus-8-fl-oz-237-ml/47983
Thank you so ,so much.
Hmm. Well, that shampoo is castile soap, so if you are used to using a shop-bought shampoo, there will definitely be a bit of an adjustment period and you’ll need an acidic rinse. Not a bad thing, just a thing to know! I’m a bit baffled by their “recipe”—there’s no KOH to turn all those oils into soap, a (likely eliminated because it’s scary and/or because it’s not technically in the end product) and personally, I would never waste beautiful oils like cranberry seed or even jojoba on saponification as I’ve yet to read anything convincing about that making a better soap… just a more expensive one haha. I’m sure it’s a perfectly fine product, honestly, I just wouldn’t choose to make such a thing that way 🙂
Thanks! I’m still impressed for how kind you’re with us.
Currently I’m using this https://www.iherb.com/pr/Desert-Essence-Organics-Red-Raspberry-Shampoo-8-fl-oz-237-ml/10674 followed bu a vinegar rinse but I feel that maybe my hair is used to it , and lately my hair is getting more greasy *sighs* haha.I tried with a castile soap bar but it leaves my hair more dirty so..I’m a little hesitant about what I should try next.
Thanks for the reply !
That shampoo does not require a vinegar rinse afterwards, and that may be what’s making your hair more greasy—I’ve found an acidic rinse used on my scalp makes leaves my hair noticeably greasier days earlier than if I don’t rinse the roots. And, since you don’t need the rinse at all, that may be the issue. Don’t feel bad if castile soap doesn’t make a good shampoo for you! It doesn’t work for many people, and just ’cause it works for people like me doesn’t mean you should force yourself to stick with it if your hair hates it 🙂 Why are you looking at changing?
I was looking for a change because I feel that my hair tends to get used to the formulas.I’ve found this: https://www.iherb.com/pr/Petal-Fresh-Pure-Volumizing-Shampoo-Rosemary-Mint-16-fl-oz-475-ml/66227 and so far so good! Thank you so much for your tips!
Hi Marie,
I was so excited to finally order and try honeyquat in this recipe, but good gourd it smells disgusting…like musky animal smell disgusting. Is that normal? I’m guessing not as you don’t mention it in the paragraph about it. It doesn’t make me smell like I sleep on a bed of roses, just an animal bed, lol. The loveliness of the neroli hydrosol I used doesn’t even mask it 🙁 So two questions: can I add an essential oil to help mask it more, without messing up the recipe? And since honeyquat is the linchpin of the recipe, I’m guessing real honey wouldn’t be a good substitute?
All conditioning things I’ve encountered have a smell if you huff ’em… a sort of fishy one. Apparently the manufacturer of some of the quats has changed and there have been reports of amplified… scent… since the change. I believe my bottle is pre-swap as, while it isn’t exactly pleasant, it’s not disgusting or overwhelming. You are correct about not being able to swap it for honey; polyquat would be another alternative, but the scent is similar. If you want to include any essential oils you will need to include a solubilizer to ensure they distribute properly; I’d recommend polysorbate 20, at about a 4:1 solubilizer:EO by weight ratio. Sorry your ingredient is so stinky 🙁
Yea, mine is bad, and actually the smell lingers in my hair. I was hoping it would dissipate but no luck. SO GROSS 🙁
Boooo 🙁 I’m sorry, that’s a big bummer. Perhaps you and the quats would get along better with a fragrance oil competing with the quat-y scent? I’ve been looking at commercial products that contain quats and don’t smell like fish and they’re typically pretty heavily fragranced. Perhaps that’s how larger manufacturers are getting around it?
Just made this with my daughter, who is so excited about having her hair smell like roses. It’s usually a struggle to get her hair brushed in the morning but until the novelty of her rose spray wears off she is going to be initiating it.
Yay! I hope she wants to smell like roses for years, then 🙂 My mom always told me that if I wanted long hair it was my responsibility to care for it… the threat of a haircut always kept my hair brushed!
Hi Marie,
so for Plant Keratin, I am assuming the one that WindyPoint sells suffices? Peptides, this is just silk peptides, so again the one that WindyPoint sells is sufficient? And Rose Hydrosol, is that the same as Rose Floral Water?
Thanks!
