Fragrance-free hair balm

May 22, 2024 11:09 AM

What do people like as a fragrance-free hair balm for holding my hair in place without affecting the feel too much?

I recently got a hair cut and the stylist used this balm on my hair at the end. I haven't used anything like it in the past so I was interested to try it, but it's much too strongly scented for me.

What are some non-scented options that fulfill the same purpose, ideally without affecting the feel of my hair too much?

As examples of other fragrance-free products I use Nuud as deodorant and Aquaphor healing ointment on my lips instead of chapstick.

posted by unus sum to Shopping (4 answers total)

If you look at the ingredients (under "Description" way down the product page), the first several are:

- water
- shea oil
- glycerin - acts as a hydrator/moisturizer
- Cetearyl Olivate and Sorbitan Olivate - emulsifiers
- cocoa seed butter
- Glyceryl Stearate - emulsifier

and then a few other oils and waxes, and then the scents.

So, to start, you could try just shea butter, and see how it goes?

You could also try making whipped shea butter for a lighter product. This recipe is just an example; there are many like this out there.

And then there's this recipe to add water to the whipped butter -- at this point it looks like you'd want an emulsifier so it lasts longer. This one also uses 1% preservative but I think you could skip that and just make a smaller amount and keep it in the fridge.

Personally, because I am an experimenter, I'd probably try emulsifying water + shea butter without even using an emulsifier, just making a very small amount to start with, and see how it behaves and whether it stays emulsified, and then adjust from there.
posted by librarina at 11:34 AM on May 22 [1 favorite]

oh -- make sure you can handle the scent of the shea butter itself, before you commit. It looks like you can get SheaMoisture brand at Target for $12 for 11.5oz, at least at my local store. If you have a local organic co-op type place, they might also have it.
posted by librarina at 11:37 AM on May 22 [1 favorite]

2 products:

Everyman Jack unscented grooming cream - a small amount on damp hair.

Skincare by Feleciai makes an amazing shea butter cream that is a fantastic hand/body cream. I haven't tried the pure shea butter, but I would trust her unscented variety to be good.
I'm now curious to try a bit of the cream as a hair balm.
posted by jenquat at 2:36 PM on May 22 [1 favorite]

R + Co Mannequin
posted by bookworm4125 at 7:43 PM on May 23