Could olive oil possibly be drying my hair??

[Kris Dove]

Silly question, but I've tried using olive oil on my hair recently and the ends seemed a little crunchy afterwards, more so than before I used it, which was the opposite of what I was expecting as I was more concerned my hair might become greasy trying this. Is this even possible?

[Speckla]

Yes. Olive oil makes my hair sticky and crunchy. It feels very dry too. I find that coconut oil is much better for moisturizing.

[Kris Dove]

Thank you Speckla- glad I'm not the only one this happened to. And sticky is another very apt word for the way my hair feels! I must try out coconut oil, it seems very popular!

[clairenewcastle]

Coconut oil didn't work as well for me as olive oil. Out of interest the olive oil bought in a pharmacy tends to be purer than the olive oil bought in a foodstore. Food quality olive oil has additives to stop the food browning quickly at high temperatures, what they would do to the hair I don't know.
I just found pharmacy bought olive oil to be less drying.

[pinchbeck]

I haven't tried olive oil and probably wouldn't. I regularly use camellia and coconut oils. The latter is used, however, for pre-oiling before I wash my hair and it is easier to manage afterward.

For years jojoba oil was my 'glider' of choice (hey - I just made that up, hee hee) but I did not notice any improvement and I had more split ends than I expected. Now that all my split ends have been cut off I am on a new oiling regiment with the oils mentioned in the first paragraph.

Have fun with your oiling experiments and if they don't work, cook with them providing they're edible!

[lora410]

Different oils react differently to different peoples hair. For instance; my hair has no issues with any oils while other get crunchy or dry hair. It's just a matter of finding what your hair likes.

[HairColoredHair]

Oils can make my hair crunchy and sticky... but that feeling usually goes away when I wash it back out.

[ericthegreat]

Actually, when you have a certain kind of oil in your hair it often does in fact make it feel crunchy as it dries over your hair. That doesn't mean that its drying to your hair at all. Your hair is still absorbing the beneficial properties of the oil. And once you wash the oil out of your hair, the crunchiness will go away and in fact you will find that the oil treatment made your hair shinier and silkier.

However, if you still feel for whatever reason that olive oil doesn't work as well for you, there are of course an infinite number of alternative oils you can try like coconut oil and jojoba oil and avocado oil just to name a few.

[ChloeDharma]

I agree with the advice that some oils just don't suit certain people, also some people find their hair doesn't like oil at all.
I don't use olive oil now, but have tried it in the past, back then my hair was in a very bad way though so it might react differently now.....but out of all the oils i've tried olive was my least successfull experiment.
I suggest trying a few and seeing which your hair responds best to. Crunchy ends from oiling does seem to be a common complaint though.

[Kris Dove]

It was after I washed my hair that it felt crunchy, it just felt greasy when the oil was still on it. After another wash and intensive conditioner, it's feeling a bit better, still dry but not as bad as it was right after washing the oil out.

[spidermom]

I really don't think that pure food-grade oil can dry out your hair, although it might have little to no benefit. Some of the oil preparations sold for hair can dry it out because they contain other ingredients, like petrolatum, which is great for sealing baby's delicate skin from pee and poo but not for hair because it seals out moisture. So make sure you're using pure vegetable, fruit, or nut oil rather than oil blended with other things, and don't be afraid to try a few different kinds before you make up your mind as to whether or not oiling provides benefit. Most hair benefits from oiling, I think, but not all.