Difference between prewash oil treatment and oil shampoo

[arr]

Hi everyone, i have been reading about using oil shampoo where you mix equal parts oil and shampoo to wash your hair. How is that different than doing a prewash heavy oiling? Wouldn't the end result be the same-oil and shampoo mixing together on the head? Ive been doing the prewash oiling and i have very good results. Just wondering if there is something better i should try.

[meteor]

I've been wondering about the same thing. I'll be watching this thread.
I hope to find some scientific research on this, but I don't know if there is any.

Personally, I do pre-poo oilings to prevent protein loss during shampooing as well as hydral fatigue.
My *uneducated* guess is oil during shampooing may get distributed more easily, but I don't know if the time in the shower is enough to penetrate the hair at all.

[jeanniet]

I think the oil shampoo method is something that works well for a few people, but not at all well for many others--or it's simply too difficult and time-consuming to find the right ratio, routine, etc. It seems that many people have tried it and given up on it. Apparently Ktani came up with a more foolproof method (that's according to her blog), but is unwilling to share it at this time, so no way to assess whether it actually does work better or not. There was some animosity over credit for development of the method, due to some feeling that Ktani was taking the reports of others, tweaking them, and then saying she developed the method on her own, which is maybe why she's not sharing now. Not sure on that. Anyway, if pre-oiling is working for you, I'd keep on with that. I don't think the oil shampoo method is nearly as successful as the thread might lead you to believe.

[meteor]

I forgot to add that if I do add oils to shampoo, it's only a couple drops for the benefit of my scalp and roots - usually neem oil or stimulating/antibacterial EOs, like tea tree, basil, bay, rosemary, etc. I think the length remains largely unaffected by this.

[arr]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I think i will just keep doing what's working. Sometimes i fall victim to the idea that the grass is greener elsewhere, but it doesn't sound like i am missing out on much after all.

[jeanniet]

We all do that! I know I do, and most of the time just go back to what I was doing in the first place, lol.

[HintOfMint]

I've tried both methods and I've found that they produce pretty different results.

The oil shampoo method seemed to be a delivery system of oil into hair and often produced very greasy hair after the shampoo washed out.

The pre-wash oiling, on the other hand, is meant to sort of "blunt" the overcleaning of the shampoo, although I see a more nuanced explanation offered by Meteor. Pre-wash oilings are a traditional Indian hair practice, I've never heard it fully explained. I just know that my mother did it, so did my grandmother, and her mother and so on, and that it's just part of good hair care. I've found that my hair is much less dry and poofy than it would be if I didn't treat it with oil before the wash.

[jeanniet]

arr, here's a link to a poll on the oil shampoo method. As you can see from the small sample size, results seem to be pretty negative for most people for whatever reason. As I mentioned above, it appears that there's a "new and improved" version of the method but the info isn't available. Maybe there will be something published on it at some point. I think that's what the litigation threats and hoopla were partly about (money, that is).

http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=94451

[Panth]

I think the deep oiling before washing (if done for several hours, ideally overnight) makes the most of the ability of coconut oil to enter the hair shaft. According to scientific studies, this takes quite a while to fully occur. It is theoretically possible that this is much more efficacious on dry hair, as when hair is wetted the water enters the hair shaft, which could then repel the oil and reduce/prevent entry of oil into the hair. That is theory only, though, as the scientific studies did not (from memory) test wet hair.

Oil shampoo, in contrast, seems to be a way to optimise delivery of a thin, even coat of coconut oil over the outside of the hair. There is not enough time for the coconut oil to enter the hair shaft during the wash (though it is possible that any left on the hair after washing could enter the hair in subsequent hours).

Deep oiling before washing seems to work well for many people. In contrast, the oil shampoo method seemed to only work well long-term on a very small amount of people. Most people who did like it initially found that they couldn't make it work once "saturation" was reached. I think it was one of those fads (like baking soda and ACV only as a wash routine, or like Mane and Tail shampoo) that was very popular for a few months but now only has a very, very few users as it just doesn't work well long-term for most people.

[Firefox7275]

Hi everyone, i have been reading about using oil shampoo where you mix equal parts oil and shampoo to wash your hair. How is that different than doing a prewash heavy oiling? Wouldn't the end result be the same-oil and shampoo mixing together on the head? Ive been doing the prewash oiling and i have very good results. Just wondering if there is something better i should try.

There are major similarities. Most people shampoo mainly the roots but oil the lengths or ends only so it's potentially more targeted. Plus plenty of us oil as a prewash but cleanse out with conditioner not shampoo. That would be gentler on the skin for many, but it may well be harsher shampoos help the oil penetrate in a relatively short period of time by raising the cuticle. And some like the simplicity of the one step oil shampoo compared a three step oil-shampoo-condition.

The published research on coconut oil as a pre-wash leaves it roughly twelve to twenty four hours followed by a sulphate shampoo, and there is still additional penetration with a short burst of of heat.

[cathair]

I've used a few different shampoos and conditioners with pre-mixed oil in them that I like a lot. My hair always feels nicer if I oil it overnight before as well tho. 50-50 oil and shampoo sounds like a lot of oil, although I am kind of curious to try.