I’ve been having lots of fun with gel-type things recently, and that got me to thinking about hair gels. That led to me wondering why hair gels are almost always focussed on hold. Gels are a great format for delivering mostly hydrous ingredients in an easily steerable manner—we can use them to add lightweight viscosity to products so they aren’t too drooly or runny. So, why not make other hair gel things—like a gelled hair conditioner? A sort of conditioning hair serum in gel form? As you’ve probably guessed, that’s what we’re making today!
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On their own, gels aren’t a serious hold-giving thing. A simple gel made with carbomer or a natural gum isn’t going to do much for locking a hairstyle into place—that’s why hair gels typically feature something like vinyl acetate copolymer to offer that stylable film-forming/fixative power we need to convince our hair to do new things. Since this product is conditioning & smoothing focussed rather than hold focussed, I’ve built out our gel base with different ingredients.
The gel base itself is hydroxyethylcellulose, which gives beautiful carbomer-like gels without the electrolyte sensitivity carbomers typically have. To that base, I’ve added some polyquaternium 7, which brings the most beautiful conditioning feel to our products (and hair). It is indulgently rich and silky without the fishy smell honeyquat has. I’ve also included some Olivem 300 for a bit of richness. My type 1B hair is not very oil tolerant, so I’ve kept it to 4%; if your hair loves oil you could dial that up, reducing the water to make room for it.
On the moisturizing front, I’ve included some vegetable glycerin and panthenol (vitamin B5). Our scent comes entirely from some beautiful sweetgrass hydrosol. You could easily alter the scent by choosing a different hydrosol (or blend of hydrosols). If you want to include some essential or fragrance oils start with 0.5%; Olivem 300 does have some solubilizing powers, but you’ll need to test your specific scent blend with it to ensure everything stays solubilized.
Making is simple but does require some sitting time so the hydroxyethylcellulose can fully hydrate and create the gel. There’s no heat required, so you can more or less stir, wait, and stir some more. The end result is a smooth, silky gel that will leave your hair lightly conditioned. Lovely!
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Sweetgrass Conditioning Hair Gel Serum
0.6g | 2% hydroxyethylcellulose
1.2g | 4% vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada)1.2g | 4% Olivem 300 (USA / Canada)
0.6g | 2% Polyquaternium 7 (USA / Canada)
0.6g | 2% panthenol powder (vitamin B5) (USA / Canada)
0.15g | 0.5% Liquid Germall Plus™ (USA / Canada)16.65g | 55.5% distilled water
9g | 30% sweetgrass hydrosolWeigh the hydroxyethylcellulose and glycerine into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup or beaker and whisk to combine. Add the remaining ingredients, one at a time, stirring between additions.
Cover the beaker and leave it overnight to fully gel. Once it’s jelled, stir thoroughly until the mixture is uniform. After that all that’s left is to package it up—I used a 30mL (1fl oz) jar from New Directions Aromatics. To use, work small amounts of gel through your hair as needed. Works on wet or dry hair.
Shelf Life & Storage
Because this serum contains water, you must include a broad-spectrum preservative to ward off microbial growth. This is non-optional. Even with a preservative this project may 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
As always, be aware that making substitutions will change the final product. While these swaps won’t break the recipe, you will get a different final product than I did.
- As I’ve provided this recipe in percentages as well as grams you can easily calculate it to any size using a simple spreadsheet as I’ve explained in this post. As written in grams this recipe will make 30g.
- To learn more about the ingredients used in this recipe, including why they’re included and what you can substitute them with, please visit the Humblebee & Me Encyclopedia. It doesn’t have everything in it yet, but there’s lots of good information there! If I have not given a specific substitution suggestion in this list please look up the ingredient in the encyclopedia before asking.
- Do not substitute the hydroxyethylcellulose.
- Water-soluble shea butter would work instead of Olivem 300. Do not use Olivem 1000.
- You could use honeyquat instead of polyquaternium 7, but be aware that honeyquat smells pretty foul—to my nose, at least.
- If you’re like to use a different preservative, please review this page.
- You can replace the hydrosol with more water or a different hydrosol.
