Josh Rosebrook Firm Hold gives the strongest grip among the ready-made clean sprays, while sugar water holds tighter than any other homemade recipe.
Both work better when you add hold in layers instead of soaking the hair in one pass. The organic brown rice extract in Rosebrook costs $20 for 4 oz, and the sugar spray needs 2 tablespoons dissolved in 1 cup of filtered water.
1. Josh Rosebrook Firm Hold
Josh Rosebrook’s Firm Hold Hair Spray is the stronger-holding option among the clean ready-made sprays, and it costs $20 for 4 oz.
Certified organic brown rice extract and organic yucca starch do the holding, with orange peel, essential oils and a herbal infusion adding scent and care.
The label says firm, while some reviewers call it medium. Treat it as buildable: one light mist sets a style, and more passes add grip without the crunch that makes curls feel shellacked.
That suits a wash-and-go, where you can add hold only at the crown or the front. The elongated nozzle still gives a fine spray.
The weak point is the small bottle. It runs out faster than other clean sprays, so I’d choose it when hold matters more than volume.
2. Rahua Defining Hairspray
Rahua’s non-aerosol spray runs $45 for 6.5 oz, which makes it the priciest bottle on this list.
The medium hold comes from sugarcane, while Rahua oil, aloe vera and green tea extract handle the hair-care side, smoothing frizz and flyways without a sticky, stiff feel.
The scent is mostly palo santo with orange and geranium, and it stays subtle. I’d choose it for frizzy or breakage-prone hair that needs a light finishing mist more than a lock-it-down one.
If you want a firm hold on tight coils, a cheaper bottle will do that job better. On loose curls and waves, the price is easier to justify.
3. Innersense I Create Finish
Innersense I Create Finish is a propellant-free spray with a soft, flexible hold, closer to a setting mist than a lacquer.
Organic honey, rooibos tea and rice protein do the conditioning, and lavender oil supplies a faint herbal scent. It goes on wet hair before styling or over dry hair to settle flyaways.
Soft hold suits loose, touchable styles and hair that sags under heavier formulas. Anyone who needs a style to last through wind or a long day should pick something firmer, since this only stiffens hair slightly.
The 10 oz bottle costs $28, and the 2 oz travel size is $10, a cheap way to test the hold first.
4. Pacifica Soft Hold + Volume
At $14 for 6 oz, Pacifica Soft Hold + Volume works more like a smoothing mist than a styling spray. It comes out as a continuous spray with sea salt and coconut fruit extract, and it’s vegan, cruelty free and color safe.
One quick pass over frizzy hair settles flyaways without weighing it down. It leaves no crunch, no flakes and hardly any residue buildup, and the coconut scent comes from essential oils and stays mild.
Soft hold is the limit.
I wouldn’t trust it with an updo, a sleek ponytail or any style that has to last all day. Keep it for touch-ups and light styling, and reach for a firmer spray when you need staying power.
5. ROZ Wave Texturizing Mist
ROZ Wave Texturizing Mist gives the grippy, tousled feel of Day 2 hair with a matte finish.
I treat it as a texture product, not a hold spray: it adds definition to waves but won’t lock a style the way a classic natural hair spray does.
Red Microalgae, Sea Salt and Sea Water make up the key ingredients, and the formula stays light enough that strands don’t feel weighed down. It works on wet or dry hair.
At $35 for 3.4 oz, it costs far more than a homemade salt-water mix, though the difference in feel is easy to notice.
The scent is fresh and green, with bergamot, neroli, fig and vetiver, and it stays fairly subtle. The nozzle can be stiff to press all the way down.
6. ROZ Thickening Spray
ROZ Thickening Spray is built for lift, not lockdown. At $39 for 5 oz, it works as a root volumizer, a heat protectant, and a light hold for soft waves.
If you want a pattern locked in overnight, look elsewhere: the strength here is steady root lift, and the hold stays gentle.
It suits thin hair best because it doesn’t feel heavy or sticky.
The formula uses Mushroom Root Extract, Rice Protein and Radish Root, skips silicones, BHT, sulfates, PEGs and parabens, and is vegan and color safe. I’d call it better than conventional but not completely pure.
7. Dae Sunsetter Hairspray
Dae’s Sunsetter is a vegan, cruelty-free aerosol that costs $30 for 7 fl oz. The hold is strong but brushable, so a style lasts through the day and you can still run your fingers through it.
Citrus peel oil, moringa seed oil and prickly pear seed oil handle the conditioning, and the formula adds heat protection, which makes it a sensible finish after a blow-dryer or curling iron.
