Hair Repair Spray – DIY

Hello Everyone! 😀
Today I am going to show you my new little creation!
As you already know I don’t have quite much time on hand anymore so it will be, once again, a very simple (but, trust me, effective! 😀 ) recipe!

Hair Repair Spray

It is a Hair Spray for damaged hair.
I have thin hair and not really damaged (at the end of the post I will add some ideas on how to change the recipe according to different types of hair) but, once in a while, I love to give them something like a Hair “Energy-drink” so to say! 😀

[WARNING] I have to warn you though: this recipe will smell bad (it’s a concentrate of proteins, mind you, and they do smell awful!) and, if you use too much of it, it is also going to make your hair a bit sticky (still thanks to the amount of proteins! 😀 ).
You are warned!!! 😀

[You can skip this] Hairs are dead proteins hanging from our head. We cannot really “nourish” them BUT what we can do is apply on them some proteins (keratin works best, of course, since it is what our hair is made of) with the hope they will “join the hair” in the points where the chain is a little bit broken/damaged eventually making our hair look all shiny and restored once again! 😉 .

[If you have just started and don’t know where to buy ingredients, you might want to check this post HERE]

THE RECIPE: [as always my recipe is in %]

Water to 100 Explanation of this HERE
Glycerin – 1 (glycerin is not needed on hair cause it actually makes them more “heavy” looking, so we add only a tiny tiny amount which is needed for the hair spray to not dry up)
Hydrolized Keratin – 10 (I had the hydrolized one which means that it was keratin already floating in water. If you have the powder one, you should add between 0.5 to 1 gr of it to the recipe! 😉 – NOTICE that Keratin could be close to the only ingredient needed in this hair spray because it is the one and truly essential one. If you don’t have all the other ingredients I am adding here, don’t worry and do without!)
Wheat Protein Powder – 0.5 
L-Cisteine Powder – 0.5 
Epsom Salts – 1 (epsom salts help to keep the volume of the hair. Since I have thin and long hair, this is a good ingredient for me. Of course if you don’t need any volume, you can omit them! 😉 )
D-Panthenol – 3 (it is Vitamin B 5)
Poliquaternium 7 – 1 (this is a conditioner for hair: since proteins make the hair feel very strong and sometimes a bit sticky, I decided to add a drop of conditioner! It is not needed so don’t worry if you don’t have this ingredient)
Water soluble Preservative – at the concentration needed of your specific preservative (this is important! There are a bunch of eco-friendly preservatives also, so you have no excuse 😉 ).
Citric Acid to reach pH 4.5

How to:
Just mix in a becher all the ingredients except for water and citric acid:
HairRepairSpray4

It will be opaque like this if you added some protein powder (it will look more clear if you didn’t add them and you directly used hydrolized proteins).

Eventually add the water and you will see it becomes more clear:
HairRepairSpray5

It is super simple and you are almost done! 😀
Just check the pH and add little by little some citric acid until you reach 4.5 pH!

Now you have a sticky liquid which smells awful! 😀

What you can do is to solubilize (using a strong surfactant or, if you have it, a proper solubilizer) some fragrance oil and, then, add it to the mixture. I have found that the best smell to cover the awful protein smell is something citrusy and spicy at the same time [needless to say: this is just my taste. You can do as you like! 😀 ].
However, if you are a lazy-butt like me, you can just pour few drops of fragrance oil in the hair spray (obviously it will float on the surface!) and shake it very well before using it 😀 it works as well! 😀

Hair Repair Spray 2

How to change the recipe: 

STICKY HAIR: if you don’t like the effect of this hair spray (which definitely repairs, but also can leave the hair a bit sticky), you can apply a lot of spray one hour or half an hour before you decide to wash them (or apply it the night before if you have shower in the morning). Obviously it works more the more it stays applied 😉

DRY HAIR: If you have already dry hair, proteins can make your hair feel even more dry: mix some of the hair spray with your hair mask before doing shampoo and keep it applied at least for half an hour.

LONG, EASILY TANGLED HAIR: If you have long hair the Polyquaternium 7 is quite an essential ingredient in keeping your hair detangled. However, if you don’t have this ingredient, you can mix some of the Spray with a leave-in hair conditioner of your choice. Will work very well 😉

I hope I came up with all the substitutions possible.
Let me know what you think! 😀

Have a great day!!!