- If you want to include some essential or fragrance oils start with 0.5%; Olivem 300 does have some solubilizing powers, but you’ll need to test your specific scent blend with it to ensure everything stays solubilized.
Gifting Disclosure
The hydroxyethylcellulose was gifted by Essential Wholesale. The sweetgrass hydrosol was gifted by Plant’s Power.
Hi Marie! Another gem, I absolutely love this – luxurious consistency yet lightweight! I’m curious to hear your thoughts about adding a bit of hyaluronic acid solution to this, it’s doing wonders for my skin and just curious to hear what you think about HA for hair? Thanks as always for making the world a better DIY place!
I’d say it’s worth a try! If hydration and your hair are a good pair I bet it’ll be downright decadent 😀 Thanks for DIYing with me, and happy making 🙂
Thank you Marie! I can’t tell you how much I LOVE this concoction! I am not a fan of sweetgrass (so sad!) but I made it with rose and love it. I’m curious to hear what you think about making “fake hydrosols) I have seen some imitation scented waters using EO’s, boiling water, and pouring the mixture through a coffee filter. Seems like a hack, but do you think it would work here? Sorry for my ignorance! I’m just really really excited about potential new scents for water friendly formulas! Thanks again, you rock my world!
Hey Becca!
Marie talks about that subject here. Personally, I will only use hydrosols from a well known wholesale supplier of cosmetic ingredients. There are way too many issues when it comes to buying real and fake hydrosols that this settles my mind. I’ll make a tea type solution if I’m making something like a face mask or a product I plan to use that day; but won’t keep it longer than a day!
Happy making!
Barb
Hi Marie, your diy recipes are amazing. And i love the way you explain everything. In this particular hair gel recipe, can we substitute hydrosol with herbal ectracts? Extracts are more potent than the hydrosols so what would be the suggested amount to be added?do we need to use a different thickener if we are using extracts in the recipe?
Hey! Please read this FAQ 🙂
Does this gel ever flake from using the hydroxyethylcellouse that you’ve noticed? And if so how do you avoid it?
I used propanidiol instead of veg glycerin b/c the glycerin makes my hair so sticky and I also added .03 grams (1%) of marshmellow root powder. The final product was very watery but definitely usable. I’m wondering if this was the result of replacing the glycerin? Do you think increasing the hydroxyethylcellulose would fix this? (re-submitting as i forgot to hit subscribe the first time).
I doubt the propanediol switch would impact the viscosity much—it may just be that your hydroxyethylcellulose performs a bit differently than mine thanks to that variation we can always get with natural products. More hydroxyethylcellulose would likely do the trick 🙂 Happy making!
Actually Marie, this COMPLETELY separated on me. The next day it was a big blob & a bunch of water. Oddly enough I was able to shake it & it blended right back up again! What are some of the reasons that hydroxyethylcellulose would separate?
How odd! Has it split again since the shake-up? Did you make any sorts of changes? Hmm.
I used propandiol instead of glycerin b/c glycerin makes my hair too sticky. I dissolved a gram of marshmallow root powder into the propandiol and i used all hydrosol. That’s about it for the changes.
Hmm, I wouldn’t expect any of those things to cause that, but I guess something did. I’d recommend trying a version that includes the marshmallow root powder and uses glycerin instead and see what happens there—a small batch (20–30g) should be enough to let you know 🙂 Happy experimenting!
Hi Marie,
Can you please comment on ingredients like HairfixPH (matrodextrin/VP copolymer?) and SepimaxZen (polyacrylate crosspolymer-6) in similar hair gel formulations. Do they increase hold or definition for curly hair? Do those polymers build up in hair or do they rinse out with water?
Thanks!
Hi Marie
Always you are making good job just I want to know why the gel is not crystal clear?
The Olivem300 will add some cloudiness.
Do you realize that polyqauterenium Aka pvp copolymer is crude oil byproduct ? That it can release formaldehyde on contact with sunlight?
It’s like adding poop to cake. You take beautiful oils and butters and ruin it with polyvinyl molecules. Why not use HA or honeyquat instead ?