How to apply oil to hair?

[missmandy]

Hi all.

I've been lurking around for a while, and a lot of people seem to swear by oils for their hair.

My question(s) is how do you do it? How much do you apply? Do you only apply to the ends? Do you apply dry, wet, damp, or other? Do you dilute it with anything? (water, conditioner, ect.) And also, what kind of oils do you use?

I've tried to use extra virgin olive oil, I applied it to my ends while dry, and it got really greasy. Did I do it wrong?

[chrissy-b]

Obviously, it's going to depend on what your hair likes.

My hair loves all kinds of oils, but olive oil does tend to be a bit heavy, even when I use a very small amount, so I save it for heavy oilings before a wash. I also use oils on wet hair as a leave-in (only a drop or two on the ends). Right now I'm loving a grapeseed blend I recently purchased, but I use jojoba, coconut, and shea butter on the ends regularly. I use castor and emu oil with essential oils in a blend for scalp massages.

Play around with the oils you have on hand, or try coconut, it's easy to find and many people have luck with it and if it doesn't work you can eat it!

[manderly]

What Chrissy said. :)

I apply loads of coconut oil to my towel-dried hair. About 8 drops worth. That's A LOT for most people, but my hair is coarse and wavy, and drinks it up.

When my hair is dry, I will rub it down with 1-2 drops of oil to shine it and calm any frizz.

Olive oil is reserved for deep treatments for me, I don't use this as a daily oil.

This is something you'll have to experiment with to see what YOUR hair likes. A good place to start is to find out what your hair twins like, and go from there :) I believe the majority of 1b/1c fine hairs generally use a teeny amount (just enough to make their palms shiny) of light oil (coconut, jojoba) and wipe it down dry hair from the ears down. :)

[Ailith]

I think I want to try oiling. There is one thing I wonder though-I use Kinky curly curling custard as styling when my hair is wet. If I do not use any gel, my hair gets extremely frizzy... My question is: can I use oil together with the styling? Or can the oil be as effective at the frizz? (My styling does not contain any silicones or mineral oils.)

[Flynn]

I like to slurp in a whole lot the day/night before I wash. Then I wash it out. I'm not quite sure exactly how it is working, but it does leave my hair feeling softer. Also, the residue is exactly the right amount to have in my hair post-wash (I always over-oil if I try to do it post-wash... I just haven't got the trick of it yet.)

[Heavenly Locks]

This is how I oil my hair :) CO wash and dry. Detangle gently. Scrape up this much coconut oil -

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/HeavenlyJumper/DSC_0024-2.jpg

Rub it in my palms to melt. Rub over my canopy and focus on the ends. I can always go back for a touch more if I want. I do this every other day or so.

If I oil on wet hair, I end up over doing it. :o

[hennaphile]

This is how I oil my hair :) CO wash and dry. Detangle gently. Scrape up this much coconut oil -

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/HeavenlyJumper/DSC_0024-2.jpg

Rub it in my palms to melt. Rub over my canopy and focus on the ends. I can always go back for a touch more if I want. I do this every other day or so.

If I oil on wet hair, I end up over doing it. :o


Now does it come with the fingernails?

[hennaphile]

Speaking of oiling, I have so much trouble figuring it out. If I don't put on lots, I can never tell if it's evenly distributed. Calling all oil experts...

[Heavenly Locks]

Now does it come with the fingernails?

Side effect of coconut oil ;) LOL

[Heavenly Locks]

Speaking of oiling, I have so much trouble figuring it out. If I don't put on lots, I can never tell if it's evenly distributed. Calling all oil experts...

For me, the key is lightly passing my hands over my hair so that I am not pressing it all off in one or two areas. Do you know what I mean?

I have also thought about a BBB rubbed over an oiled palm and then over the hair? I don't have a BBB though...

[Fractalsofhair]

Any sort of bristled brush is great for spreading it evenly. You can get boar bristle brushes at a drug store. Olive oil is a heavy oil, I use about 3-4x the amount shown in the picture for my very fine VERY VERY dry hair of coconut oil. Just brush till your hair is shiny. I use it mostly when my hair is dry, but a good dollop when wet. I have VERY dry hair, so I use much more oil than the average person. The brush is something I use generally to give it a shine, unless my hair is looking curly that day, in which case I apply with my fingers.

Ailith, the oiling should help with the frizz a lot. Give it a try on a weekend when you're not going anywhere. It's similar to a shine serum, but moisturizing as opposed to drying on my hair. You might need to use more oil as you have curly hair, which tends to be dryer. Coconut oil is a great light oil. Also, try using a leave in conditioner.

Jojoba made my hair look and feel greasy, along with not really moisturizing. Sweet Almond oil is pretty nice for my hair, gives it a good shine but not too moisturizing.(great if I just want to add some shine on a good hair day) Avocado oil is really moisturizing, but reeks! Overall, coconut is my fave oil, but the rest are decent. Never tried apricot kernel, but I think it would be similar to sweet almond based on how they act on my skin. Olive oil is great for hot oil treatments, but smells a bit IMO. Never tried canola or a couple of other oils, but they might work well for you.

[Flaxen]

The Articles Section is a great resource for all kinds of long hair techniques. Check out heidi w.'s Oiling Tutorial (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/vbjournal.php?do=article&articleid=71). :grin:

[feralnature]

This is how I oil my hair :) CO wash and dry. Detangle gently. Scrape up this much coconut oil -

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h94/HeavenlyJumper/DSC_0024-2.jpg

Rub it in my palms to melt. Rub over my canopy and focus on the ends. I can always go back for a touch more if I want. I do this every other day or so.

If I oil on wet hair, I end up over doing it. :o

I start out with that much coconut oil too. But I end up using about 4 times that much because the ends of my hair is very dry. I usually apply the oil to dry hair.

[jera]

Olive oil and coconut oil are both heavy oils and probably work better with coarse thick hair. Missmandy, your profile pic shows normal hair in texture, so maybe you'd do better with a lighter oil like jojoba or camellia. :confused: I use shark liver oil which is as light as water. I mist my hair lightly before appliacation, but it absorbs well into hair that is dry too.

[curls2grow]

My coconut oil is liquid at room temp these days. I dip ring/middle/index fingers in once and apply to ends/canopy on left side. Then I repeat and do the right side, same thing. Not sure how this dose will translate to coconut oil in solid form, though.

[sagebabies]

I use coconut and jojoba & shae (depending on my mood). My hair likes it better if it is wet when I oil. If I oil dry, I use just a tiny amount and brush through with a bbb brush (just a cheapo I got at Target, I'd like to get a nicer one some day). I will do a heavy oiling the night before a wash if I remember.

[LadyLongLocks]

I oil my hair after I wash and dry it. I use about 3 drops of jojoba oil rubbed in my palms and run down the length.
I came across Heidi's article and found it very helpful! I usually stay with coconut and jojoba oils. I have sweet almond, but learned that it has a much shorter shelf life.
Thank you Heidi :)
I found this identical oiling article by Heidi posted HERE (http://www.leadfashion.com/Beauty/Hairstyle/Oiling_Hair_Care_2379.shtml) too.

[heidi w.]

LadyLong Locks, that's interesting that this article is posted on this link. I think I recall giving permission to someone to do something with this article, but I don't recollect this website name at all.

Maybe.

I'll also have to look at the images that go with it when I get home. I wonder what those images look like. In the past, I've seen images connected that I felt were misleading.

heidi w.