oiling makes hair poofy

[intothemist1999]

(my hair info under my avatar is now updated)

Has anyone else had that happen? :)

My current routine is:
Wash; leave in a towel for a few minutes; apply leave-in to the length (no sulfate/no cones)
Air dry a bit, then blow dry (more on that in a moment)

My hair is coloured and I'm suspecting high-porosity. Probably dry at the ends (if not, it's the very slight kink (?) I have in my otherwise mostly straight hair that makes it look a bit fried). Hair is "floaty" :rolleyes:

2 or 3 months ago I ended up with scalp issues, maybe because of increased product use after a year on the Curly Girl Method...then followed by air-drying (which granted I've always done since joining LCH many years ago). I finally have the scalp thing resolved, but the hair might have taken a beating from it, from the shampoo as well as going back to blowdrying.

I've never found that sweet-spot of how much oil to add to the ends of dry hair to give them some weight (to be less floaty) and some shine, but not look greasy.

I've started oiling the length and smoothing some oil on the the outer hairs of head as a pre-wash treatment. The hair is somewhat less floaty, but HOLY SMOKES, the POOF!! I guess one could call it volume? lol I don't mind it much, but it's not what I was after...and certainly not what I expected. It hasn't helped the shine at all, at least not yet. Maybe I need to apply even more oil?

Is this a normal side-effect of pre-wash oiling? I don't think I ever heard that before. If I'm on the wrong track, is there something else I could be doing to accomplish what I'm after?

[Shorty89]

I have no idea about your problem but I had to pop in and say hi! It's been a long time. I remember we had a mini-meet years ago.

[foreveryours]

I find the same thing. After washing, air drying, and combing my hair is very "airy" almost fluffy. I never understood why (I don't really like it that way) but I recently had my hair typed here and it turns out I've not straight hair (type 1) but wavy hair (2a-ish). My ahah moment anyway.

It does flatten out and become shiny iwht more oil. It takes me almost a gram (3 fingertip fulls of coconut oil) to coat my length. It never, to me anyway, appears "greasy" and in fact the oil seems to disappear over the course of the day. I keep my hair covered so it's not like it's wiping off onto the furniture or whatever. I think my hair may just absorb it.

Just have to experiment with the amount. Worst case is wash it out with conditioner and try again :p

[Mariekeeee14]

So you don’t use conditioner? I’d start there! You hair sounds thirsty.

[intothemist1999]

I have no idea about your problem but I had to pop in and say hi! It's been a long time. I remember we had a mini-meet years ago.

Hi!!!! :D Yes, it's been a long while! I'm back :love:

[intothemist1999]

I find the same thing. After washing, air drying, and combing my hair is very "airy" almost fluffy. I never understood why (I don't really like it that way) but I recently had my hair typed here and it turns out I've not straight hair (type 1) but wavy hair (2a-ish). My ahah moment anyway.

It does flatten out and become shiny iwht more oil. It takes me almost a gram (3 fingertip fulls of coconut oil) to coat my length. It never, to me anyway, appears "greasy" and in fact the oil seems to disappear over the course of the day. I keep my hair covered so it's not like it's wiping off onto the furniture or whatever. I think my hair may just absorb it.

Just have to experiment with the amount. Worst case is wash it out with conditioner and try again :p

Thanks for sharing your experience! :)

[paulownia]

It probably means you are using wrong kind of oil:D
High porosity hair and, for exemple coconut oil does not go hand in hand.

[intothemist1999]

So you don’t use conditioner? I’d start there! You hair sounds thirsty.

Both conditioner and leave-in?

I will try going back to conditioner. I had stopped when I had the scalp issue and I didn't want ANY product up on my head when I had the hair in a towel. Although...maybe I should get a turban towel again, back in the day I used to use it "upside-down"..that might be a good work-around.

Thank you for the advice! :)

[intothemist1999]

It probably means you are using wrong kind of oil:D
High porosity hair and, for exemple coconut oil does not go hand in hand.



Interesting! I thought it did. However, I did use hemp oil the first time and it was amazing...however my understanding is that it has protein and and that protein shouldn't be used often (?)

What would you recommend?

