Nopoo scent thread

[bitter]

Hi! I've been doing nopoo for a few months, and I really like it
But I want to scent my hair! In other threads, the ways to scent hair I've found are basically essential oils and shampoo.
Nopoo works so well for me, and I'm afraid of using essential oil. The nopoo subreddit warns against the risks of essential oils.

"I would be really careful about using essential oils, as essential oils are concentrated chemicals taken from the plant material and need to be treated with respect. While they are naturally derived, they also are very strong chemicals that people don't often understand properly before using. Generally these should be carefully considered and used for an intended purpose, and when used should be diluted properly. As u/NonoVirus said, you need to be aware of what each essential oil does rather than just thinking about the scent of it."

"Essential oils used correctly, diluted, with carrier oil can be done on hair and skin. BUT you really have to know what which EO does. Some can cause photosensitivity (this means sunburn when your skin that didn’t get any EO would be fine), some can have a drying effect when used too concentrated, some can act/interact with hormones (mainly important for/around kids & pregnant people). " (source https://www.reddit.com/r/NoPoo/comme...ent/?rdt=51934)

While I could maybe find ways to dilute it, is there any other ways to scent hair? I've been thinking of rose water, but it does gets costly and I'm trying not to get my hair wet very often.

[TatsuOni]

Essential oils should always be diluted. You can add a few drops to another oil. But I prefer blends already done or misters when I don't want oil in my hair. I can highly recommend oils and misters from NightBlooming! https://www.nightblooming.com/shop/oil-mist-dffuse/

[Nightshade]

Seconding ALWAYS diluting your essential oils properly, even the "safe" ones like lavender, chamomile, etc. Even though your hair is not 'alive' and can't react to the essential oils, it will rub off on your skin and clothes, and even just breathing it in can cause a sensitivity to develop.

A properly diluted essential oil mister should have (depending on the oils) 10-20 drops in an ounce of distilled water. I think you can safely mist your hair with that to get substantial scent without making your hair wet. Another way around that would be to lightly mist a fabric scarf, and then braid that through your hair, or wear it as a sleep cap, and that should also scent your hair without imparting too much moisture.

While impractical, in researching for my novels, I found one way they scented hair in other cultures was with incense. They'd spread a woman's hair out over a grate or bamboo rack and then burn incense under it to have her hair capture the scent of the incense. Neat thought, but more work than its worth

[truepeacenik]

One option is an EO spray. Either water or vodka, a few drops of scent.

I spray my roots because my ends will get cranky.

On my ends, it’s oil and EO.

Alternatively,
gladtobemom’s Nanny Pauline had a nice airing powder.
https://forums.longhaircommunity.com...ht=gladtobemom

Dry shampoo is basically the same, an oil absorber with scent.

[Für immer]

I can highly recommend oils and misters from NightBlooming! https://www.nightblooming.com/shop/oil-mist-dffuse/

Seconding this.

[maborosi]

Third-ing the Nightblooming oil recommendations! She has some really nice blends that smell amazing.

EOs can be diluted with a carrier oil of your choice, if you want to blend your own.