What's the difference between a deep conditioner and a hot oil treatment?

[openeyeddreamer]

Sorry for asking such a dumb question, but I've read that you should do both at least once a week. I have also read that a deep conditioner is only for damaged hair, colored hair, etc. and that the hot oil treatment is for split ends. But there has to be more to it than that.

What makes these 2 treatments different from one another? Don't they provide the same benefits?

[Quasiquixotic]

Oooo, I'd like to know what the hair goddesses (and gods) opinion on this is too!

[Sharysa]

Personally, it depends hugely on your hair-type and care.

I would die if I had to do weekly oil treatments or deep-conditioning every week, because I'm lazy and my hair is stupidly thick and resilient. As long as I trim my splits and keep my hair braided most of the time, I'm fine with post-shower oiling twice a week. I only need pre-shower oiling every one or two months.

There is such a thing as too much moisture--too much of anything is a bad thing.

[Nope]

Oil doesn't moisturizer your hair; it penetrates and repairs your hair cuticles, or coats them, depending on which oil you use. I used to heavy oil twice a week, but I haven't done it in a long time because it seeks unecessary to me now. Deep conditioners that are marketed for damaged hair are usually protein-laden to repair damage, or just very thick and heavy. You can use an everyday conditioner to deep condition by just leaving it in for like 30 minutes. You could even use a deep conditioner every time you wash and don't leave it in as long.

[MungoMania]

If your hair is on the thick side, a hot oil treatment can really add shine and managablity while helping to prevent and repair split ends. A deep conditioning treatment is what I use for my dry, color treated hair. Protein laden, it seems to rebuild my hair strands. Good for anyone who has dry, thin brittle damaged hair. :)

[echoofnoise]

I am arabic and I have this jar of product which says on english Deep Conditioning and on arabic Hot oil treatment, I am confused.

[florenonite]

Sorry for asking such a dumb question, but I've read that you should do both at least once a week. I have also read that a deep conditioner is only for damaged hair, colored hair, etc. and that the hot oil treatment is for split ends. But there has to be more to it than that.

What makes these 2 treatments different from one another? Don't they provide the same benefits?

Both? Not either/or? A weekly hot oil treatment OR deep conditioning sounds sensible (more than my hair needs, but then, I don't colour or heat style my hair, and it's pretty resilient), but both sounds like overkill. It's true that they're not identical, but unless you've got seriously dry/damaged hair, doing both is probably way more moisture than your hair needs.

[meteor]

Hot (it should only be warm) oil treatment is only one popular type of deep conditioning treatment. There are many, many others, most notably protein treatments: either commercial products (Aphogee 2-step, Mega-tek, etc) or DIY (gelatin, powdered hydrolyzed protein, beer, etc).
Deep treatments can be focused on moisture (often humectants like honey, aloe, glycerin) or strengthening (proteins or popular herbs like henna/cassia/amla/etc).
If hair is damaged/porous, it needs both patch-repair, strengthening (proteins) and moisture (humectants and oils). If hair is low-porosity and virgin, chances are it doesn't want anything other than gentle and effective cleansing. Low-porosity hair tends to get easily weighed down and coated by deep treatments. So YMMV.

Oiling is best used as a pre-poo, whereas deep conditioning can often come after cleansing. Of course, there are people who do oil rinses after shampooing, but the convention is to use warm oils on dry hair because of hydrophobic (water-repelling) nature of oils.

Here are some good blog articles on this:
Deep Conditioning: Everything You Need to Know: http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/10/deep-conditioning-everything-you-need.html
Deep Conditioning: What Ingredients Penetrate hair: http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/10/deep-conditioning-what-ingredients-in.html - It talks about penetrating conditioning agents for unprocessed and processed (damaged) hair. More ingredients penetrate and patch-repair damaged hair, obviously.

[Johannah]

Meteor, that's just an amazing piece of explanation. Thank you.

[Sharysa]

That's awesome, Meteor!

[walterSCAN]

Hot (it should only be warm) oil treatment is only one popular type of deep conditioning treatment. There are many, many others, most notably protein treatments: either commercial products (Aphogee 2-step, Mega-tek, etc) or DIY (gelatin, powdered hydrolyzed protein, beer, etc).
Deep treatments can be focused on moisture (often humectants like honey, aloe, glycerin) or strengthening (proteins or popular herbs like henna/cassia/amla/etc).
If hair is damaged/porous, it needs both patch-repair, strengthening (proteins) and moisture (humectants and oils). If hair is low-porosity and virgin, chances are it doesn't want anything other than gentle and effective cleansing. Low-porosity hair tends to get easily weighed down and coated by deep treatments. So YMMV.

Oiling is best used as a pre-poo, whereas deep conditioning can often come after cleansing. Of course, there are people who do oil rinses after shampooing, but the convention is to use warm oils on dry hair because of hydrophobic (water-repelling) nature of oils.

Here are some good blog articles on this:
Deep Conditioning: Everything You Need to Know: http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/10/deep-conditioning-everything-you-need.html
Deep Conditioning: What Ingredients Penetrate hair: http://www.thenaturalhavenbloom.com/2012/10/deep-conditioning-what-ingredients-in.html - It talks about penetrating conditioning agents for unprocessed and processed (damaged) hair. More ingredients penetrate and patch-repair damaged hair, obviously.

Meteor, I was really hoping you or Firefox would show up to explain this-- great explanation, and way more succinct than I was going to be able to muster!

[meteor]

Thank you, guys! :o And I haven't seen Firefox on the forum in a while, I really hope she's coming back soon! :D

I think warm ("hot" is really a misnomer) oil treatments are somewhat in a class of their own simply because they are oil-based, not water-based, conditioning treatments.
I'd particularly recommend oil-based treatments to those who don't produce enough sebum: dry scalps, long/thick hair, textured (wavy, kinky, curly) hair, processed/damaged ends. All home-made oil mixes, infused Ayurvedic oils like brahmi or neelibringadi, products like Vatika oils, etc are "oil treatments", and they qualify as "deep conditioners" as well.
Oils are particularly good for increasing elasticity and slip, reducing porosity, protection from hygral fatigue and harsh surfactants.
I really recommend this article on pre-poo oiling: http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.ca/2014/03/oil-pre-shampoo-or-pre-wash.html

I'll add, beware of commercial products that are called "oil treatments" but in reality are just silicone-based products. Examples: MoroccanOil treatment, Macadamia Natural Oil Healing Oil Treatment and many others. There is a tiny bit of oil there, but silicones are first ingredients, so I wouldn't consider them "oil treatments" per se. Always read the ingredients lists.

[lapushka]

Deep conditioner is usually thicker and more moisturizing than a regular (weaker) conditioner. You can mimic a deep condition by doing conditioner twice after washing (links in my signature). I've stuck to this method for years and it's the best for my wavy hair, I find!

[CremeTron]

Thanks Meteor and Lapushka.

I have a bottle of almond oil which makes my hair greasy, I guess it would take seconds to heat some and use pre-wash. Also time is a major reason I like to do my hair in the shower and then I do not do anything else to it beyond that. If conditioning twice would mimic a deep con, I will try that.

I never seem to find the 30 or so minutes to do one.