Two trade-offs. It is an aerosol, so anyone avoiding propellants should go with a DIY recipe or a pump-style spray instead.
The citrus-vanilla scent is fresh and easy to notice, and I’d skip this one if you’re sensitive to fragrance or layer perfume on top.
8. Pureology Style + Protect
Pureology splits its Style + Protect sprays by how much you want the hair to move.
Soft Finish dries fast and gives flexible, brushable hold with a natural finish and no crunch, so I’d point most curl wearers there for twist-outs, wash-and-gos and loose styles they’ll touch through the day.
Lock It Down gives maximum hold and shine, which suits sleek styles and updos like a slicked bun or a smooth high ponytail.
Soft Finish is for looks that should move, and Lock It Down is for looks that shouldn’t. Defined curls are where the firmer one goes wrong, since that much hold works against the pattern instead of with it.
9. Sugar Hair Spray
Sugar gives the strongest hold of the homemade sprays, and the recipe is short.
- Ingredients: 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 cup filtered water, and 2 drops lavender essential oil if you want a scent (optional).
- Heat the water in a saucepan, stir in the sugar until it dissolves, then let the mixture cool.
- Stir in the lavender oil, pour everything into a spray bottle, and shake well before each use.
- For a firmer hold, add 1 tablespoon more sugar at a time until the spray sets your style the way you want. I’d stop at the first batch that feels right rather than keep going.
- Discard the bottle after 1–2 months and mix a fresh batch.
10. Lemon Hair Spray
Lemon spray has the shortest life of the homemade options, so I’d mix one lemon’s worth at a time:
- Quarter 1 lemon and measure 2 cups of filtered water into a saucepan. Bottled lemon juice works poorly, so use a real lemon.
- Squeeze the quarters into the water, then add the squeezed pieces too.
- Boil until half the water has evaporated, then cool and strain.
- Stir in 1 teaspoon of baking soda to counter the lemon’s acidity. Add 2 drops of rosemary essential oil if you like; it’s optional.
- Pour into a spray bottle and shake well before every use.
- Store it in the refrigerator and discard it after 2 weeks.
11. Castor Oil Hairspray
Castor oil is what calms frizz in this spray, and the recipe makes 1 cup:
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 cup filtered water
- 1 tablespoon castor oil
- Optional: 1 drop each of geranium and rosemary essential oils
- Heat the water in a saucepan, stir in the sugar until it dissolves, then let it cool before adding the essential oils.
- Pour it into a spray bottle. Oil and water separate, so shake well before every use.
- I’d leave out alcohol as an emulsifier. It can damage hair, and a good shake does the job.
- Toss the batch after 1–2 months.
12. Aloe Hair Spray
Three ingredients, and the third is optional:
- 1/3 cup whole leaf aloe vera
- 2/3 cup filtered water
- 2 drops bergamot essential oil
- Combine in a measuring cup, pour into a spray bottle, and shake well before each use.
- Aloe softens hair, so this mist is aimed at frizz. Apply it to wet hair for a softer, natural hold.
- There is no sugar in the mix, so it works as a conditioning mist more than a firm hold. I’d skip it for styles that need to stay put and use it on wash-and-go days.
- Discard after 1–2 months.
13. Rose Water Hair Spray
This two-ingredient natural hair spray adds shine, and rose water gives it a light floral scent:
- Measure 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup rose water.
- Warm the rose water gently in a saucepan, then stir in the sugar until it dissolves.
- Let the mixture cool before pouring it into a spray bottle.
- Shake well before each use.
- Some people claim rose water reduces dandruff thanks to its anti-inflammatory properties. That is a claim, not a proven result, so don’t count on it.
- Discard after 1–2 months.
- I’d use this as a shine spray and pick a different recipe if you want serious hold.
14. Witch Hazel Hair Spray
Witch hazel adds smoothing and a calmer scalp to a rose water base, and this combined version has the longest ingredient list of the DIY sprays here.
- Base: 2 tablespoons sugar and 3/4 cup rose water.
- Add-ins: 1 tablespoon each of aloe vera, castor oil and non-alcohol witch hazel. Check the label, because the recipe depends on that version.
- Optional scent: 2 drops vanilla oil and 2 drops lavender essential oil.
- Method: warm the rose water, stir in the sugar until it dissolves, and let it cool. Then stir in everything else.
- The castor oil floats on top, so shake the bottle hard before each spray.
- If the hold feels soft, add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time until it suits your pattern.
15. Holistic Head to Toe Hairspray
This sugar-water spray makes about 4 oz and dries without flaking.
- Warm 1/2 cup distilled water in a stainless steel pan over medium heat for about 2 minutes.
