Easy DIY Hair Conditioner
This easy DIY hair conditioner leaves your hair soft and easy to detangle. It can be used as a rinse-out, a leave-in, or even as a co-wash.
Servings 100 g
Equipment
- pump bottle
Ingredients
- 83 g distilled water
- 5 g BTMS
- 5 g glycerin
- 5 g argan oil or other oil(s)
- 1 g preservative (or use your preservative at its recommended rate)
- 1 g lavender essential oil or other essential oils
- lactic acid (for pH adjustment, optional)
Instructions
- Clean your work surfaces, utensils, and packaging. (You can use alcohol to better sanitize surfaces.)
- Weigh out the distilled water.
- Heat the water over a double boiler while you measure out the oil(s) and emulsifier.
- Weigh out the oil (or oils) in a double boiler insert.
- Tare the scale and add the BTMS (or another cationic emulsifier) to the oil(s).
- Heat the oil and BTMS mixture over the double boiler until the BTMS has melted. Fully stir the ingredients together until well combined and remove from the heat.
- Slowly add the hot water to the hot oil mixture while stirring or blending, keeping both phases at a similar temperature (around 70–75°C / 160–170°F).Blend with an immersion blender (or stir vigorously) until the mixture comes together and begins to thicken.
- Allow the mixture to cool, stirring occasionally, until it reaches around 90ºF/30ºC. Then add the preservative, essential oils, and any other heat-sensitive ingredients. Mix well to fully incorporate.
- Test the pH of the conditioner. Ideally, you want the pH to be in a good range for both your hair (around 4.5–5) and for the effectiveness of your preservative. (It’s easiest to choose a preservative that works in that range rather than adjusting the whole recipe.) Adjust the pH down with a couple of drops of lactic acid (or, less likely, up with a solution of NaOH).
- Bottle your conditioner. Wait until fully cooled to cap the bottle to prevent condensation from forming above the conditioner. You can now use it as needed!
Video
Notes
- Make small batches and use within about 3 months.
- You can substitute the argan oil with another oil or a blend of oils.
- Glycerin is optional and can be replaced with more water if preferred.
- If your conditioner feels too thick, you can reduce the BTMS slightly or increase the water a bit in your next batch.
- Use a broad-spectrum preservative suitable for water-based products and follow its recommended usage rate. Most are used at around 0.5–1%, but always check your specific product.
- Make sure your preservative works within the pH range of this recipe (around 4.5–5).
- For a full example of how to customize this recipe, see my example of a customized conditioner.