This super affordable, super easy 10-minute hair treatment uses a staple kitchen ingredient and you will not BELIEVE the results!
Today’s post is all about this ancient recipe: a homemade hair treatment using cornstarch.
If you are anything like me, you spend a lot of time and energy taking care of your kids, your house, and/or your husband, which means you rarely take any time apart for some self-care. That’s why I created “Mommy’s Me Time”, a segment on the blog to share easy, fast, and affordable products and routines for us busy moms.
Having bleached my hair so many times in my lifetime, I can confidently say that my hair has seen better days.
Not only that, but I can, naturally, have very dry, dull hair (just like my skin, ugh!). So hair masks are a must to bring back the shine and life to my hair.
This treatment is super fast, super affordable, and super easy. I have been doing it since I was a teenager living in Brazil. It only takes 2-3 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes working its magic on my hair, and I’m good to go.
It’s all about the cornstarch!
Yes, cornstarch is the star of the show here! While we will add an affordable hair conditioner or hair mask to our final potion, this is where the “miracle” is at.
The flour has many benefits to your hair, such as:
- Reducing frizz
- Better aligment of hair strands
- Reducing double ends
- Making hair shinier and smoother
- Reducing excessive volume
Have an amazing self-care routine to share? Send me a message!
The Ingredients
There are many ways to make homemade hair treatment using cornstarch, depending on what you are looking for. For the base, you will need:
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons of your favorite hair mask
That alone will bring you amazing results, as the cornstarch potentializes your hair mask. And then, depending on what you are trying to achieve, you can add:
- 1 cup of milk (instead of water): extra hydration for dry and damaged hair. Beware: do not use for oily hair as the milk can stimulate the natural oils to be produced within your scalp and give your hair an even heavier look.
- 1 tablespoon of honey: bring back some nutrients to your hair, making it smoother and shinier.
- 2 tablespoons of sugar + 1 tablespoon of coconut oil: also helps rescue super dry hair.
- 3 tablespoons of pure aloe: need I say more? Aloe alone is an insane ingredient for hair and skin, when combined with the cornstarch it can bring your hair mask to the very top level of hydration.
How to prepare the homemade hair treatment using cornstarch:
- Prepare the base: in a pan over low to medium flame/heat, add 1 cup of water (or milk) and 2 tablespoons of cornstarch.
*Attention, if you have super full or long hair, you might need to double up the recipe to cover it all up.*
- Stir it up constantly until it becomes a smooth paste. Remove from heat, cover, and wait to cool.
- Mix it all up and, as I said before, you can either use it like that or add a potentializer. I personally do my masks using milk and add sugar + coconut oil OR aloe. But remember: I have extremely dry, bleached hair and need a looooooot of nutrition added to rescue it.
That’s it! Your mask is ready to use!
How to apply:
In the shower, wash your hair with your favorite shampoo. I personally wash it twice (because, you know, I run after kids all day long).
Remove the excess water and apply your mask avoiding the scalp.
Wait 10-30 minutes and rinse well.
Things to keep in mind:
If you are adding any oils to your mask (coconut, olive, etc), do not apply heat until after your second wash. Applying heat over added oil can further damage your hair and cause it to break.
If you choose to add oil, like me, plan it for a day that you will not need to blow dry/iron/curl it. 2-3 days after doing your hair mask, wash your hair once again and you’re free to use heat.
If you have super oily hair, doing the base mask would bring you the best results, as all of the added ingredients are more recommended for damaged and dry hair.
Remember to take care of yourself!
It’s amazing how we can always find time for everyone else in our life, right? A new activity for the kids, extra chores to pick up around the house, new errands to run during the week.
Remember to take some time for yourself. Even if it’s 30 minutes on a Friday night after the kids have gone to bed, to relax, unwind and enjoy some self-care.
I promise you will be a better mom if you take a few minutes a week to pour some love onto yourself!