For more recipes click HERE 
To learn how to formulate cosmetics click HERE
For a list of online cosmetic ingredients suppliers click HERE 

 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

46 thoughts on “Hair Repair Spray – DIY”

    1. Hello Mehry! 😀
      I don’t know where you are from and therefore I don’t know which website would be best for you to check, but you can find it on most of these websties (there is a list of websites that sell cosmetic ingredients here):

      Buying online COSMETIC INGREDIENTS

      However there are also other websites selling cosmetic ingredients.
      Hydrolyzed Keratin is not difficult to find, but even if you find other hydrolyzed proteins, they will do just fine! 😀

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  1. I prepared this spray yesterday and applied as you suggested (spray a lot on my hair an hour before washing it), but the result is horrible. I washed my hair twice after this treatment and it still looks like someone threw up on my head. My hair looks greasy and it sticks together in a big disgusting mess. I can’t go outside looking like a homeless person. It is horrible.

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    1. Sorry but then you have done something very wrong 😀
      Are you sure you used Hydrolized Keratin and not Keratin powder? 😀
      Cause there is NO WAY this can make your hair feel sticky and greasy (there is not even oil in it) unless you have applied an extreme concentration of proteins! 😀
      Hydrolized Keratin is at 5%, so there is 0.5% of Keratin Powder… 😉

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      1. I’m very sure about it..unless keratin powder is liquid and says hydrolized keratin on the label!! I’m not a retard!

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      2. Then… The problem must be in some other ingredient.
        There is no way this recipe could glue your hair in the way you say, simply because it is a very liquid and water soluble solution. Water washes it off.
        So you tell me 😉

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      3. I left out all the powder bits of the recipe (extra protein powder) and added only 5g of the keratin as the dosage of mine is 5%-according to the site I order from- (10g is 10%). My spray looks way brighter probably due to the lack of he other powders. You might say it is impossible, but this is what I had as a result. I shared it with you so that you might be able to tell me how to solve it or get this stuff out of my hair as I’m very disappointed. My hair is dyed, thick and long and does not grease easily. Having a colour treated hair might be the problem..I cannot think of anything else.

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      4. Stickiness is done by proteins only, for my experience.
        10 grams of 5% solution make 0.5% grams ok hydrolized keratin.
        If you added only 5 grams of keratin solution… It doesn’t sound like you added too much proteins.
        What about the polyquaternium 7?

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      5. Or how much did you actually apply? Cause maybe you applied too much?
        I don’t know much about colored hair, but proteins are usually sticky and tend to thicken the hair. But still if you put so little in your hair product i cannot understand how can it be so sticky cause with the full protein amount, it didn’t make my hair greasy and i have long thin and easily tangled hair. :/

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      6. And btw I don’t like your rude comment.
        I was asking to find out what the problem was, and suggested what could have probably been.
        I was wrong, good.
        But there was definitely no need to reply with that tone.
        Did you come here only to complain that a recipe doesn’t work for your hair or did you come to try to find a suitable solution for your kind of hair?
        Try to understand that what worked greatly for my hair could very well not work for yours (but still there is no way your hair were a sticky mess after two shampoos… Truly no way unless something was done differently from my recipe).
        This said, if you are interested we can try to formulate it differently for your kind of hair. Are they very thin or thick? Long or short? They grease easily or not?

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  2. And btw I did not like your rude comment either. Talking to people as if they were retarded is absolutely not nice. Or saying something cannot be possible, when it actually happens. If something goes wrong with your recipe then people contact you to seek an advice and/or help..Not scolding comments suggesting they cannot differentiate between powder and liquid..it is not rocket science. Anyways thanks for the cooperation and useful info.

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  3. i tried this recipe
    i have thin hair too
    it was wonderful
    it left my hair very silky and smooth
    btw there are so many different types of proteins like
    oat protein
    wheat protein
    phytokeratin
    rice protein
    lupin protein
    soy protein
    keratin
    how is each different in its function for different hair types
    which suits which hair type
    which one will add volume to hair or make it thicker or make it straighter or is good for colored hair
    also i saw this http://lucasmeyercosmetics.com/en/products/product.php?id=48
    they have used this ingredient in their formula for cc hair cream this is the link http://lucasmeyercosmetics.com/en/formulations/formulation.php?id=84
    how would i use this ingredient in a leave in conditioner and hair shampoo also this site claims it as “the hair relaxer”
    so how would i make an all natural hair relaxer with it infact
    is there actually a thing like NATURAL hair relaxer ?
    also how would i tweak any shampoo or conditioner for different hair types with different problems
    also how would i formulate a hair mask

