After I discovered emulsifying wax, the first recipe I wanted to re-vamp was my hair serum and turn it into an ultimate homemade hair serum. I chose to make it an emulsion so I could cut back on the percentage of oils in the recipe, but in the end it didn’t emulsify very well without any beeswax or borax. So, I melted the original batch back down and added a few grams or e-wax, and that fixed it. But now that I knew I could make a formula that was 75% water instead of 50%, I had to give it another go.
Now, not to toot my own horn (ok, I’m lying), but this stuff is great. Not only is it anti-frizz, but it makes brilliant leave-in conditioner/hair lotion. I massaged a fairly healthy amounts into the bottom 6″ of my waist-length hair two nights ago, and my ends are beautifully soft and shiny. And not at all greasy looking!
This formula uses most of the same ingredients, but results in a more fool-proof serum since it’s mostly water, which won’t turn your hair into a stringy mess. The base of the serum is aloe vera juice and a selection of hair-healthy oils. I spiked it with phytokeratin, bioplex, vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada), and Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada). Last but not least, essential oils of lavender, rosemary, and lemongrass.
When the oils are cooling and start to look like this, it’s time to add the water.
I have much better hair serum formulas now–it turns out you can learn a lot in six years! Check out some of my newer hair care recipes. This hair serum is fantastic, and much better than this one.
Ultimate Homemade Hair Serum
Heated water phase
65mL | 2.2 fl oz aloe vera juice (not aloe vera gel! You can also use distilled water)
5mL | 0.16 fl oz phytokeratin (optional, can be replaced with aloe vera juice)
3mL | 0.1 fl oz vegetable glycerine (USA / Canada) (optional, can be replaced with aloe vera juice)
2mL | 0.06 fl oz bioplex (optional, can be replaced with aloe vera juice)Heated oil phase
6g | 0.21oz complete emulsifying wax (not beeswax!)
10g | 0.35oz camellia seed oil
7g | 0.25oz jojoba oil (USA / Canada)
5g | 0.17oz castor oil (USA / Canada)Cool down phase
2g | 0.07oz Vitamin E MT-50 (USA / Canada)
Essential oils of lavender, lemongrass, and rosemary
Broad spectrum preservative of choice (why?)Prepare a water bath by bringing about 3cm/1″ of water to a bare simmer over low to medium-low heat in a wide, flat-bottomed sauté pan.
Weigh the water phase into a small heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Weigh the entire lot (measuring cup + ingredients) and note that weight for use later. Weigh the oil phase into a second heat-resistant glass measuring cup. Place both measuring cups in your prepared water bath to melt everything through. This should take about 30 minutes.
After about 20–30 minutes the oil part should be completely melted and the water part should be thoroughly dissolved. Remove the water bath from the heat and weigh it. Add enough hot distilled water to bring the weight back up to what it was before heat and hold, and then pour the water part into the oil part. Stir with a flexible silicone spatula to incorporate.
Grab your immersion blender and begin blending the lotion, starting with short bursts so the still-very-liquid lotion doesn’t whirl up and spray everywhere. Blend for about a minute, leave to cool for ten, blend for another minute or two, and repeat this blend-cool-blend cycle until the outside of the glass measuring cup is barely warm to the touch and the serum is thick and creamy.
When the serum is cool it’s time to incorporate our cool down ingredients. Because cool down ingredients are typically present at very low amounts you’ll need to use an accurate scale—preferably one accurate to 0.01g. As these more accurate scales tend to have fairly low (100–200g) maximum weights you won’t be able to put the entire batch of lotion on that scale without blowing it out. So—grab a smaller dish. Add a scoop or two of lotion, and then weigh the cool down ingredients into that, using the more accurate scale. Stir to thoroughly incorporate, and then stir all of that back into the master batch of lotion. Doing it this way minimizes the amount of cool down ingredients lost to the secondary container.
Now you’re ready to package it! I recommend using a 120mL/4oz plastic pump-top bottle.
To use, squirt a small amount into your palm, rub your hands together, and glide over your hair. Once the water evaporates, you’ll be all shiny and set! I also love to use this as a leave-in conditioner for my ends.
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 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.
How much water is used in the recipe? I didn’t see that listed.
This recipe actually doesn’t use any water, I have you use aloe vera juice (65g) instead. You could easily use distilled water, though!
Hello I am very interested in using e-wax now in my homemade mixes.
Can you tell me where did you purchase your e-wax?
How else can e-wax be used (i.e. diy conditioners, shampoos, leave in)?
How should I not use e-wax?
Can e-wax be used by itself?
How much e-wax to oil and water proportion?
Sorry for all the questions this has really sparked an interest in me. Thanks for sharing!
