WO-only. Magnesium oil for hair?

[coramDGildenher]

Magnesium oil is used in my family to spray on the body & massage in to relieve muscle tension, cramps and relax the body. It works.

My Mom swears that by spraying it on her hair before showering, her hair is super soft afterwards.

Anybody ever used magnesium oil in their hair before? What were your results?

Can it be rinsed out with only water since I'm a WO girl?

[meteor]

Interesting stuff. :) Could you post the ingredients, please?

[Red'N'Curly]

It's usually just magnesium dissolved in water. Not actually an "oil" but it has a slightly oily feeling. Since its a salt, I would be worried about it drying out my hair. But it's awesome for morning sickness ; )

[coramDGildenher]

Magnesium oil is just magnesium chloride chunks dissolved in water, as Red'N'Curly said, and it feels oily. My family also drinks this with some other ingredients. Most people are magnesium deficit big time, and transdermal (massaging oil into the skin) is the best way to absorb it. I've used it with constipation, anxiety attacks, and muscle tightness effectively.

So you guys wouldn't recommend a salt like magnesium on your hair then since it would dry it out?

[meteor]

So you guys wouldn't recommend a salt like magnesium on your hair then since it would dry it out?

Well, I've never seen any research into magnesium used on hair topically. Since it's a nutritional mineral, it would be a waste to use it on dead matter like hair.
I can sort of see why they use it topically on skin or internally, but whatever nutrition you use on hair strands is going to be a waste IMHO. Hair only needs styling products (whether penetrating hair shaft or just sitting on top), but not nutrition.
And yes, salts are very drying to hair. And they are actually pretty hard to wash off completely even with multiple clarifying washes... AFAIK only chelation works. And I believe that mega moisturizing SMT treatment was invented by an LHC member who dried out her hair to salt big time.

[Beborani]

Epsom salt, which is what you are referring to I think is hygroscopic and will hold lot of water keeping your hair 'moisturized' under right conditions.

[meteor]

Beborani, I meant all salts. :) Holding onto water is not going to keep hair moisturized unless your hair already has a lot of water in it. So when it's wet, it's fine, but when it's dry, the salts will be drawing water from your hair.
That is also why after exposure to sea salt it's recommended to always follow up with distilled water and/or use a "swimmers" chelating shampoo - it's not just for pool water.
Of course, if you do it only once in a while, it's not important, but if used regularly in high concentrations, salts can seriously damage hair IMHO.

[meteor]

Sorry, double post. :)

[Beborani]

It will not always draw water from your hair. smts with sugar do exactly the same thing--hold water temporarily.

There is at least one lOreal patent with this same premise. Can't link it here

[meteor]

It will not always draw water from your hair. smts with sugar do exactly the same thing--hold water temporarily.

There is at least one lOreal patent with this same premise. Can't link it here

I guess the issue is concentration of salt. :shrug: Since the magnesium spray is not marketed as a hair product, I would be uncomfortable recommending it without knowing how much salt is in it (and many other questions I'd have, like was it tested on hair?). I know of and have tried a couple shampoos with salt and while they give great volume, I wasn't comfortable with the concentrations, even though they are marketed for hair. YMMV. :D

(You know how you can salt raw meat and it draws moisture out. Sorry if it's an extreme example, but it illustrates the drying effect pretty well.)

[Beborani]

Meat stuff is somewhat different premise. That is like sprinkling sugar on strawberries but you still use sugar in smts as it holds water. OP can experiment with it. She should also have citric acid handy to remove the Magnesium if it doesn't work. I don't really experiment like this, not even smts, just giving reasons why it would work as it seems to for her mother.and sorry to prolong this discussion. :)