    am sorry am asking so much but plz answer all of these questions clearly
    🙇

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  4. i tried this recipe
    it worked wonderfully

    btw i have a few questions

    there ar so many types of proteins
    keratin
    wheat protein
    oat protein
    rice protein
    phytokeratin
    jojoba protein
    lupin protein
    soy protein
    there might be others too that i dont know of
    so how is each protein different in its function with different hair types
    how would each workout with different hair types
    and does any of them straighten hair because many of the straightening treatments like keratin treatment include keratin so i thought
    also this ingredient http://lucasmeyercosmetics.com/en/products/product.php?id=48
    claims its a natural hair relaxer and this is how they have used it http://lucasmeyercosmetics.com/en/formulations/formulation.php?id=84 so my question is how i can turn this into a leave in conditioner and how can i use this ingredient in a hair mask or at home hair treatment also i searched your blog and didnt find the basic formulation for a hair mask and a hair treatment
    am sorry for asking so many questions
    but please do reply answering them all clearly because i am lost
    also this is the second time am asking the same question
    it didnt get posted on first try
    although i got a notification on mail

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    1. Ok I cannot find the reply anymore so maybe it didn’t get posted.
      I don’t believe oat, rice, soy proteins have such a difference in performance at all: the composition is quite similar and anyway, even if you use the protein powder at 1% it won’t make such a difference as you might expect by reading the marketing claims of each ingredient.
      For hair I use Keratin simply because it seems to me that it is the closest thing to the hair composition, but that’s all.
      I don’t believe that soy, lupin, rice or oat proteins work differently with different hair types. I think that different hair types require different formulas but the proteins are not what makes the difference. Actually: I would avoid or lower proteins for thick hair as they tend to make the hair feel more stiff and slightly give a little more volume.
      About the hair straightening: I am sorry to have to tell you this but no protein straightens the hair. If they do it is simply because they make the hair heavy and so it might have a slight straightening effect but that gets washed away immediately.
      The SO CALLED ‘Keratin treatment’ is just a marketing name. There are other ingredients that straighten and there is a little amount of Keratin so people believe that their hair get straightened by the keratin… but they don’t.
      I have pure keratin powder and I have used it at the maximum concentration suggested and I can assure you that no straightening happened whatsoever 🙂
      It is really just the name of the treatment and nothing more 🙂
      There is one natural ingredient that has a straightening effect on the hair and that’s inulin. It works great on thick hair but it makes thin hair very heavy and flat so you will have to see if it can work for your kind of hair.

      About Hair Masks.
      Hair Masks are formulated like Hair Conditioners and what changes is that they tend to have a lower amount of conditioning ingredients and a thicker texture (so rise the thickeners) but that’s really all.
      I have posted few hair conditioners so you can start from there 🙂

      Hope now it reaches you! 🙂

      Like

  5. ok
    thanks alot
    very informative
    btw i dnt know if somthing was wrong wid my net connection or just this page
    i posted same question so many times
    might be annoying for u
    sorry about that
    so i got everything
    but u didnt mention anything about this ingredient i linked
    what is phospholipids
    and how soy can make hair straighter
    and how can i use this ingredient in a leave in conditioner
    😓❤

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    1. I have never tired that ingredient specifically so I cannot say. I doubt soy can make hair straighter.
      On how to use the ingredient you should check its MSDS so you know at what percentage to use it and in which phase.
      All I can say is that I don’t blindly believe the ingredient marketing 🙂 so I don’t believe in all the claims they make!

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  6. thats very informative
    thank you
    btw you mentioned
    protein makes dry hair more dry
    how is that so
    could you explain it from chemistry point of view
    and have you tried inulin yourself
    did it really make hair straighter

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    1. No not more dry but more stiff in the feeling. Proteins are hard material, when it sits on the hair because you have applied something containig them, they cover the hair and make them feel stiff. When you wash your hair they come off.

      Just a note: hair are protein strings, totally dead. Dry hair are simply damaged strings that don’t smoothly sit next to each other but rather rub against each other. Products that claim to be “hydrating” don’t actually hydrate anything, they simply cover the hair (or help the broken bits to go momentarily back to place) giving it a smoother and shinier appearence. But they are not hydrated or dry in the real sense of the meaning of words.

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  7. ok i got it completely this time
    and wat about inulin
    did you see straightening effect of it yourself?

