Too many people have told me that DIYing is too much work. Hardly anyone wants to expend the effort that DIYing takes but most people would love the results of all natural ingredients. For this reason I’ve put together a “DIY Buyer’s Guide” to remove the guess work from shopping for your next DIY hair product. At the very least, you’ll save some time with shopping, especially since I spent 2-3 hours shopping for my last DIY adventure. If shopping and deciding between recipes is too much, you can always just buy the DIY subscription box for curly hair, CurlMix. They send you a different DIY hair project each month in a box with all the necessary ingredients. They basically do the work for you.
But if you’re ready to become a hardcore DIYer, then stay tuned, I’ve got pro-tips!
Top 5 Online Places to Shop
Your local grocery stores only have the basic DIY staple items (see below for list”>, for the hard to find items like Slippery Elm, Witch Hazel, and Nettle Oil to name a few, you need to order online. Its very easy and you can also buy in bulk. Here are some of the sites that a lot of natural hair product companies order from. Bulk is great for making enough to share with friends and family for holiday gifts.
Top 5 Local Stores For Shopping
I’m a professional DIYer and these are my top places for shopping. I try to fit these stores into my local grocery runs since they are so far apart from each other.
Trader Joes
Go here for cheaper versions of the DIY staple ingredients like coconut oil, tea tree oil, jojoba oil, apple cider vinegar, aloe vera juice, aloe vera gel, vitamin E oil, bananas, avocados, honey, and olive oil.
Beauty Supply
Go here to find cheaper butters such as unrefined shea butter or cocoa butter. They also have some generic oils as well but I’m usually pretty skeptical of the beauty supply, so I usually only pick up the butters from there.
Whole Foods, GNC, and Vitamin Shoppe
Go to these stores for the hard to find items such as
- Bentonite Clay
- Rhassoul Clay
- Coconut Milk
- Liquefied Coconut Oil
- Essential Oils
- Fragrances
- Ground Flax Seeds
- Cocoa Powder etc.
One thing to take note, is that essential oils can be very pricey, ranging from $10 to $45 for just one ounce. I’ve seen vanilla essential oil go for $28 at the Vitamin Shoppe, which is a bit too pricey for me.
Don’t buy shea butter and solid coconut oil seeing as it will be much more expensive for less product.
Top 25 DIY Ingredient Staples
The items listed below are some of the most common ingredients used in DIY hair recipes. If you go out and spend $100-$150 on these items, you can just about make any DIY hair product on Pinterest.
- Butters: Shea Butter, Cocoa Butter
- Edibles: Avocado, Banana, Coconut Milk, Honey, Yogurt, Eggs,
- Dry: Ground Flax Seeds, Rhassoul Clay or Bentonite Clay
- Liquids: Vegetable Glycerin, Apple Cider Vinegar, Rosewater, Aloe Vera Juice, Aloe Vera Gel
- Essential Oils: Lemon, Lavender, Peppermint
- Carrier Oils: Coconut Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Avocado Oil, Castor Oil, Olive Oil, Grapeseed Oil
Now that you know the best places to shop locally, online, and what to buy, you can get to mixing. You even have a suggestion for an easier way to DIYing, CurlMix. Let me know your pro-tips for DIYing. I’m always looking for more tips!
This article was written by The NHA and published on CurlyNikki.
