Natural Refresh is a Canadian-owned, woman-run business founded in 2023. Your support through orders, social media, and word of mouth means the world to us.
I have always loved my hair, but as a busy mom of three young kids it simply is not possible to wash and dry my long blonde locks every day. Unfortunately for me, I have always had very oily hair. Dry shampoo has been a staple in my morning routine forever.
In 2022, my Dad sent me a few articles about the dry shampoo recall in the U.S. Admittedly, I skimmed the articles and promptly forgot about them. I assumed that since a problem had been identified the brands would be quick to remedy the problem. But my Dad knew better. He kept sending me new articles and gently asking me to reconsider what brand of dry shampoo I was using. In an attempt to ease his concerns, I began doing my own research thinking that I could show him that this problem no longer existed within the dry shampoo market. I couldn't have been more wrong. What I learned rocked my world... even after the recall, all aerosol (spray) products used propellants that were tainted with carcinogens. My Dad was right. There were real women reporting incidents of cancer caused by repeated dry shampoo use. I had three babies and this was not an exposure I needed in my daily life.
And so began the hunt for a non-aerosolized (spray) dry shampoo. There were no Canadian-made products available. I found a few U.S. options and placed my first order. With the exchange rate and shipping I paid a whopping $42 CAD to import the smallest bottle of dry shampoo I have ever seen. To make matters worse, the main ingredient was baking soda and it did little to absorb my hair oils.
After countless hours of trial and error, I developed the perfect dry shampoo. It absorbed hair oils better than any spray product I had purchased and it was 100% chemical free. I chose to use only food-grade ingredients knowing my kids are often playing near me as I get ready and their safety is always my main concern.
I had used my natural dry shampoo for almost a year when I offered to give some to my sister who had just become a new mom. She told me that she didn't use dry shampoo because unlike me who had blonde hair, her hair was very dark and the dry shampoo coated her roots. It seemed like a crime to think that a new mom wouldn't be able to use dry shampoo, so I set to work to modify my recipe to match her hair colour. And just like that, my natural dry shampoo went from a lifestyle change to a business idea.