Grace—I got my e-wax from New Directions Aromatics (http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.ca/polawax-p-1344.html). You can use it in anything that needs to be emulsified, where a creamy texture is desired in the final product. I mostly use it for lotions and leave in conditioners. You wouldn’t really need it for shampoo, as part of the soap making process involves emulsifying (that is what “trace” is). I’ve found e-wax to be pretty fool proof.
NDA says “Polawax is compatible with anionic, cationic and non-ionic systems. The emulsions show excellent stability in both acid and base media. Emulsions are stable with a pH as low as 3 or as high as 13. It does not deteriorate on heating, experiencing only a slight alteration in color at temperatures up to 150-152°C for two hours.”
There’s really no reason to use e-wax on it’s own. The only things you can really do with pure wax is make candles, and I don’t think e-wax candles would be very nice.
My basic lotion recipe when using e-wax is 75% water parts and 25% oil parts I generally use 7% e-wax (as part of the oils), usually 73% water and 2% vegetable glycerin, and 18% oils of choice (to complete the 25% oils part). Recommended use for e-wax 2%—10%. Since the wax is part of the oils, if you want to use more, you’ll need to use less oils to total 25% of the recipe, by weight.
Something else I’d note about e-wax is that is does take a day or two for the lotion to really thicken. For the first few days you’ll have something closer to milk, but after 72 hours or so you’ll have something that is a proper, squirtable, spreadable lotion.
Hi, I am new to your blog. What I have seen I am really enjoying! I was just wondering if the hair serum needs to be refrigerated as there are no preservatives? How much does it end up making, can you give me ounces? (I am American). I haven’t gone all natural, taking baby steps. I have cut sulfates and now use a shampoo called Nature’s Gate Herbal. It is loaded with herbs and essential oils. I decant some in a smaller container and dilute it with water using it once or twice per week. Sometimes I just “co wash” with a silicone free conditioner and do the occasional ACV or beer rinse. My hair is really looking healthy and seems to be growing nicely. Also occasionally mist with rooibos tea, or lightly oil the ends with coconut oil. When I want a more intense treatment I use a mixture of coconut, grape seed and castor oil with warm honey. I found the trick to get oil out of hair is to wash it with conditioner. Like gets out like so to speak. Thank you for your wonderful site, and your hair is really beautiful!!
I haven’t refrigerated mine, and it’s still fine after about a year (which defies logic, but I’m ok with it!). It makes 100mL of serum (about 3.3oz as an ounce is ~28mL).
I’ve read about CO washes on the Long Hair Community before, but never a beer rinse! I guess that makes sense since beer is acidic, just like ACV, but I’m not sure I want to waste beer on my hair 😉 Haha, I do love my beer! The tea mist sounds wonderful, I just might try adding some tea to my next batch of anti-frizz hair mist. I love it in my toner, and I’ve used rosemary infusions as a hair spritz before as well.
I love doing warm oil treatments for my hair, but I’ve found that since I’ve stopped using commercially made shampoos and conditioners, I just don’t need that much added moisture anymore, even in mega-dry Calgary (and it’s SUPER hard to get all that oil out with all the hair I have and the not-as-strong shampoo bars).
Thanks for stopping by and feel free to get in touch if you have any questions!
Need some help I have been doing the no poo method for sometime and I am finding my hair to be very, very, very dry after I wash what am I doing wrong and do you have something I can do different to make my hair more softer? I believe the shampoo way is to drying for my hair. Thank you so much!!!
I’m kind of confused here, Pattie—you said you were using no shampoo, but that you think your hair is so dry because shampoo is too drying? What’s going on? LOL.
That said, you should definitely try and ACV rinse, hair mist, hair balm, and hair serum!
what I am doing is the no-poo shampoo way and my hair is very dry after. The baking soda and water. Do you have a way that is not very drying?
Ah, ok! I’ve never used baking soda to wash my hair, so I can’t speak from experience there. I use homemade shampoo bars and an ACV rinse to wash, and add moisture back in with hair balm and hair serum, mostly, if I need to. I live in a very dry climate and I’ve never found that my hair gets very dry after all that—just the ends when I’m due for a trim. Is your hair usually dry? Have you bleached/coloured/permed it a lot in the past? Do you heat treat it frequently?
My hair is colored. I do not heat dry my hair. The reason I do not make the soap is I am afraid of lye. This is all new to me and I would love to get away from what is put in the shampoo and rinses. So I thought you could help me with this. I have to buy some more items before I can make the balm but I will let you know how it comes out. Thank you for all your help!!!
