Hair Oils: Formulation Guidelines. Argan & Rosehip Lightweight Hair Oil.
Today I will share with you two formulations for beautiful, lightweight, balancing hair oils that are going to add shine and prevent hair splits. I've been asked to formulate hair oil many times, and I didn't want to rush into it without thorough research. Finally, I'm ready to give my thoughts on hair oils, formulation tips, and, of course, a few formulas to play around with.
Let's start by defining what hair oils are. Hair oils are anhydrous hair treatments applied to hair or hair and scalp to promote a healthy, shiny look, hair growth, strength, and other benefits. Today we will dive into hair oils that are to be applied to the hair and not the scalp. It doesn't mean you can't use it on the scalp, though, but as a person with an oily scalp, I wouldn't enjoy it too much.
I call my product "hair oil," but it's all about imagination. The same oil can be branded as
- nourishing oil treatment
- hair serum
- smoothing oil
- repairing oil treatment
- softening hair oil
- conditioning hair oil
- braid oil
- grooming oil
- beard oil
- hair elixir
-
Generally, we want a product applied to hair not to be too greasy and weighed down unless you have extremely dry, frizzy, and textured hair. My hair doesn't like too many oils and butter, so I formulated this hair on the lighter side, but you can easily make it more nourishing and moisturizing by upping oils and reducing silicones.
When I was doing my research, I looked at many expensive hair oils with positive reviews. I carefully studied their ingredients to find out the bulk of them is a combination of silicones (90-98%), lightweight emollients (2-10%), and a few actual oils, sometimes plant extracts and other actives. My next step was to find sample formulations provided by professional chemists to get the gist of the ratio of silicones, emollients, and oils that are most commonly used in hair oils.
The vast majority of these formulations contained only a small % of oils (0.1-0.5%) like Argan, Moringa, Macadamia, Sweet Almond, Baobab, etc. My hair oil formulation will contain more oils, but if you feel that it could be too much for your hair, feel free to reduce them and substitute for a light emollient, ether, or volatile silicone.
My Hair oil is fragranced with my custom blend of Yuzu fragrance oil and Patchouli &Rose Fragrance oil like my Scheherazade Rose &Patchouli Body Oil because I just love this scent so much!
Simple Argan &Rosehip Hair Oil
%
INGREDIENTS
80,00%
Cyclomethicone
8,50%
Lightweight emollient or volatile silicone (Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Coco Caprylate, Neossance® Squalane, ISODODECANE, Isohexadecane, Cyclopentasiloxane, etc)
5,00%
Dimethicone
2,50%
Argan oil
2,50%
Rosehip Seed oil
1,00%
FRAGRANCE OIL OR 0.5%ESSENTIAL OIL
0,50%
Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
for a 50g hair oil you'll need:
40g Cyclomethicone
4,25g Lightweight emollient or volatile silicone
2,5g Dimethicone
1,25g Argan oil
1,25g Rosehip Seed oil
0,5g FRAGRANCE OIL OR 0.5%ESSENTIAL OIL
0,25g Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
Would you like to make it even lighter? You definitely can!
%
INGREDIENTS
90,50%
Cyclomethicone
5,00%
Lightweight emollient or volatile silicone (Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Coco Caprylate, Neossance® Squalane, ISODODECANE, Isohexadecane, Cyclopentasiloxane, etc)
2,00%
Dimethicone
0,50%
Argan oil
0,50%
Rosehip Seed oil
1,00%
FRAGRANCE OIL OR ESSENTIAL OIL
0,50%
Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E)
SUBSTITUTIONS
- you can reduce or increase the % of fragrance and essential oil. Make sure you comply with IFRA (International Fragrance Association) for your fragrance oil.
- you can use a different volatile silicone instead of Cyclomethicone.
- you can use a different oil or a combination of oils instead of Argan and Rosehip oils. Some other great choices are moringa oil, broccoli seed oil, sweet almond, macadamia, olive, sunflower, camellia, jojoba oil.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Weigh your ingredients in a measuring cup, stir to combine, and bottle up. That's how easy it is!
Application: you can apply it on wet or dry hair from the ears down or just on the tips of your hair. A little bit goes a long way; too much hair oil is going to make your hair look greasy. You can also use this hair oil to start and maintain braids, locks, and twists.
If you're interested in making a hair mask or conditioner, you could check out this post, Hair Mask.
I also have a Patreon account where I share even more recipes and formulation tips, so if you're interested in learning how to formulate and make your homemade skincare and support Daisy's Beauty Jewels, you should check it out.