Mustard Oil for Low Porosity Hair?

[BuddingRapunzel]

Hi all!
New here, although I have read some posts on here before. To summarise my story, I naturally had a very thick head of hair that grows really fast. But constant oiling (it's what everyone does in my culture), eventually damaged my hair and lead to my losing clumps and clumps of hair at a time, but it still grew long. Eventually I stopped using oil and stuck to shampoo & conditioner, alternating with milk or egg/yogurt masks every 2 weeks or so and my hair is now doing much better. I am also now taking Perfectil for Skin, Hair and Nails from Vitabiotics which has made my hair more healthy. I only recently learned my intolerance to oil is due to low porosity hair.

Currently I still have quite thick hair and upto tailbone length, but nowhere near as thick as it used to be, and therefore looking for some extra help for my scalp. Has anyone with low porosity hair used mustard oil before? If so does it have to be heated first? I have read nothing works on low porosity hair without using heat, but have also read mustard oil is already hot in nature.

Additionally, my hair is rather weak and breaks easily both when dry and wet. Upto bra-strip length it has some weight and feels healthy, but after that it starts getting fly-away and wispy. When I look at fallen hair, I find some fibrously thin hair strands, probably split hair. I will make another post with photographs for suggestions on how much, if any, to cut off. Have started micro-trimming every month since last Feb at tailbone length. In the meantime, if anyone else with low porosity hair found a solution for similar hair woes, would appreciate any advice.

Thank you all in advance, and really happy to be here finally :)

[BuddingRapunzel]

So I couldn't be patient to wait for advice first, went ahead and used mustard oil before washing my hair today.

Massaged it onto my scalp for ~5 minutes, combed until hair till nape of my neck was also oiled, and then spread just a little more oil on both my hands and ran them through the rest of my hair and ends couple times, combed all over for 2-3 mins, and waited an hour before shower. I was quite scared because oil usually is quite traumatising to my hair. Whenever I have used coconut/olive oil, it turns my hair berserk and as if all the strands are attacking and ripping each other apart until its one big, scrunchy, tangled, split-endy mess, and lots of hair keeps falling off from the roots.

Fortunately that didn't happen, and just maybe mustard is the right oil for me. No hair sticking to each other or tangling, no aditional hair-fall, nothing. I used one meant for cooking, and the smell wasn't strong in any way, but then again I am Indian and quite like a lot of Ayurvedic or similar aromas that others do not. After washing with shampoo, I still felt some oil in the scalp and half of my hair, but I was ok to leave that in. After conditioning and now that it is drying, I don't find any leftover oil weighting down my hair or feeling greasy. If anything, my hair feels like usual and maybe better. I lost some hair while oiling, but that happens when I apply milk/egg/yogurt too, but hair-fall in the shower was much less.

Will update if there is any significant progress. Personally I'd be happy to use this as a deep-conditioner even if there isn't any other benefit.

[Gwyned]

Hi BuddingRapunzel,

I also have low porosity hair and purchased and tried mustard oil for the first time last summer. I found that it was very softening to my hair and made my hair very shiny and smooth. I did not heat the oil--I don't even heat oils unless you include rubbing it in my palms (like how you do with coconut oil, for example).

Some products do work in low porosity hair without using heat, but because heat helps open the hair cuticles, heat will give you better results. You can always heat oil for a few seconds for a hot oil treatment or put oil in your hair and then cover it with a bag to let your natural body heat warm your hair and scalp allowing the oil to penetrate better.

I don't think it's a good idea to rely merely on oil (unless that works for you). If you have dry or low porosity hair. Are you using leave-in conditioner? Do you deep condition after washes? Have you considered trying the CWC (condition wash condition) method? I have been doing it for a month now and my hair has improved immensely. It is less dry and it feels thicker and healthier.

I also wonder if there is something else going on with your health or if you're taking medication. I take medicine that makes my hair and skin extremely dry. I've never had hair problems before taking medication so I have to be mindful of putting moisture into my hair and wearing my hair up with my ends tucked to preserve moisture.