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  8. Hi there, I’m interested in hearing more about the inulin treatment. Do you have a recipe you could share?
    Thanks 🙂 wa

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    1. It is not a treatment.
      It is simply an ingredient you can include at around 2% in shampoos or even hair conditioners or hair masks and it will help making the hair straight.
      It is nothing out of this world, it just naturally helps the hair to lie flat. It helps against fizziness for example but for fine hair it can be too flattening.

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  9. Hello there wonderful person behind “IT’S ALL IN MY HANDS”.
    First of all, thank you for this blog and you time and knowledge you share with us!
    And this is to your comment on proteins do not have any different effect on the hair, what about the theory that the silk protein has the ability to penetrate the hair shaft, whereas keratin and wheat forms a film?
    Thanks, Erica.

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    1. Hello Ram,
      What do you mean with “garlic shampoo”? Shampoos are made with surfactants so you can take any shampoo formula and add garlic extract to it. But I have no idea which kind of extract and at which percentage because I don’t know what kind of property you would like to get from it?

      But now let me ask: why would you want to make a garlic shampoo anyway? 😀

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      1. Garlic is very good ingredients for dandruff and hair loss .
        I am completely in the formulation of hair shampoo.
        May you can advise me how to make garlic shampoo

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      2. If it is for your own then you could just mash garlic and apply it… But I have never heard any study supporting these ideas about garlic.
        For dandruff there are many very good ingredients, for hair loss there are other ingredients (but the truth is that nothing can really stop hair loss because it is genetics).
        The only thing I could come up with is that in garlic there is sulphur which could help a little, but then it would be much easier to make a sulphur shampoo (I made it once, at 1%: there were problems with solubilizing it). Hope this helped

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      3. Regarding garlic shampoo , there are many brand in the market .
        Yes you are right garlic may not stopped hair loss but it can minimise dandruff etc .
        Do you know any formulation which may help me .

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      4. As I said the component which could help against dandruff and MAYBE help a little against hair loss is sulphur, so you can look for a cosmetic ingredient that is a solubilized form of sulphur.
        (Where I live there are no shampoos with garlic 🙂 but ok!)

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      5. I have posted many shampoo recipes, it is just a matter of finding the extra ingredient you want to add, and inserting it in the formula variating other ingredients accordigly. 🙂

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      6. ok dear , i will try to have a look at your recipes.do you think we can add on garlic ingredients to your shampoo.

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  10. we are far away in the indian ocean and we do not easily have the ingredients . do you supplier which are close to mauritius island

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  11. Hello.. Can u please tell me where to buy l-cysteine powder and provitamin B5.. I am from india.. Thanks in advance

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      1. 🙏 Namaste and good to hear ‘namaskar’ from u… Can u get me a link for cysteine and panthenol from india ? Is cysteine powder soluble in water ?

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      2. I am on my phone as I was yesterday so I cannot find links easily. However I have written a list of websites that sell cosmetic ingredients. I don’t know which ship to India. You will have to contact the websites.
        I have listed the links by country of origin so it will be easier for you to check them.
        You will have to check the websites and check the ingredients they have. I believe almost all of the websites sell panthenol and l-cysteine is mostly soluble in water (you will have to check the MSDS to know HOW soluble it is in water). Sorry but I cannot do the search for you as I am on my phone. Anyway it is not difficult.

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  12. Yes, yes i will do my search and ur blog is very helpful and informative😊..what kind of cysteine should i use powdered or granule form? Can i use the l-cysteine powder directly in my hair mask or should i first dilute it in water ?

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    1. I believe powder is easier to melt. And you can experiment with a very small amount of it and see if it melts directly in the hair mask (anyway if you do so… Do it in a small amount of mask EVERY TIME, as adding it will not make the formula stable in time anymore).
      However, I can say that I haven’t seen such a great result even after applying every possible protein to my hair :/

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  13. Ufff….i am struggling with my hair.. Due to water and family problems my thick long hair became very thin… And now i am trying to retain it back 😰😢

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    1. Hmmm ingredients applied ON the hair tend to not help that much. Check your diet: you MIGHT need to eat more proteins (eggs, chicken… Or are you vegetarian?) and more vitamins (fresh fruit and vegetables, not cooked). Also doing sport might help (it increases blood circulation, which helps keeping hair follicle healthy/active).
      If it is due to stress, it can be helped this way…
      HOWEVER, if it is genetic there isn’t much you can do, unfortunately: there are pro sportsmen (who therefore eat a controlled diet with high protein and vitamins… And do a lot of sport) who don’t have beautiful hair either.

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