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View Full Version : Thoughts on baby oil?



rcblinn
February 12th, 2014, 09:37 PM
I'm always looking for ways to par down my routine. I go through conditioner like mad and am looking to replace this with just a teensy bit of baby oil. What have your experiences been with this? Yay or nay :)

Long_hair_bear
February 12th, 2014, 10:21 PM
I can't use baby oil; it makes my hair very greasy, even one drop! If you go through conditioner fast like I do, buy a cheap conditioner. I use VO5 moisture milks. 84 cents a bottle and it works beautifully. For oils, I use nightblooming's triple moon oil.

HazelBug
February 12th, 2014, 10:35 PM
I like coconut oil. It absorbs pretty well and you only need a little bit.

midbackorbust
February 12th, 2014, 10:45 PM
Baby oil is scented mineral oil, right? I do believe there are posters here who use MO and love it

ExpectoPatronum
February 13th, 2014, 12:21 AM
I use it from time to time after I wash and, as long as I don't use too much, it doesn't make my hair greasy at all.

cygnet19
February 13th, 2014, 01:45 AM
I use it as leave in at times and it helps tame the frizz beautifully!

Henrietta
February 13th, 2014, 02:32 AM
Mineral oil worked funny for me. First time I used it it gave me soft, smooth ends. And I have never been able to repeat that. Since then I get either frizz or just overoiled hair. The perfect amount does not exist any more.

I do use baby oil, but one that is not made of mineral oil at all. I guess we should be careful with names, it's better to use "mineral oil" rather than "baby oil" because recently, in this whole natural trend, many manifacturers make natural baby oils. The one I use is sunflower oil, sweet almond oil, vitamine E as a preservative and that's it. All natural.

MinderMutsig
February 13th, 2014, 02:53 AM
I say try it but make sure you have an alternative at home in case it doesn't work for you. Like with all methods YMMV.

It didn't work for me at all. I had this weird result where my hair looked frizzy and overoiled at the same time and didn't feel conditioned at all so it was very tangly. My hair is almost never tangly, not even when I had world record potential frizz!

faellen
February 13th, 2014, 04:13 AM
I've found mineral oil (in small amounts) very good for taming frizzies and rebel hairs.

furnival
February 13th, 2014, 04:16 AM
I don't think an oil can perform the same function as a conditioner. Mineral oil is good at sealing moisture into hair; conditioner is good at getting the moisture in there in the first place.

Henrietta
February 13th, 2014, 07:58 AM
I don't think an oil can perform the same function as a conditioner. Mineral oil is good at sealing moisture into hair; conditioner is good at getting the moisture in there in the first place.

Absolutely true. There is a vlogger whom I love, and she is very much into natural hair care. She stopped using conditioners, she only uses herbal shampoo and oils. And, well, her hair hasn't been growing for monnths, because her ends break off dramatically. I can't imagine not using conditioners or DTs.

breezefaerie
February 13th, 2014, 08:20 AM
I use baby oil/MO each and every time I wash. I have tried skipping the conditioner, but just can't. With MO only, my hair comes out soft and tangle free, and FULL OF STATIC! SO MUCH STATIC!
So, I use cheapie conditioners and follow with a few drops of MO. Works great for me :)

lapushka
February 13th, 2014, 08:25 AM
Either 2 drops of mineral oil or a 2 eurocoin worth of serum, both are nice for hair from ears down to the very ends (hip+ length). It's a nice serum replacement!

Kwantslonghair
February 13th, 2014, 11:21 AM
I use it now and then...I mostly use pure olive oil but sometimes I mix a little in with it...leave it on overnight and wash out in the morning. I dont find that it leaves my hair greasy at all.

Agnes Hannah
February 13th, 2014, 11:28 AM
I have tried it in my experimenting for the perfect routine for my hair, it was ok, no greasies, as long as it is on the last couple of inches of hair. I will use it again.

Rio040113
February 13th, 2014, 11:41 AM
I'm not sure I'd use it to completely replace conditioner but I know there are members on here who have done exactly that and love the results, so YMMV. I tried MO/baby oil a few times and the results were very 'blah'. It was okay, it didn't give me bad results, just not good ones either. I prefer avocado oil/vitamin e oil/coconut oil although I may try the MO again in the future sometime just out of curiosity, I still have the bottle anyway :)

catasa
February 13th, 2014, 12:08 PM
I use MO instead of conditioner and have done so for more than a year, and for me it has worked much better than anything I tried previously. But then my hair seems to hate conditioners... it just gets coated-feeling, frizzy, and tangled. I have rather hard/calcium-rich water which may play a part in this.

Anyway, I donīt have perfect hair all the time with MO, but it is mostly good enough to wear down on wash day, and sometimes it actually looks really good :) Depending on humidity etc I guess, I have never really found a good pattern, too many parameters I think... Before starting with this I never wore my hair down at all because it was just a frizzy/poofy mess. And my hair doesnīt seem more damaged, dry, split or breaking now than it did when I started with the MO-no conditioner routine, actually it feels better. Non-wash days I can never wear it down whatever I do, being to much in the middle of wavy/spirally with "clumps" that wonīt stay together overnight, but it still feels soft and nice with the MO.

I wash usually every second day with a diluted non-SLS shampoo with a dash of ACV mixed into in the dilution. Then I spread maybe 3 drops of pure mineral oil (i e pure liquid paraffin, blended variants never worked for me) on my palms and fingers and stroke and finger-comb it through streaming wet lengths (i e just after water is turned off). Then I take another drop and stroke it "on top" of the lengths and the canopy and scrunch the lengths just as I would with a regular leave-in to encourage waves. And no more product than that!

I would personally recommend trying this of course, but I realize that most people will still want/need to use conditioner. For me MO never worked well on top of conditioner but everyone just have to try for themselves I guess :) Good luck!

Madora
February 13th, 2014, 02:39 PM
I've had great results using 4 drops of mineral oil (Johnson and Johnson baby oil with no additives) in place of conditioner. Originally I started using MO as a detangler, but since my hair responded well I just kept using it and stopped using the conditioner. Because of foot problems I try to limit my time in the shower as much as possible. MO helps me do just that because I don't need to rinse it out, as I had to do with conditioner. It also helps a lot on taming first day frizzies.

One note of caution before ditching your conditioner: Detangling with your hair with conditioner is the ideal way to go but if you want to forgo conditioner, then MO is a good substitute. Use it sparingly. I only use 4 drops. It washes out easily the next time you shampoo, does not weigh down your hair, and has no after scent. And it is dead cheap and a bottle will last forever.
Link to mineral oil info: http://ktanihairsense.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-skinny-details-on-mineral-oil-baby.html

Be sure to read the links in the article for even further info

sumidha
February 13th, 2014, 03:40 PM
For me mineral oil gave amazing slip on the undamaged parts of my hair, but I ended up with way more tiny snarls and fairy knots in the last three or four inches. I think if the ends where in better condition, I might have more success? I've been trying to give up conditioner completely for the sake of simplicity for the past two months, but recently I've had to acknowledge that I just haven't found a combination of oils that will replace it for me. Which is not to say others wont have more success. :)

YamaMaya
February 13th, 2014, 03:42 PM
I can't stand the over powdery scent of baby oil, I can't imagine smelling that on my hair all day.

door72067
February 13th, 2014, 04:37 PM
I happen to love the scent of J&J Baby Oil, and use it everyday (a drop or two rubbed between my palms) for both moisture/frizz control but the scent doesn't really linger
I do still use a conditioner on most wash days...but sometimes I don't, and the oil is enough (worked when I was nearly waist, and damaged on the end, and now at shoulder/nearly virgin hair)