- Whisk in 2 teaspoons unrefined organic sugar until it dissolves. Cane or coconut sugar both work.
- Let the mixture cool for 2 minutes.
- Pour it into a 4 oz fine-mist glass bottle.
- Add 2–3 drops organic essential oil, then put on the lid.
- Add 2 teaspoons vodka if you like. It helps the spray keep and dry faster, and it can go in at any step.
I’d never swap in rubbing alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is harsher and dries hair out, so use vodka or skip it.
What Conventional Hairspray Contains
Conventional hairspray relies on four main components that can carry a long list of chemicals you probably don’t want near your lungs.
The holding agents are synthetic polymers like PVP, PVPVA and acrylates that lock your style in place by forming a film over the hair shaft. The solvent, usually ethanol, carries everything and evaporates after you spray.
Aerosol formulas add propellants such as isobutane, butane, propane or dimethyl ether to push the product out of the can and create that fine mist. Then come the additives: fragrance, silicones, conditioning agents, plasticizers.
Most conventional hairsprays rely on volatile organic compounds (VOCs), along with solvents and propellants that become airborne the second you spray them.
The problem is what happens when you spray in a small bathroom. You’re breathing in VOCs, phthalates hidden inside "fragrance," parabens and synthetic fragrance compounds linked to hormonal disruption, respiratory irritation and reproductive harm.
Nontoxic hairspray skips all of that and uses plant-derived, organic ingredients instead. Some DIY recipes also skip alcohol entirely, since repeated use can dry hair out over time.
Shelf Life and Clean Mixing
Anything mixed with water spoils faster than an oil-only blend, so a few habits matter:
- Boil bottles and utensils before mixing, and keep everything clean while you work.
- Use distilled water. Filtered tap water works only if boiled and cooled; never use it straight from the tap, since bacteria spoil the spray fast.
- Leave out the alcohol, which acts as a preservative, and the bottle goes in the refrigerator.
- Watch for mold or a change in scent, and toss anything that smells or looks off.
- Discard lemon spray after 2 weeks and sugar or rose water spray after 1–2 months.
- Write the mix date on the bottle.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best natural hairspray?
Josh Rosebrook Firm Hold delivers the strongest hold among clean ready-made sprays at $20 for 4 oz, with organic brown rice extract and yucca starch doing the work.
For DIY options, sugar spray gives the firmest hold and costs pennies to mix. Rahua works best for frizz-prone hair that needs a light finishing mist, while Pureology’s Lock It Down suits sleek updos and styles that shouldn’t move.
What is a natural alternative to hairspray?
Sugar water is the simplest swap: dissolve 2 tablespoons sugar in 1 cup filtered water, let it cool, and pour into a spray bottle.
Lemon spray adds citric acid for extra hold by boiling 1 lemon in 2 cups water until half evaporates, then cooling and straining.
Aloe vera mixed with water works as a conditioning mist for frizz, though it won’t lock a style in place the way sugar-based sprays do.
Which homemade spray is best for hair?
Sugar spray delivers the strongest hold and lasts 1–2 months when stored properly.
Lemon spray adds grip but spoils after 2 weeks in the refrigerator, so mix small batches. Castor oil spray calms frizz with the same sugar base plus 1 tablespoon castor oil, though it separates and needs shaking before every use.
How to make a natural hair spray?
Heat 1 cup filtered water in a saucepan, stir in 2 tablespoons sugar until dissolved, then let it cool before pouring into a spray bottle.
Add 1 more tablespoon sugar at a time if you need firmer hold. Shake well before each use and discard after 1–2 months, or 2 weeks if you add lemon juice.
What is nontoxic hairspray?
Nontoxic hairspray uses plant-derived, organic or natural ingredients instead of synthetic polymers, phthalates, parabens and synthetic fragrances.
Conventional formulas rely on VOCs, propellants and fragrance compounds linked to hormonal disruption and respiratory irritation. Clean versions skip all of that and replace synthetic holding agents with ingredients like rice extract, yucca starch, sugarcane or honey.
When do I add the vodka?
Vodka can go in at any step in a DIY hair spray recipe.
It helps the spray dry faster and acts as a preservative so the bottle doesn’t need refrigeration. Add 2 teaspoons to the cooled mixture, shake to combine, and the spray is ready.
Could I use plain rubbing alcohol instead of vodka?
Rubbing alcohol is harsher and drying, and repeated use causes hair breakage.
Vodka evaporates cleanly without toxic additives, while rubbing alcohol can contain them. Non-alcohol witch hazel works as a gentler alternative, though it won’t preserve the spray as long since the alcohol content is lower.
