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Beauty Tip #14: Salt and Sugar Hair Spray

If you have ever found yourself needing hair spray urgently and having none at hand, this Tip for a Salt and Sugar Hair Spray is for you.  On the other hand, traditional, store-bought hairspray is really quite bad for your hair health and it is best to avoid using it. This Salt and Sugar Hair Spray is actually contrarily good for your hair and has considerable strength, holding even the most complicated of hair styles together with ease. The formula combines to keep hair in place for a long time and can be washed out with no trouble.

In fact, the Salt and Sugar Hair Spray is my go to hair spray, I never use store-bought on my hair, as I know that my hair is sensitive to damage by the alcohol in hair sprays and I prefer to stay chemical free. The Salt and Sugar Hair Spray can be used to set your hairstyle every day, without damaging or negatively affecting you. Fair Warning, it does tend to make you hair sticky and crusty, so you would have to wash your hair afterwards. However, for me  that is not such a great deterrent as I would have washed my hair after using regular hair spray too.

The Ingredients

Another advantage of this is that it is extremely simple to make and can be made with ingredients handy at home.

  • Salt
  • Sugar
  • Lemon Juice (optional)

These ingredients combine together to get a Salt and Sugar Hair Spray that not only has great hold but also is not bad for your hair.

Why Salt?

Salt plays an essential role in adding to the hold in the hair spray:

  • This is the ingredient that texturizes and holds curl in the hair
  • Also adds volume to the hair
  • It holds curls very easily and for a long time.
  • It adds grip to your hair.

By itself Salt sprays are very drying to your hair, as the salt sucks out any moisture in the hair. However, the sugar negates most of the effect in my recipe, and if you add lemon juice, which is very good for hair, it balances itself out. If you have very dry hair and no tolerance for any kind of drying agents, you can do a few things to balance out the affects even more.

You can substitute half of the regular salt with Epsom salts, which are extremely good for hair. And you can add a few drops of essential oil to hydrate as you go, the addition of a spoonful of Aloe Vera gel also helps. The reason I left all these ingredients out of the final recipe is so that it ends up simple to make and use, and I typically tend to leave them out myself as I do not want to over complicate a recipe that has a short shelf life anyway.

Why Sugar?

Salt and Sugar Hair Spray

Sugar acts as the binding agent for the spray:

  • Makes the hair stick and hold,
  • Makes the spray stronger by a lot

Why Lemon Juice?

Salt and Sugar Hair Spray

This is the good for you ingredient:

  • A rich source of Vitamin C and it helps makes hair long and strong
  • Reduces hair-fall by strengthening hair follicles
  • It has a compound named limonene which gets rid of dull frizzy hair
  • The anti-fungal properties help fight dandruff and any infections
  • The acidity helps to clear scalp of dead skin and any toxins.

The Method

How to Make?

Rather simple to make with very little hassle:

1 tsp. Salt

1-2 tsp. Sugar

¼ Cup Lemon Juice

¼ Cup Water

Directions

  1. In a saucepan, heat the water and lemon juice and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the salt and the Sugar, add more sugar depending on if you want a stronger hairspray, 1 tsp. will still hold, but not as well as 2 tsp.
  3. Stir and let the salt and sugar dissolve completely before turning off the heat.
  4. Pour in a plate or wide-rimmed bowl to cool quickly.
  5. After the spray has cooled to room temperature, you can now add any extra ingredients.
  6. Bottle the spray in a spray bottle.

How to Use?

Use like regular hair spray and store in the refrigerator. Be careful not use too much on one section of hair as it can cause hair to feel very crunchy and sticky. Shelf life is 15 days.

24 Comments

  1. I had absolutely no idea that you could do this – I’ll defo be giving this a go rather than going for store bought!
    Emily xx

  2. I always use store bought hair spray. Never considered using homemade hair spray and never knew that salt and sugar were good for the hair. Nice to have shared this.

  3. Never heard of this before! We used to put lemon juice in our hair in the summer to give it “sun kissed” streaks! Thanks for the recipe and idea.

  4. I never knew salt and sugar could be good for your hair. Learnt something new. Thanks!

  5. Salt and sugar I keep this in mind. It’s funny how we have the things in our cabinets without knowing we can use them in emergency situations.

  6. I can honestly say I have never quite heard of anything like this before. I am not sure I am prepared to have sticky and crusty hair afterwards often, but every now and then may not be too bad. I want to try it out at least once, i know that.

  7. Yyyyaaaaaayyyyyyyyy….I must try this out…..my dreadlocks need this “super-recipe”, Daima! Thanks sweetie.

  8. Missy

    What a great article full of excellent advice

  9. Phill Slater

    I like the sound of this. I’ll share with my wife in an attempt to save money next time she goes shopping for hair products.

  10. I can’t believe I never knew this! What an excellent hack!

  11. What a wonderful idea. I wonder if you have ever tried adding any scents to the mixture? Would it change the spray or just add some fragrance. I think the lemon would have a very clean smell. Have you ever tried any other citrus fruits???

  12. Saurav Kumar

    Nice .. helpful

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