Professional Natural Hair Care Formulation Course: Formulations You’ll Learn

Learn to create hair care products by understanding your ingredients and how they work together. In our Professional Natural Hair Care Formulation Course, you’ll work with shampoos, conditioners, styling products, scalp preparations, and treatments. You’ll learn to adapt these formulations for different hair types, needs, and product goals.

I use my own hair care formulations, and I know from experience that supporting your scalp and caring for your hair can make a beautiful difference in how your hair looks and feels. There’s something rewarding about creating a formulation, using it, and seeing how it supports your hair. This is part of the joy of learning to formulate.

You’ll explore how surfactants, conditioning agents, humectants, proteins, thickeners, and styling ingredients contribute to cleansing, softness, slip, texture, and hold. Understanding their roles helps you make thoughtful choices as you develop your formulations.

The course includes 64 formulations, including variations of the base formulations. The focus is on plant-based and naturally derived systems, with a traditional Edge Control formulation included for comparison.

Below, you’ll find an introduction to the main formulation types you’ll learn.

Shampoo Formulations

Explore mild, sulfate-free cleansing systems and learn how surfactant choices affect lather, cleansing strength, viscosity, and hair feel.

Shampoo System #1

A gentle shampoo made with a complete, pre-blended surfactant system. Anionic, amphoteric, and nonionic surfactants work together to create a soft, creamy lather and balanced cleansing.

Using a ready-made blend offers an accessible starting point for learning shampoo formulation.

Shampoo System #2

A gentle shampoo with a similar cleansing approach to System #1, with each surfactant added separately. Working with the individual anionic, amphoteric, and nonionic surfactants helps you understand their roles in cleansing, foam, mildness, viscosity, and overall performance.

Plant Keratin Shampoo

A sulfate-free shampoo with plant-derived protein ingredients that help improve softness, smoothness, and the feel of dry or stressed hair. Explore how protein ingredients can be incorporated into a cleansing system while maintaining a manageable, conditioned finish.

Volumizing Shampoo

A lightweight shampoo designed to cleanse while supporting body and fullness. Plant peptides and pro-vitamin B5 provide lightweight conditioning without the richness that can weigh down finer hair.

Hydrating Shampoo

A gentle shampoo with natural moisturizing factors to support softness and moisture balance. Designed for hair that needs more hydration during cleansing, including dry, coarse, textured, or damaged-looking hair.

Clarifying Shampoo

A shampoo designed to remove styling product residue, excess oil, and everyday buildup while maintaining a comfortable hair feel. It’s a useful formulation to explore when hair feels dull, coated, or difficult to style.

Baby Shampoo

A mild cleansing formulation designed for a baby’s delicate hair and scalp. This lesson introduces the care needed when developing products for babies. Tear-free and eye-safety claims require appropriate professional testing before a product is marketed with those claims.

Rinse-Off Conditioner Formulations

Compare conditioning systems and learn how ingredient choices influence slip, detangling, softness, shine, richness, and finished texture.

Conditioner System #1

A foundational conditioner formulated with BTMS to provide slip, detangling, softness, and a smoother hair feel. Learn how to customize the conditioning level and richness for different hair types and product goals.

Conditioner System #2

A conditioner formulated with the naturally derived Jeequat® NDCS conditioning system to provide slip, softness, shine, and improved manageability. Compare its formulation characteristics and finished feel with the BTMS-based system.

Plant Keratin Conditioner

A smoothing conditioner with plant-derived protein ingredients to improve softness, shine, and manageability. Designed for dry, stressed, or damaged-looking hair that needs a more conditioned finish.

Volumizing Conditioner

A lightweight conditioner that provides detangling and softness while helping maintain body. Explore how to condition fine hair, or hair that is easily weighed down, without adding unnecessary richness.

Hydrating Conditioner

A moisture-rich conditioner that improves softness, detangling, and shine. Designed for dry, coarse, curly, or textured hair that benefits from a richer conditioning feel.

Deep Conditioner

A creamy, intensive treatment for hair that needs additional softness, smoothness, and manageability. Explore a richer conditioning system for dry, coarse, textured, or damaged-looking hair.