Pattie—Hmm. Unless you’ve been bleaching your hair for years, I can’t think of a reason that your hair would be very dry, other than age (sadly things tend to dry out over the years). Don’t be afraid of lye, though! If you use bleach in any of your home cleaning, you’ve already got the courage to work with lye 🙂 Just treat it with respect—don’t bathe in it or drink it, haha. That said, there are many awesome soapers out there that make great products and sell them on sites like Etsy, so you could try a shampoo bar from there—just watch out for bad ingredients like sodium lauryl sulfate and artificial fragrances.
It occurs to me that the dryness may also be part of a transition period for you and your hair, now that you’ve ditched the stuff from the store. I sure found that I noticed a difference as the silicone byproducts started peeling out of my hair. This may be what you are coming across—the loss of product build up, so your hair feels different from what it is used to.
I’d also recommend getting yourself a boar bristle brush—the natural bristles are excellent for re-distributing oils throughout your hair, so they’re great for brushing in hair balms and pulling your scalp oils down the shaft of the hair.
Before you get around to making this awesome serum, you can work a drop or two of oil into your hair—just be sure to go slowly, it is very easy to overdo 🙂 That will help with adding moisture back as well!
Essential oils of lavender, lemongrass, and rosemary just curious how much?
Also Bioplex is not available at New Directions, and what I have found there are about 6 different types and they are mostly Chemical based. Anyway thank you for doing such great things.
It’s really up to you—I love how those three scents blend together, so feel free to tip towards the one you like best and experiment 🙂
The Bioplex is totally optional, I doubt you’ll notice much of a change if you leave it out. I bought it out of curiosity and rarely use it.
I just stumbled on your site and am in LOVE! I’ve been sulfate\silicone free almost 2 years (Oct).
I do the co-wash method and love the serum!
Thank you!
Thanks for reading, Chontae! It’s always great to meet another natural hair care enthusiast 🙂 Have you ever thought about making your own shampoo bars? They are so much fun, and extra awesome for travelling. Did you notice the silicone peeling out of your hair after a few months without it? I sure did, so I’m curious to see if it’s a common experience when going natural, or if I only experienced it because I have very long, very thick hair.
I have polawax emulsifier can I use it to make leave in hair conditioner. I have read on some sites like swift crafty moneky bolg that for hair conditioner I have to use Emulsifier called BTM50 but I only have polawax and at this time I can’t get this BTM 50.
I used Polawax for this recipe so go ahead and use that 😉
I liked this recipe but it got too thick for my taste (for a hair serum anyway). I’ve been using it as a hand lotion instead! I scented it with grapefruit and lime EO, which smells amazing. I just use it at night so I don’t get sunburnt from the citrus EO. If I made it again I might add some argan oil and increase the water to 80% instead of 75%. Thanks!!
Nice! I’d still encourage you to try a small amount out on your ends, though—I just get a wee bit in my hands, spread it across my palms, and lightly dust the ends of my hair 🙂
Hi
This is a lovely recipe but I don’t understand how it doesn’t need a preservative given it’s comprised of a good deal of water. Would you know how that’s the case? Thanks so much Your website is great!
Hi Anne! Technically this does need a preservative—it will eventually mould, no matter what. However, I’ve found that “eventually” can be stretched out if you store the product in a pump-top bottle so you aren’t constantly dipping your fingers into it. My lotions generally last 3–6 months like this, depending on the ingredients. I just watch for mould and toss it out when I see some. That said, you can also add a broad spectrum preservative of your choice. Thanks for reading 🙂
I’ve made two batches of this serum so far, and my hair LOVES it. Unfortunately, both batches have separated and gone bad in just a few weeks. Have you experienced this, or do you have any suggestions?
After it’s separated, I’ve tried shaking it up and it’ll recombine a bit, but it stays thin and runny, then starts smelling bad.
Very strange! I have a batch that is, I kid you not, 2.5 years old. No preservatives, and it’s still fine (honestly not sure how that happened, I doubt I could reproduce that result). Could it be your ewax? The separation thing has me a bit suspicious of it, as I’ve had plenty of things mould, but never separate after the fact.
New Directions has a $100 minimum order now. Where else is phytokeratin available? I’m having troubles finding it. I live in the United States. Thank you!
I’m sorry, Sally, I haven’t found anywhere else that carries phytokeratin 🙁
I found some at this company out of Canada. They do ship to the US!
http://www.voyageursoapandcandle.com
And here out of NY.
http://www.bodybutterstore.com/
Thanks, Tanya!
Hello! Love, love your site. So, I have a couple questions for you. I bought some e-wax but not from where you buy it, does that matter or all e-waxes the same? The other question is, I don’t have the phytokeratin or the bioplex but would like to use the vegetable glycerin and would I just use the same amount as listed in the recipe? Ok, one more question and then I will leave you alone, I promise! The camellia oil, can I use avocado oil instead? I have been so tempted to buy a hair serum but voila, there you are to the rescue. I need something badly so any advice will do! Thank you in advance!