[JasminxCat]

Yeah I would start using conditioner again. And still use leave in if you want to, it's fine to use both. I use both natural oils and oils with silicone. Like 8 drops of sweet almond oil on fresh washed, damp hair, then seal it with 3 drops of a silicone oil on dry hair. Or if you are using leave in, apply a silicone or natural sealant oil over a leave in to keep moisture in. You could try something like that, it's what works for me at the moment

[MusicalSpoons]

Oh yeah, the poof is probably thirsty hair - oil won't help with that. That's what conditioner is for ;)

[intothemist1999]

"...I use both natural oils and oils with silicone. Like 8 drops of sweet almond oil on fresh washed, damp hair, then seal it with 3 drops of a silicone oil on dry hair. Or if you are using leave in, apply a silicone or natural sealant oil over a leave in to keep moisture in...."

Oh, interesting!! I will definitely do that! Thanks!

[Dragon]

I’ve found that hairdryers always makes my hair more fluffy. Even when i use both conditioner and leave in. I find both olive and avocado oil helps the most out of the oils I’ve tried. Also definitely recommend to use conditioner as well as your leave in.

[paulownia]

Interesting! I thought it did. However, I did use hemp oil the first time and it was amazing...however my understanding is that it has protein and and that protein shouldn't be used often (?)

What would you recommend?
There is very little of protein in oils, I would not treat it the same way as products with hydrolyzed proteins. Should not cause protein overload.
You can test linseed, avocado, walnut, macadamia... plenty of them to choose among.

[foreveryours]

There is very little of protein in oils, I would not treat it the same way as products with hydrolyzed proteins. Should not cause protein overload.
You can test linseed, avocado, walnut, macadamia... plenty of them to choose among.

Doesn't linseed oil (flax seed oil) dry, which would leave hair "hard"? Or do you mix it with something?

[MusicalSpoons]

Doesn't linseed oil (flax seed oil) dry, which would leave hair "hard"? Or do you mix it with something?

I thought that too, also walnut oil (they're not to be used for oiling wind instruments for that reason).

[Dark40]

Hi! I am so sorry about your problem. I've never had oils as a pre-poo or a treatment making my hair poofy. I think the poofiness could be coming for dry ends and length from the blow dry and coloring. Or, it could be that you just naturally have poofy hair. Or, hair will a lot of volume. I would use a conditioner that's made entirely for frizzy/poofy hair, and also a hair lotion or a cream as well. When my hair gets poofy I apply some type of oil or cream, and it really helps tremendously :D
It may not help others on here but it helps me.

[paulownia]

Doesn't linseed oil (flax seed oil) dry, which would leave hair "hard"? Or do you mix it with something?
First time I hear something like this :confused:
I was using linseed and walnut when I had higher porosity and never had any problems with them. Especially walnut was my favourite.
Now I'm using different oils because my hair has low porosity.

[spidermom]

What happens to me is that oil weighs down the longer hairs so that they lay relatively flat, but the shorter and curlier hairs do not get weighed down, and because the longer hairs are staying closer to the head, the shorter/curlier hairs appear even more prominent and thus poofier than ever.

When I oil my hair prior to washing it, I snugly braid it. No more poof, unless you want to count the hairs that escape the confines of the braid.

[Arciela]

You can always try to put conditioner from the ears/neck down if your scalp doesn't like it, that's how mine is - anything I put on it except head and shoulders it hates. You can also try the ROO method, and maybe use a tiny bit of leave in. I use a very tiny bit of conditioner on my lengths after washing, it helped so much :flower:

[foreveryours]

First time I hear something like this :confused:
I was using linseed and walnut when I had higher porosity and never had any problems with them. Especially walnut was my favourite.
Now I'm using different oils because my hair has low porosity.

Interesting. I use raw linseed oil on gunstocks. A very thin coat will dry in a day and several applied over a week provides fairly decent protection of the wood from water as well as a beautiful finish depending upon the grain.

[intothemist1999]

What happens to me is that oil weighs down the longer hairs so that they lay relatively flat, but the shorter and curlier hairs do not get weighed down, and because the longer hairs are staying closer to the head, the shorter/curlier hairs appear even more prominent and thus poofier than ever.

When I oil my hair prior to washing it, I snugly braid it. No more poof, unless you want to count the hairs that escape the confines of the braid.

Helloooo, Spidermom! :) That's really interesting, that braiding it helps with poof. Are you air- or blow-drying? Thx!

[spidermom]

Helloooo, Spidermom! :) That's really interesting, that braiding it helps with poof. Are you air- or blow-drying? Thx!

I almost always allow my hair to air dry.