Leave-In Conditioner Formulations

Learn to balance conditioning and slip with a light enough finish for a product that stays on the hair.

Leave-In Conditioner System #1 Base Formulation

A lightweight BTMS-based leave-in conditioner that provides moisture, slip, softness, and easier detangling. It helps smooth flyaways and improve the appearance of dry ends. Customize this base for different hair types, conditioning needs, and product concepts.

Leave-In Conditioner System #2 Base Formulation

A leave-in conditioner formulated with the naturally derived Jeequat® NDCS conditioning system to improve softness, shine, slip, and combability. The base can be adapted for different textures, porosity levels, and styling needs while maintaining a comfortable leave-in feel.

Curl Cream Formulations

Compare two curl creams to see how an added thickener changes viscosity, dispensing, spreadability, and application. Evaluate styling hold separately from how thick the product feels.

Curl Cream Without a Thickener

A soft-hold cream designed to define waves and curls while providing lightweight moisture and a flexible finish. Its lighter consistency helps you explore how a curl cream spreads and performs without a separate thickening ingredient.

Curl Cream With a Thickener

A curl cream with an added thickening system for a richer, more structured texture. Compare how the change in viscosity affects application and distribution through waves, curls, and coils, along with the finished styling results.

Hair Conditioner and Treatment Mask Formulations

Explore more intensive conditioning systems and learn how to adjust richness for different hair needs.

Hydrating, Repairing and Strengthening Conditioner/Mask

A creamy, dual-purpose formulation that can be used as a rinse-off conditioner or an intensive treatment mask. Designed to improve softness, smoothness, flexibility, shine, and manageability in dry or stressed-looking hair.

Sea Moss Mask

A lighter hair and scalp mask with sea moss to provide moisture, softness, and easier detangling. Explore a less-rich conditioning option for straight-to-wavy hair, low-to-normal porosity hair, or hair that feels coated by heavier masks.

Hydrating Hair Mists and Refresher Sprays

Create lightweight sprays for use between wash days or before styling.

Hydrating Mist

A multipurpose mist that adds lightweight moisture to the hair and scalp. Use it to refresh dry hair or as part of a spritz, scrunch, and go routine for waves, curls, coils, or locs.

Refresher Spray

A spray designed to refresh waves, curls, coils, and locs between wash days. It helps restore moisture and reshape styles that have become flattened or less defined.

Hair Styling Gels and Edge Control

Learn how ingredient systems influence hold, definition, residue, and application, alongside the product’s viscosity.

Styling Gel

A lightweight gel that provides volume and light, flexible hold. Designed to support definition and help control frizz in waves, curls, coils, and locs while maintaining a touchable finish.

Firmer Hold Gel for Locs and Retwisting

A firmer-hold gel for loc retwisting, braids, and styling waves or curls. Explore how to provide more control while working toward a finish with minimal flaking, tackiness, or buildup.

Edge Gel

A gel for smoothing, shaping, and controlling the hair around the edges. This also makes a great braiding gel. Learn to balance hold and definition with the product’s feel and residue after drying.

Traditional Edge Control

A conventional, firm-hold edge control included for students who want to understand this familiar styling format. This formulation uses PEG ingredients, or polyethylene glycols, and is not a natural formulation. This also makes a great braiding gel. Compare its distinctive texture, application, and hold with the naturally derived styling systems taught in the course.

Hair and Scalp Serums

Compare a smoothing serum for the hair lengths with a lightweight, water-based serum for hair and scalp care.

Smoothing Serum

A silicone-alternative serum that adds slip, softness, and shine while helping smooth flyaways and the appearance of frizz. It can be applied to damp hair before blow-drying to support a smoother finished style.

Fortifying Hair and Scalp Serum

An ultra-lightweight, water-based serum that provides moisture to the hair and scalp with a non-oily feel. Designed to support a well-conditioned scalp and fuller-looking hair as part of a regular care routine.

Hair Rinse Treatments and Concentrates

Explore dry treatments activated immediately before use, concentrated rinses that require dilution, and botanical hair care traditions.

