What should be in your natural hair care spray bottle?

It's the end of another week, thank goodness! Today I want to talk about the SPRAY BOTTLE, and what to put in it.

Every where you go looking for natural hair care, you will ALWAYS see the Spray Bottle mentioned. It's on all the natural hair blogs, vlogs on youtube, shows, magazines, etc. Every woman with natural hair (or 98%, I think) has heard of the spray bottle. They can come in large, medium or travel sizes. I personally have a travel size that I carry in my purse with me, and is airplane-compliant. But have you ever wondered what "should" go into your spray bottle? This seems like a very trivial, easy matter - the contents in your spray bottle. However, everyone's needs are different and I wouldn't expect to have uniformity across the board. I'll just give a little insight on the general things you can find...

WATER

Source

Aqua! Yes, good old H20 is the very first ingredient to put in your spray bottle? Why? Because our hair needs moisture, and moisture comes from WATER. Living in Nigeria, I find that taking water directly from the faucet/tap may not be the best idea. So I use only bottled water.
GLYCERINE

Source

Glycerine is a humectant, which means that it is a substance that is used to keep things, like our hair, moist. It draws in, or attracts and retains moisture from the air. For people who experience dry weather like winter or dry season, it is especially necessary to include glycerine in your regular hair care routine.
OILS

This is where spray bottle contents begin to differ. With the plethora of available oils out there, from carrier to essential oils, the combinations can go into the hundreds, if not thousands! YOU basically choose what oils you want to use, based on your preferences and hair needs. My main constant is olive oil. On occasion, I will throw in a dash of castor oil, coconut oil, tea tree oil, cedarwood oil, etc. Again, there's no one-size-fits-all. Figure out what your hair needs and attend to it lovingly.

*Remember that you only need a few drops of your essential oils in your mixture, so as not to damage your hair.* I'll probably write a post on Carrier Oils vs Essential Oils next week. Yay or Nay?
LEAVE-IN-CONDITIONER

Finally, I add in a little bit of leave-in-conditioner to help retain moisture in my hair. Some people leave this out, which is fine. If you do use leave-in conditioner in your mixture, you can use whatever leave-in you regularly use.

And these, ladies and gentlemen, are the contents of my spray bottle! What do you put in yours?

Spritz, Spray and Splash Away!

Berry Dakara

8 comments

African Naturalistas23 August 2013 at 15:37
This is the first time I'm seeing spray bottle treated as a subject. Its normally just and object mentioned another subject, such as moisture. Thumbs up.

That being said, I missed d days when I normally do daily spritz. The first step was that I had to eliminate my glycerine, and use just water and oil, then about a year later, stop daily moisture completely, thanks to my out of control frizz, and madly-high porousity.

Now, I only spray once in a blue moon, depending on how the weather is affecting my hair, when I'm taking down a twist, and when I'm making a twist. And its usually with water and oil.
Unknown23 August 2013 at 17:50
yay on essentail vs. carrier oil. people need to know how to properly use them!
a spray bottle in your purse? isn't that a little exessive? The spritz in the morning should be sufficient. those 4 ingredients r usually in my spray bottle as well. I spritz my hair when i have extensions in and I don't want to "rub" a thick leave in. I also use it when my hair is out, though i sometimes notice my hair gets dried out and excessively oily from the daily application of oils in the spritz.
Unknown26 August 2013 at 09:47
I've recycled my body spray bottle and now carry it in my purse for spritzing my hair through the day. It has water, aloe vera gel, conditioner, jojoba oil and glycerine mixed together. I don't care about frizz, and the combination leaves my TWA feeling soft as cotton wool. I love it!
Berry Dakara26 August 2013 at 11:10
@ AN: Thanks. It's such a "small" topic but very important. I have low porousity type hair, so I need the glycerine. Even when I spray my hair, the vapor just sits on top my strands and takes a while to get absorbed in.

@ TMC: Will do this week! It's not excessive for me. Like Uche, if my hair's out, I generally need to spray once or twice a day. And I'm always on the run, so I do my hair care and make-up in the car usually. Something I should have added is that lately, I've reduced the amount of oil I put in my spray bottle, so that it's even more water than usual.

@ Uche: I feel you. When my hair's properly moisturized after using my spray bottle, I really believe my hair feels luxurious and soft.
Anonymous28 February 2014 at 12:58
Great article (especially re: glycerine). Thanks for sharing!
Anonymous26 April 2014 at 15:19
I too have read articles referring to the water bottle. But I'm never giving a break down. How much of each do you put in? A ball park figure would be nice.