Why Oil Before Shampooing?

[Estiscurls]

I just don't understand why people oil before shampooing. Seems like the oil wil either: 1. wash away or 2. prevent the hair from receiving the benefits of the shampoo.

[soopahgrover]

I'm not 100% sure of the answer either. Interested to read what people will say. I just know that I usually oil my hair at least a few hours, up to a day before wash, and I quite like the results. Been doing it for over a year now.

As I understand it, shampoo is for your scalp, and can damage your hair. So perhaps the oil protects your hair from the shampoo?

[Elenna]

I attribute an "oil before shampoo regimen" for almost zero split ends. Now I'm mixing oil into the shampoo too.

I experiment with different oils, shampoos, conditioners, etc. Natural methods seem to work the best.

[Athena's Owl]

I just read recently (thanks to ktani!) that coconut oil actually chelates metals off your hair, so i can see coating your hair in coconut oil as a prewash treatment. I'm going to have to get some more.

[RubyEmpress]

I actually just oiled my hair with coconut oil tonight for the first time ever. I am leaving it in overnight and hopefully I can wash it out tomorrow with no problems. :pumpkin:

[Igor]

I just don't understand why people oil before shampooing. Seems like the oil wil either: 1. wash away or 2. prevent the hair from receiving the benefits of the shampoo.

What benefits? Shampoo cleans. It doesn’t reconstruct or repair or whatever clever advertising wants us to believe. Unless you drive in the mud with your hair loose, your ends wont need to be cleaned with shampoo

[manderly]

What benefits? Shampoo cleans. It doesn’t reconstruct or repair or whatever clever advertising wants us to believe. Unless you drive in the mud with your hair loose, your ends wont need to be cleaned with shampoo


What I was going to say :)

There are no benefits to shampoo. They don't do anything they claim to in ads. All they do is cleanse. :shrug:

Most of it is too harsh for hair on a regular basis, and you'll find many of us don't use it at all, or dilute it when they do. Others go for sulfate free or the gentlest types they can.

Yes, shampooing after oiling removes the oil. The oil adds protection to keep the shampoo from over-stripping the natural oils from your hair and drying it out.

Think of it like the clearcoat on your car. It's there, it's invisible and doesn't do much in reality. What it does do is create a protective layer against the elements and damage to your car's real paint job. You have to wear down the clearcoat before the paint job gets damaged.

I think it's along the same lines of CWC, which is condition, wash, condition.

Though it seems there are other benefits from oils that people are starting to discover too. :)

[Chiara]

Lots of shampoos actually have oils added to them (eg silicone oils) or other substances which coat the hair so that it looks smoother and shinier after washing. LHC advice means that you can identify which oils work for your hair, and how to apply them for the best results. For instance, my hair responds really well to coconut oil added to a sulfate and cone free shampoo, and also responds quite well to being lightly oiled on the ends before washing.

[LisaMonster]

My hair is so much more moisturized when I oil before shampooing.

I've been using CV shampoo bars for awhile now, which I've been enjoying a lot, but this week, my hair was just feeling dirty/waxy/ucky and I wanted to shampoo with something a little harsher. I pre-oiled and diluted my old shampoo (Jason's natural tea tree oil shampoo) almost down to the consistency of water, and my hair was so much less dry than it ever had been before when using that same shampoo.

[Carolyn]

Igor said it very well. Shampoo cleanses. Often it cleanses too well and strips the hair. Oiling can protect the hair from shampoo's harshness. I don't often need shampoo to cleanse my length. I only need the scalp cleansed. Oiling before washing is one of the non mainstream LHC hair tricks.

[christine1989]

I just like to give my hair one last moisure fix before I strip it of all its oil with shampoo. I don't know if it helps the hair much but it moisturizes my scalp well if I use a thick oil like castor oil. I agree though that it does not do nearly as much good as leaving oil in.

[SilvraShadows]

:shrug: ...but it works!

Yet I will add, I like coconut oil best for this. A good soak (on my length only) from a few minutes to overnight and I have a much smoother and nourished feeling length. And once in awhile, a nice essential oil blend for my scalp just prior to washing seems to impart all the goodness those essentials can give. I believe they readily absorb into my skin so they are not washed away.

[kittensoupnrice]

I suppose oiling right before a shampooing would be good to give something else there for the shampoo to target other than your natural oils. It's like a reverse dilution, in that way, since there is more there for the surfectants to bind to resulting in fewer free surfectants swishing around your scalp.

I also often find that if I oil my scalp the night before, it helps dissolve scalp build-up so that the shampoo has an easier time cleaning my scalp the next morning. The massaging and moisturizing also makes my scalp feel happy, too!

[mira-chan]

In addition the oiling is usually left in for a period of time so the oils make the hair more malleable in addition to the protection.