Rice Water Hair Rinse Treatment

Inspired by traditional Asian rice-water hair care practices, this treatment uses a dry ingredient blend that is activated with water immediately before use.

The freshly prepared rinse is designed to improve softness, smoothness, shine, and the conditioned feel of the hair and scalp. It offers a practical introduction to a dry treatment format.

Royal Crown Hair Rinse Treatment

A flower-based rinse designed to improve softness and shine while creating a thoughtful hair and scalp care experience. The lesson draws on Ayurvedic tradition, including the Adhipati marma, and the symbolism of the Crown Chakra, or Sahasrara. These traditions provide cultural context for gentle scalp massage and intentional self-care.

Botanical Apple Cider Vinegar Hair Rinse Concentrate

A botanical concentrate made with organic apple cider vinegar and ingredients selected for hair and scalp care. Dilute it with water as directed before application. This lesson demonstrates how to formulate a concentrated rinse intended to refresh the hair and scalp and improve shine.

Nourishing Hair and Scalp Oils

Learn how oil choices affect spreadability, richness, scalp feel, shine, and the finish on different hair textures.

Nourishing Hair Bonding Oil

A lightweight, multipurpose oil for softening, smoothing, and adding shine to straight, wavy, curly, or coily hair. Explore its use as a finishing oil, pre-shampoo treatment, scalp massage oil, or a way to help retain moisture in damp hair.

Hair Growth Drops

A concentrated botanical oil blend featuring baobab, bhringraj, green coffee, black seed, and castor oils. The formulation focuses on scalp conditioning and improving the softness and appearance of dry, coarse, or textured hair.

Herbal Hair Growth Oil

A plant-infused oil with rosemary, sage, oatstraw, horsetail, and ginkgo biloba. Explore botanical infusion and create an oil for scalp massage, conditioning dry ends, and adding softness and shine.

Scalp Soother

A lightweight oil designed to moisturize and condition a scalp that feels dry or tight. It can be incorporated into a gentle scalp-care routine to improve comfort and reduce the feeling of dryness.

Beard Oil

A daily grooming oil that softens coarse beard hair, adds sheen, and moisturizes the skin beneath. Learn to balance conditioning with a light finish suitable for regular use.

Hair Butters and Pomades

Work with anhydrous formulations, which contain no water, and learn how oils, butters, and structuring ingredients affect texture and styling performance.

Hair Styling Butter

A rich styling butter for adding softness and helping define waves, curls, and coils. Applied to damp hair, it helps retain moisture. Learn how to balance conditioning and structure while managing the product’s richness and greasy feel.

Structure and Shine Pomade

A styling pomade that adds structure, shine, and control while helping smooth flyaways. Explore how an anhydrous system can shape and polish a style while providing conditioning.

Build Your Formulation Skills

Each formulation helps you understand ingredient performance and make more informed product-development choices.

Through the course, you’ll learn to:

• Compare pre-blended and individually added surfactant systems.
• Balance cleansing strength, mildness, lather, and conditioning.
• Compare BTMS and Jeequat® NDCS conditioning systems.
• Work with plant-derived proteins, peptides, humectants, oils, and botanicals.
• Adjust viscosity and evaluate dispensing, application, and styling performance.
• Develop base systems for different textures, porosity levels, and conditioning needs.
• Create mists, refresher sprays, gels, serums, and anhydrous styling products.
• Prepare dry treatments and concentrates with clear directions for activation or dilution.
• Compare naturally derived styling systems with a conventional edge control.
• Formulate for straight, wavy, curly, and coily hair, as well as locs, scalp care, and beards.

Continue Learning to Formulate

Whether you’re creating products for yourself, planning a hair care line, or building your professional skills, begin with one formulation. Take time to understand your ingredients and how they work together.

Return to the lessons as you practice, compare your results, and make adjustments. Give yourself time to learn. Your understanding and confidence can grow with each formulation you make.

Our Professional Natural Hair Care Formulation Course guides you step by step as you build your skills in plant-based and naturally derived hair care formulation.

Explore the Professional Natural Hair Care Formulation Course