[mwallingford]

Hello, and welcome to the forum! From what I understand from various perspectives on the LHC, some people can not oil their scalp due to exponentially increased hair shedding. And to be entirely honest I'm not sure why oil can do that, but I have a similar experience. My scalp doesn't really like being messed with much at all, so I leave it alone for the most part unless it's being washed and that's when it's the happiest. It sounds as though your scalp may not be agreeing with the excess oils, and that it's causing more trouble than it's worth.

If I were you, I think I would just wait for my hair to thicken up naturally and focus on keeping the length healthy to avoid breakage and split ends. I would second the checking medication or health check up if you haven't done that already. Hair is usually one of the first indicators of health (all of the nutrients first go to your body, and then if there's anything left, that goes to your hair and nails.) I hope this helps!

[BuddingRapunzel]

Hi Gwyned, good to know it worked for you too, so it probably means it wasn't just a one-time success for me. No, I do not use any leave-ins, because to me it sounded like oil and I've been terrified of oil for a while now, but I'll look into leave-ins. I use Tresemme's luxurious moisture with vitamin E shampoo that doesn't dry out my hair, and then use Dove daily moisture conditioner. That is why I use milk or yogurt (greek when possible) to moisturise, every 2 weeks or so. But both of them contain protein, and was wondering if that's why my hair breaks easily.
I did start CWC for a week or so now, and think it helped.

Thank you mwallingford :)

To answer both your comments about health conditions, back when I had really bad hair fall (during my mid-late teens), I was indeed not very healthy, in terms of eating well, drinking enough water, and had a lot of stress going on as well. Currently hair fall isn't much of an issue for me anymore - it does fall, but it is manageable, although I'd of course be happy if it lessenned. In my case atleast, my intolerance to oil became particularly pronounced after I developed eczema on my feet. Although it cleared, it made my skin all over very prone to dryness and build-up of excess dead-skin, which contributed even more to dryness and attracting/trapping dirt. Oil makes my skin dry too, because it doesn't moisturise and doesn't let any moisture in either. Now, all of this for the scalp is a recipe for disaster, and I can now understand why using heavy oils that didn't get absorbed irritated my scalp back then, and also why milk/yogurt helped a lot as they moisturise as well as exfoliate gently. The only reason I even dared consider mustard oil is because it is often cited as a remedy for eczema like conditions because of its sulfer content, and other anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal etc properties. Maybe that is why this didn't cause any ill effects for me, and I wonder if others who can't tolerate oils have similar skin issues that involved excess dead-skin buildup or skin that doesn't easily absorb/hold moisture.

[Joules]

The only reason I even dared consider mustard oil is because it is often cited as a remedy for eczema like conditions because of its sulfer content, and other anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal etc properties. Maybe that is why this didn't cause any ill effects for me, and I wonder if others who can't tolerate oils have similar skin issues that involved excess dead-skin buildup or skin that doesn't easily absorb/hold moisture.

I have psoriasis, which is essentially rapid growth (and buildup) of skin cells. I sometimes use oil (well, I use a cream that's basically oil and wax, no water), on my patches, and they react very well. My psoriasis also responds well to essential oils (peppermint in particular) diluted in carrier oils. I also use tons of oil on my hair and scalp, but I don't have psoriasis on my scalp.

Some essential oils also have anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties, if you need it maybe you could look into them.

[BuddingRapunzel]

@Joules : Where I live I don't have a huge range of products available, but I'll see what I can find. I don't have any condition on my scalp either per se, but my skin all over tends to dry, build up dead-skin/dirt easily although it doesn't itch (but I suppose this means I could develop it on my scalp/anywhere else if I am not careful of what I use). I currently manage my skin by using Amlactin because it has 12% lactic acid which gently exfoliates as well as moisturises, and using a prescribed medicated ointment if I ever feel my old itch-spot on the feet starting to itch again. Anyway, now it's good to have other options for the scalp as well :)