Better to oil wet or dry?

[whiteisle]

I am unexperienced in the world of oiling but I'm thinking I may need to familiarize myself considering I'm doing this whole grow-my-hair-really-really-long thing. I've got coconut oil that I use sometimes as a heavy overnight oiling but I thought I'd play around with using it as a lighter treatment. Is it better to do when hair is wet or when dry? If when wet, how can you tell if you have used the right amount?

[mira-chan]

That depends on what your hair likes. Oiling wet will seal the moisture in, oiling dry can seal moisture out. For some oiling wet is the only way they can oil and not have problems, for others it's the opposite. My suggestion is try both ways and see what your hair responds best to.

The amount of oil, whether wet or dry, try a couple of drops. If it's not enough you can add more next time. Again see what your hair likes.

I oil dry and my hair likes oil so I can put quite a bit in without any ill effect, or it even looking oily. My hair is naturally dry, I produce little to no sebum that moves past the scalp. My hair doesn't like water (hates misting as such) so dry oiling work best for me.

[chrissy-b]

mira-chan is right, it depends on your hair. It took me quite a while to find the correct balance so my hair didn't look too oily. I find that oiling wet works best for my hair type, but I don't get the crunchy ends that some people complain of when they oil dry, I just end up using too much on my dry hair and my hair ends up looking too greasy.

I've had luck with coconut, jojoba and olive oil and coconut is by far my favorite of the three. Play around with it, you'll find out what works best for you.

[Manako]

I was wondering this myself, and the oiling threads are full of information that its hard to find my one little answer.

My hair looks oily and sits weird when I oil it wet or damp, so I have been doing it dry. Looks great, smells great and feels great. I was worried that I might be actually hurting my hair, I am glad that I am not :D

I just switched from olive oil to coconut, its so much nicer.

[whiteisle]

Thanks ladies! I'll play around with it and see what might work. :)