Hi Stephanie! To answer your first and third questions, check out this article and this article 🙂
And yes, you can replace the phytokeratin and bioplex with glycerin, but it will just be a replacement, not a substitution—sort of like using salt instead of sugar 🙂 It takes up the place of the ingredient, but doesn’t serve the same purpose.
Hi,
Is there a substitution for camellia seed oil?
Thank you,
Hi Darlene! Read this to learn more about substitutions.
Hey, I like your ideas and creations so much . I hope you can consider having a you-tube channel so we can see videos of how you make them.
Video is CRAZY time consuming to do well. If I was ok with only publishing one recipe a month I might do video 😛 Thanks for reading & DIYing with me!
I just made this and substituted my own additives. It came out lovely but I was really curious about thy phytokeratin and poof, like magic, it’s on Saffire blue! Working on an order from them now. 🙂 I thought you might like to know since it seemed to disappear from nda.
Thanks, that’s awesome! Huzzah!
I really love your blog!
I was worrying silently about the potential harmful chemicals in my daily beauty products.
It’s exciting that I can make my own fresh beauty products!
Thanks, Sylvie! Welcome to Humblebee & Me 🙂 Here’s a great place to get started if you’re new to all this!
Could you please let me know where to get Bioplex from ?
It’s not available at NDA any other place I could check?
Have you checked my giant list of places to shop? You’ll probably find something there!
Hi Marie!
I have to be honest with you, since I only use my own shampoos, my hair seems to lack a little something, even with conditioner …But I found what it is today!! Your serum, it’s amazing! (I have fine long straight hair, but I have a LOT).
I used BTS-50 as my emulsifying, and since I do not have any bioplex, I added some honeyquat instead (half/half with glycerin). It offers good wet combing and conditioning, and helps with anti-static control.
My hair looks like silk, like those of a Pantene TV commercial! I can’t stop touching them.
Oh and I added an aphrodisiac mix of essential oils. It smells like heaven!!!
Thank you Marie, you’re the best!!
Wahoo! I’m so glad you’re loving this 😀 Thanks so much for reading and DIYing with me, and enjoy your Pantene-free Pantene hair! 🙂
Hello! I just discovered your site and I’ve been enjoying the creations we’ve tried. My hair is a major problem and I love that you provide some anti-frizz and styling solutions in a natural way. A couple of these require phytokeratin and I noticed that it’s never given in a link format…I put it into all your listed “where to buy” links and nothing came up. When I put it in Amazon I just get finished products. Do you have a source on where to buy? Thanks so much!
Hey Annette! Sadly my Canadian source of phytokeratin has discontinued it (boo), but you can purchase VegKeratin from Lotion Crafter that looks to be the same thing. I haven’t tried it as the shipping to Canada is appalling, but from the description it is plant derived keratin, which is exactly what phytokeratin is. Hope that helps and happy making!
Could i use Broccli seed oil instead of Camellia seed oil? or perhaps half Camellia seed and half Broccli seed oil?
Yup! Just be sure to take notes so you can re-create it if you love it, and make adjustments if you don’t 🙂
Hi Marie!
New subscriber and first time user of emulsifying wax. The directions on your recipe are not clear (to me) when it comes to combining the hot wax, hot oil and heated liquids.
Oil into wax, then liquids into oil & wax? Could the oils be heated TOGETHER with the wax?
Thanks for clearing that up for me!
Wow, those instructions were awful. I’ve just re-written them completely, that should clear things up!
2nd Comment:
Reading through the other comments posted, I noticed several references to preservatives (or the absence thereof).
On the aloe vera juice I have purchased, I noticed that they put in a small amount of sodium benzoate (less than 1/10th of 1 percent) as a preservative, along with a little ascorbic acid (PH stabilizer). (Fruit of the Earth brand sold at Walmart)
A few years ago I purchased aloe vera GEL (Sun Harvest brand at Sprout’s Farmers Market) which has lasted unrefrigerated for all this time. It contains Potassium Sorbate and Sodium Benzoate as preservatives (no percentage stated).
Could that be why your serums last so long?
Personally, I am a minimalist, not a purist, when it comes to using all natural ingredients. Sometimes there is no adequate natural equivalent; it becomes a risk/reward decision.
Sadly no—the use of an ingredient that contains a small amount of preservative will not result in the end product being preserved. The preservatives required to make aloe vera shelf stable really aren’t up to the task of preserving a full serum with oils and other delicious bacteria food. I’ve definitely learned a lot over the years, especially about preservatives—I am very grateful I never hurt myself or made myself or any friends sick in the early days!