WO-compatible oils/butters/Nightblooming products

[Ophidian]

Hello all,

I know that this is all going to be somewhat individual, but I am wondering if anyone knows which oils/butters (coconut, olive, jojoba, shea, etc....) might tend to build up the least and/or rinse out the best in plain water. I am looking for a leave-in to protect ends between water washes and wanted to reach out to everyone because I know there are some sciency-friends here that might not hang out on the WO thread but may have some insight.

I am am currently using coconut, but I am interested in something a bit heavier just on the ends. Really interested trying Nightblooming's Panacea, so any specific feedback on that from anyone who may have tried it with WO would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Nique1202]

When in doubt, use something once and wait until you don't feel the benefit on your hair anymore, then use it again. That's my philosophy for 'cones but it should apply to oils and treatments like the Panacea as well.

[Hairkay]

When I want something a little thicker there's olive oil and most I'd go for is almond oil. That's what I use for my hair ends. I do WO.

[Ophidian]

Hi Hairkay :). Yes, I know you from the WO thread. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think I remember olive oil working pretty well in my hair before WO. Do you find that to be a bit heavier than coconut? I'm not sure if it would be good to look for a sealing oil or more of a penetrating oil for keeping ends moisturized on WO. I think olive is somewhat penetrating but not as much as coconut.

Nique I think that is a great rule of thumb! I like to nerd out sometimes on the hows and whys of hair care, but it's always good to remember to pay attention to how things are feeling.

:blossom:

[Lanalavallama]

Strangely enough, despite its sticky nature, caster oil rinses out of my head perfectly. Strange, eh?

[Hairkay]

Hi Hairkay :). Yes, I know you from the WO thread. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think I remember olive oil working pretty well in my hair before WO. Do you find that to be a bit heavier than coconut? I'm not sure if it would be good to look for a sealing oil or more of a penetrating oil for keeping ends moisturized on WO. I think olive is somewhat penetrating but not as much as coconut.

Nique I think that is a great rule of thumb! I like to nerd out sometimes on the hows and whys of hair care, but it's always good to remember to pay attention to how things are feeling.

:blossom:

Yes, I find olive oil to be heavier on my hair than coconut oil. I am aware that both are penetrating oils. I tend to layer the oils first coconut oil or olive oil depending on the time of the year then put almond oil which I find is heavier than both on top. My version of LOC or I can call it LOO, water, coconut/olive oil and then almond oil. I think any of those butters like mango butter, cocobutter or shea butter may be too heavy and won't wash out so well. I am also unsure how castor oil will do. That is one heavy oil.

[01]

Strangely enough, despite its sticky nature, caster oil rinses out of my head perfectly. Strange, eh?

Very weird, lol. Maybe because it's cleansing oil (in ocm).

DON'T use shea butter, that bitch is hard to wash out even with shampoo. Never again. And it actually dried my hair out.

[Shepherdess]

Strangely enough, despite its sticky nature, caster oil rinses out of my head perfectly. Strange, eh?
I think that I have had a similar experience with castor oil. I would use it more if it wasn't so heavy, since it really is easier to wash out than some oils that I have used in the past (but in very small amounts). I find that mustard oil seems to absorb nicely and washes out nicely too (or at least for my hair it seems), though it does smell, so probably wouldn't be the greatest option for WO. For my hair, I think olive oil and jojoba might wash out easier than some oils too. I think that the oils which I found the hardest to wash out of my hair were coconut, shea butter, mineral oil, and such, so even though I am not currently doing WO (though occasionally I do), I have to avoid any oil that doesn't wash out easily, since clarifying my hair on a more frequent basis is too harsh on it.

[Lanalavallama]

01, it may be the cleansing aspect of castor oil. My hair is strange though; prefers to do what's opposite to the norm.

I am so glad it's the same for someone else Shepherdess. Makes my head feel normal. I am careful with coconut oil on my head; leaves my hair hard if I use too much.

Shea butter would definitely be a clinger ;)

[Ophidian]

Thanks for the tip about Shea butter. I keep eyeing the Nightblooming stuff for the scent, which I hear is amazing, but I think most of her salves have Shea in them.

I've never tried castor on my ends, but I use it on my scalp and face sometimes and find it to be quite drying/cleansing.

Hairkay your LOO method is genius. I think I will experiment with that. Is almond known to be more of a sealing oil? I have found that if I use a spray bottle with distilled water before applying coconut or evoo, it seems to work better.

[Anje]

Thing is that the Nightblooming salves have BTMS and/or cetearyl alcohol in them, which could wash out some oil. That might be enough to counter the shea in there and get them to wash off with WO, but it might also be a little stripping for a WO washer; I'm not sure. It's been ages since I did the WO thing, but I remember how much even using conditioner would remove the sebum from my hair and change the texture for a week or two.

[Hairkay]

Thanks for the tip about Shea butter. I keep eyeing the Nightblooming stuff for the scent, which I hear is amazing, but I think most of her salves have Shea in them.

I've never tried castor on my ends, but I use it on my scalp and face sometimes and find it to be quite drying/cleansing.

Hairkay your LOO method is genius. I think I will experiment with that. Is almond known to be more of a sealing oil? I have found that if I use a spray bottle with distilled water before applying coconut or evoo, it seems to work better.

Yes, almond is a sealing oil.