Cornstarch is one of the most common household items to use for styling your hair. It can be used as a dry shampoo, to set curls or waves, or to add volume and texture at the roots. But what does cornstarch do to your hair? Does it make it better? Worse? And how will you know if you should stop using cornstarch-based products in favor of something else? Read on for some facts about this seemingly harmless product!
Does cornstarch damage hair?
Cornstarch will not damage your hair. As long as the cornstarch is 100% natural it won’t do anything to harm your hair or scalp at all. The drying agent found in most shampoos is sulfates which strip away the oils from your scalp and dry out your hair strands causing them to break off more often causing frizz.
How does using cornstarch for hair damage work?
Using cornstarch on your hair tells that there are no oils present. When you shampoo with a product that contains sulfates, it strips away oil from our scalp making us feel like we need to wash our hair again immediately when in fact, all you really needed was just some coconut oil or olive oil. It also leaves our scalps itchy and irritated after we wash our hair.
When you shampoo your hair, put a little bit of maize starch on your hands and rub them together letting the cornstarch absorb oils from your hand. Now grab some of your hair with those oily hands and massage it into your scalp for 1-2 minutes (make sure to enjoy this part because it feels really good ). Once you’ve done that, rinse as normal. Cornstarch is all natural meaning that there are no chemicals or other ingredients added to change its look/ consistency/ texture etc. The only thing added was water which is why it’s important not to use too much.
Does maize starch cause hair loss?
No, corn starch will not cause any kind of hair loss. The reason this myth started was because women who had just given birth used cornstarch to clean up the umbilical cord after cutting it off. Since they were applying so much pressure around the base of their baby’s umbilical cord, it caused hair loss around their baby’s belly button making many believe that it was because of the cornstarch. Many other health experts agree with this statement.
Cornstarch disadvantages?
While using cornstarch for hair is a good alternative to using sulfate shampoo, it has one big disadvantage. Cornstarch can cause your skin and scalp to become dryer than before. So I would recommend using it only for a few days in a week to see how your scalp and hair responds. If you don’t have time or just don’t want to try this method, I still think that cornstarch is a good product so go ahead and give it a try!