Yes to all 🙂
Hi Marie!
What would be a good vegan substitute to the honeyquat?
Polyquat!
HI, Marie: Liquid Germall Plus is the preservative I also use. Making Cosmetics writes, however, that the US prohibits use in aerosols/sprays and the EU in body creams/lotions. As a newbie, I want to make air fresheners and facial spritzers, and body creams and lotions, but both the EU and the US warn against those uses. I see in your recipes that you use LGP, and so far, haven’t suffered (from what I’ve read!). Why do you think there are these caveats about LGP? It is safe to use, within reason, isn’t it? Thanks. C
My understanding of the aerosol/sprays thing was that it’s for continuous sprays, like hairsprays, rather than mists. I’ve read it in forums and I believe Susan uses LGP in sprays as well.
For EU bans; the way it’s been explained to me is that the EU regulations have to make all signatory countries happy, so if something is not allowed it isn’t necessarily bad, it could just be that one or two members don’t like it. With that in mind, if the EU says something is safe I’m pretty inclined to believe them (for instance, ultramarine blue isn’t allowed in lip applications in the USA but is in the EU—I’m fine with it because the EU is), but if they don’t like something that’s approved in the rest of the world I’ll take another look.
But yes, either way, I have not died or noticed any ill effects from it 😛 Hope that helps!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I make my granddaughters hair detangler for them. But I’ve always just made it up as I went along. So sometimes they said one version was better than another. So it’s great to have an actual recipe. Because of their hair type, I’ve always used a mallow root infusion as well. Thanks again Marie
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! If detangling is the chief concern you might look at incorporating some cetrimonium chloride as well as it’s an excellent detangler 🙂 Happy making!
Hi Marie!!
I just made this a couple days ago and it makes my hair softer and easier to comb:) Too bad my spray bottle sprays jets at me so I just spray it into my palm and smooth it all over my hair. I’m loving this. Thank you so much!!
Kelly
I’m so glad you’re enjoying it! Did you use the polyquat or honeyquat? I have found since first sharing this that polyquat can cause the jet-stream thing due to its thicker viscosity when compared to honeyquat ha.
I used polyquat! Thanks for the explanation! I thought it was my bottle
No worries! The lack of fishy-ness has me reaching for the polyquat 7 much more than honeyquat these days.
Hi Marie,
Do you have percentages of your formula? It was a little hard converting it to a larger formula, to fit an 8ounce bottle for my sister.
Thank you so much!!!
Not for this one, I’m afraid. I’ve got full details on how to do that yourself here 🙂 As always, please make a small version first before scaling up to ensure you like it. Happy making!
Lala: If you are okay with Not exactly perfection…this makes 50 grams (not including the preservative). Doubling the formula will give you 100 grams – or 100%. Or you can subtract 0.25 g of water (in the 50 gram formula) or 0.5% of the water to get 100% formula. (The ugly way would be to work out the exact percentages as written, but then every gram would go to hundredths, which is difficult to measure out in very small batches.) Hope that makes sense. Sly
I made this yesterday and really I can’t thank you enough! I was used to waking up with dry ends on my hair even if I’d given it some proper treatment the day before.
I had to do some substitutions as I didn’t have all the ingredients, such as using cetrimonium chloride instead of vegetable keratin, adding some more water in place of the hydrosol e using more hydrolyzed protein instead of panthenol. Now my somewhat-curly-and-usually-dry hair is shiny and detangled, just as I hoped.
I’m a huge fan of you and your recipes, Marie! Thank you so so much for sharing all these amazing recipes and your knowledge with us!
Finally got this to work with like 1/8-1/10th of the polyquaternium 7. I made quite a few watergun formulations before I got it right, haha.
Hai Marie, i want to make a hair mist for hair growth, based on rosemary water. Can i follow this ingredients? Or do you have a new formula?
And do you have a recommendation for preservative agent?
you are such a role model for me. Thankyou for all your effort, knowlegde and positive vibes
Nelly, Indonesia
Thanks for sharing, Kathryn, because I was just starting to wonder if I could maybe change something to let it spray more like a real mist… and then I saw your comment… (Made this 2 days ago and it is wonderful, except that it does not spray nicely.) Going to try again with this new tip! 😉