DIY dry shampoo powder?

[Mellifluous]

Hi everyone,

I may have posted about this before but I just wanted to come and ask, does anyone make their own DIY powder dry shampoo? I am trying to keep a hair care routine that is mainly “natural” (staying away from sulfates, parabens, silicones etc) as I have always had really oily hair and skin that tries to over compensate whenever I use drying products.
Also, my hair is naturally really fine and flat so oils tend to show much more obviously than they might for other people. I currently try to wash my hair once every 3 to 4 days and that’s a massive improvement as I used to wash my hair everyday or every other day due to the oils. I’m happy to pull through a few greasy hair days as long as I can use dry shampoo but I don’t like to use aerosol/spray dry shampoos as they never seem to do the trick as well as powder, plus they always contain things like butane and propane etc. I have done some research on natural dry powder shampoos and there are a few that I like the look of but they’re a little bit pricey so if there is a cheaper way to make my own (which also sounds fun) then I’m open to it. I have previously made my own using corn starch and coco powder (I have dark brown hair) but the smell of the cocoa was far too rich so I’m wondering if anyone has any other idea for a brown powder dry shampoo?

[Obsidian]

I used arrowroot powder when I was a henna head, it worked well and didn't look powdery. I used a big fluffy makeup brush to apply it.

[Finda]

I use "healing earth" when I'm in a pinch (I hope that's the correct term/it may also be called medicinal clay). It's a powder and I also appy it with a makeup brush. It works well but the color is on the light brown/beige side.

[Kat]

I've used clay as well, but it's reddish brown (still less noticeable than white, though...).

I can't say I'm that fond of it, though. I've never used commercial dry shampoo, but when using cornstarch and/or clay, I've found that while it makes my hair look less greasy (shiny with oil, etc.), it doesn't make it any less flat and doesn't really make it stick together any less (or, it somehow looks greasy *and* stringy), which are two big factors in my hair looking greasy besides the shine factor. So then I just have matte-looking hair plastered to my head. I've only used the stuff in a huge pinch where I need to make a desperate effort to try to convince people my hair doesn't need washing as badly as it does by making it a tiiiiny bit less obvious that I'm going around with dirty hair...

[sipnsun]

My favorite is the one you've used previously...pure cornstarch mixed with a little cocoa powder (1/2 cup cornstarch, 2 Tbs cocoa powder) and apply it with a large powder brush, let sit for a few minutes and brush out. Maybe try less cocoa powder? I actually love the smell lol!

[sipnsun]

I have some charcoal powder for making homemade soap, that may be an option as well although it may be a little drying. I'll try it and report back...

[cat11]

In the past I have used baking powder mixed with cocoa powder. It does work but IMO leaves more residue than in a can stuff does. But not bad.

[Shorty89]

I've used Nanny Pauline's airing powder. It's basically corn startch and arrowroot and works fairly well. I do find that I have to brush a fair bit with a BBB to distribute it though.

[Feral_]

I’ve not tired it but maybe you could substitute the cocoa for carob powder if you didn’t like the smell of cocoa. Possibly experiment with arrowroot instead of cornstarch.

[sipnsun]

I tried the charcoal/cornstarch mixture yesterday and it worked great! I only mixed a small batch (1 Tbs cornstarch, 1/2 tsp charcoal powder) and it absorbed oil very well. Today is wash day so yesterday was my very oily day. There was no scent so I may add some EO next time. I'm going to order some arrowroot as others have suggested and keep experimenting. If I find something I like better I'll update but for now, this is a keeper.