Coconut oil also protects from protein loss that happens during hair washing.

[spidermom]

Some oils (like coconut) actually penetrate the hair shaft and replace lost essential fatty acids. My hair feels much smoother and is more manageable if I oil it the day before I wash it. I generally use diluted shampoo to scalp area only.

[McFearless]

Personally I oil before shampoo as a treatment. I do it hours in advance. When the shampoo travels down the hair it removes the access oil. Shampoo alone would remove too much oil and dry out my hair.

[aenflex]

I didnt get it either, many moons ago. Until I started doing oilings the night before washings and really saw the difference :)
I still don't fully get CWC, but hey....I've yet to try it really so....

[Roscata]

I oil before shampooing because Castor oil may increase growth rate so I'm trying it out, but I don't want it on my hair so I just leave it in over night so it can do its thing, then wash it out the next day,

[nemileo]

I started Coconut oiling my hair a coupple of months ago, and I can actually feel and see that it is penetrating my hair shafts, cause my ends are now more healthy than ever. It even gives shine and fullness to my chemically tortured hair. And I think massaging my scalp (maybe with any good oil?) has gained growt. It boosts the blood flow, and then it is very convenient to do it before a washing cause I don`t want that really greasy look.:D

I do not shampoo out the oil in my lenghts though. I do light oilings that just stays there, and after som time it disappears. Maybe it gets soaked up, or parts of it gets rubbed off on skin and clothes.

[mali]

I find that oiling before shampooing makes my scalp a lot more ''comfortable''.If you oil after you wash, your scalp will get greasy.If you oil before, your scalp will be soothed down,moisturized and the excess will be washed off.So why not?:thumbsup:

[starlights]

oiling before shampooing has been very beneficial to me. It has helped to improve my ends and keeps my hair feeling silky soft. I try and leave the oil in for a day before washing.

[hairg33k]

I oil before I shampoo to protect the ends of my hair from the shampoo, since the ends of my hair does not need the shampoo at all. Also, to prepare my hair and keep it soft because shampoo tends to dry out my hair and make it more frizzy, if I oil beforehand it is a lot more manageable.

[ktani]

I just don't understand why people oil before shampooing. Seems like the oil wil either: 1. wash away or 2. prevent the hair from receiving the benefits of the shampoo.

Welcome to LHC!

Pre-oiling hair is traditional in some cultures. It has been used in India for countless years, just before herb washing. It is not mainstream here although as I recently discovered, oil was added to shampoo years ago, to help the hair from becoming dried out from washing it with soap.

Shampoos are not necessarily harsh at all. Some can be more cleansing than required for a hair type. The shampoos these days are designed to deal with mainstream products like styling products and conventional colouring. The cosmetic companies are also adding ingredients for moisturizing, volumizing etc.

A shampoo like soap, will remove bacteria, excess skin cells and dirt although dirt is not a problem for most people, depending on where they live (dirt as in pollution for the most part).

The scalp needs cleansing to prevent it from becoming a suitable emvironment for bacteria and funguses to take over, just like body skin need to be cleansed.

In India, the washing herbs can be too cleansing. However, they do not cleanse vegetable oils well. So while the herbs can remove scalp oils, some of the other oils like coconut oil, remain behind.

Pre-oiling with coconut oil has another advantage. It is one of 3 oils that can penetrate hair more deeply (the other 2 would be palm kernel oil and babassu oil), with coconut oil being the best of the 3, because of its fatty acid profile and the structure of those fatty acids.

When the hair is pre-oiled with coconut oil and then shampooed, some of the coconut oil is absorbed into the hair itself, all the way to the cortex, providing more conditioning. That can be achieved with adding coconut oil to a shampoo as well.

[tinywife]

This is so interesting!
I'm trying to switch to CO washing. Should I still oil my hair first? Maybe just the ends?

[Elenna]

This is so interesting!
I'm trying to switch to CO washing. Should I still oil my hair first? Maybe just the ends?

Pre-oiling with coconut oil whether the entire hair or just the ends is ok. The CO (generally a light conditioner like VO5 or Suave) gets the oil out fine. Some oils are harder to get out than others like olive oil or castor oil.

[Nera]

I can only untangle my hair when it's wet. With oil this all goes easier. after untangling I shampoo the oil out, i only use it to untangle my hair. Hope this makes sense, i have a lot of tangly hair. A lot. haha

[ericthegreat]

Oils form a protective coat around your hair strands, and they also help to soften up your hair, making it more flexible. Oils also penetrate into your hair at varying degrees, for example its be found that coconut oil penetrates very well into hair. So even when you shampoo out your hair after an oiling, a little bit of the oil has already been absorbed into your hair. Even though you may not feel this oil in your hair, over time you will see that your hair is much smoother and softer and shinier because of the oil absorption.