For our hair powder, we adapted the most basic recipe from Toilet de Flora, #224, White Hair Powder, because of some twenty-first-century issues. [15] We swapped out wheat starch for cornstarch, because the quality of wheat starch today is questionable at best, just a high-quality flour at worse. We’ve also made the product usable for those with a gluten intolerance or wheat allergy. Lastly, cornstarch (or any starch—potato, rice and tapioca) looks and feels very similar to wheat starch and matches the descriptions of hair powder–appropriate starch in original hairdressing manuals. Other ingredients, such as cuttlefish, beef and sheep bone, lack modern equivalents fine enough for this use, so they have been omitted. [16]
• ½ lb (227 g) ground orris root
• 4 lbs (1.8 kg) cornstarch
• Optional: essential oils for additional scent (lavender, orange flower, rose, jonquil, jessamine, lemon, etc.)
1. In a large bowl or bucket, stir the ground orris root into the cornstarch.
2. Sieve the ingredients together to wheedle out any larger bits. You want a fine powder to work with. Hairdressers would often describe it as “light as snow.” [17]
3. If you are using scent, now is the time to add a few drops. Use 10 to 30 or more, at your preference, and stir/shift to combine.
4. Store the powder in an airtight container—a large Tupperware will do ya just fine—and scoop it out as needed. Plastic or paper lunch bags work for taking small amounts to events. You’re going to go through quite a lot of hair powder when doing eighteenth-century hair regularly, so don’t be intimidated by the volume. You may even try it as dry shampoo in your modern life!