From Gel to Heat Protectant: Your Guide to Eco-Friendly Hair Styling Products

Eco-Friendly Hair Styling Products

As people become increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of their actions, there’s a growing support for eco-friendly products. Switching to sustainable hair styling products might seem like a small step, but it can significantly impact your health and the planet. Discover these planet-friendly hair care and styling options and sustainable brands to support.

Benefits of Choosing Sustainable Hair Products

Here are some reasons why you should consider going all-natural with your hair products.

Less Plastic

Around 19 to 23 million tonnes — around 20 to 25 tons — of plastic waste leaks into the planet’s lakes, oceans and rivers each year, reducing the aquatic ecosystem’s ability to adapt to climate change. Sustainable hair care and styling items use biodegradable, reusable or recycled packaging. Some companies also use compostable products — to qualify as compostable, the packaging must take 180 days or less to break down in a compost environment.

Cruelty-Free

Cruelty-free production ensures that products are developed without harming animals. Brands supporting this movement avoid animal testing and use animal-derived ingredients. Choosing cruelty-free products conveys that you care about animal welfare, which can create positive environmental changes.

Natural Ingredients

Sustainable hair products contain natural ingredients that are gentler on the hair, skin and scalp, ensuring you get your desired results with little to no damage. They are free from harmful ingredients, such as microbeads, phthalates and parabens, which can cause ecological damage and disrupt your hormones. Synthetic products have components that can harm and pollute the environment. Using natural products means you’re doing your part in saving the environment.

Effective

Numerous studies have found that plant extracts can help prevent hair loss and promote growth. Organic ingredients contain active vitamins and minerals that are good for hair. For instance, aloe vera has natural moisturizing features that help tame hair and provide moisture.

6 Eco-Friendly Hair Care and Styling Products

Fortunately, most environmentally friendly hair care and styling items can be made at home. Discover seven natural, eco-friendly ideas and how to make them.

Coconut Oil Heat Protectant

Coconut oil contains fats, proteins and other nutrients to help treat damaged hair. Aside from being an excellent hair styling product, it can help manage a dry, itchy scalp, making it ideal if you have dandruff. You can use it independently or make a blend for extra aromatherapy benefits.

Melt the coconut oil and put 1 teaspoon of liquid into a cup. Add a few drops of your favorite essential oil or a hair-nourishing ingredient, such as honey or avocado. Mix well and apply it all over your hair before using a styling tool.

Aloe Vera and Jojoba Oil Mixture

Aloe vera is an effective conditioning agent for your hair. Similarly, jojoba oil can help prevent hair breakage and provide better strength. Pluck one aloe vera leaf, fillet it, remove the gel and put it in a small container. Add a bit of jojoba oil. Mix well and apply to hair to soften and smooth it.

Homemade Pomade

Stop buying commercial styling wax and start making it at home. It’s easy, and you only need a few ingredients. This recipe contains four main ingredients — beeswax, bentonite clay, coconut oil and sandalwood essential oil.

Melt 2 tablespoons of beeswax pastilles in a double boiler. If you don’t have this equipment, use a glass Pyrex mixing bowl and boiling water. Add 3 tablespoons of coconut oil and stir properly until melted.

Turn off the boiler, and add 2 teaspoons of bentonite clay. Stir continuously and allow the mixture to cool. Add 10 drops of sandalwood essential oil, then mix for the last time. Pour into any container, like a small mason jar.

Egg Hair Mask

Your hair is made up of 70% protein, and the essential amino acids found in eggs can help promote stronger hair and rebuild damaged keratin gaps in your hair structure.

Styling your hair with heat regularly can cause damage in the long run. To create a hair mask to treat damaged hair, mix 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of honey and 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Apply the blend to the ends of your hair. Wear a shower cap, and leave it on for 20 minutes. Wash your hair and let it dry.

Conditioning Rosewater Spray

Rose water is known for its pretty pink hue and sweet floral scent. It’s a hydrosol — an aromatic water with similar therapeutic properties to its essential oil counterparts. Put it in a spray bottle and use it as a mist to give your hair a quick, healthy shine.

3 Sustainable Hair Care Brands

Sustainability may sound like a buzzword, but supporting companies that contribute to a greener future is essential to embracing a more environmentally friendly hair care routine. Support the following brands to take care of your hair and the planet.

Simply Organic Beauty

Simply Organic promotes a new, holistic approach to beauty and wellness. The company offers cruelty-free, natural, eco-friendly and high-quality products for better skin and hair health. Simply Organic creates over 100 sustainable hair styling products, including a volumizing powder, finishing spray, texture spray, hair serum and hair oil.

Ceremonia

Ceremonia combines traditional and modern ideas to provide hair care products free of silicons, sulfates, parabens, phthalates and artificial colorants. The company offers an all-natural deep conditioning hair mask that hydrates and strengthens hair. Its main ingredients, including babassu oil and murumuru seed butter, are sourced from Peru.

Attitude

Transform your hair care routine with the ATTITUDE™ Repairing Hair Mask, a luxurious treatment designed to enhance the overall appearance and health of your hair. This exceptional formula boasts an impressive 98.4% natural-origin ingredients, carefully selected to provide your hair with the nourishment it craves. Attitude is committed to creating high-quality formulas that prioritize both efficacy and transparency. They uphold the rigorous EWG VERIFIED™ standard, ensuring that all formulations are safe for both people and the environment. Their products are also proudly Vegan and Cruelty-Free, and every formula is dermatologically tested.

Love Your Hair and the Planet

Choosing eco-friendly hair products means you’re doing your part to protect the planet’s future while investing in your hair’s health. Start creating these DIY hair items and support companies that positively impact the environment today.

About the Author

Mia Barnes is a health and beauty writer with a passion for sustainable living and wellness. Mia is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Body+Mind Magazine, an online publication that covers healthy and eco-friendly living. Follow Mia and Body+Mind on Twitter and LinkedIn!