Will oiling/moisturizing your hair regularly improve its condition over time?

[blondie9912]

Hey everyone :love: I just have a quick question for all those who are experts on treating their hair properly

This past summer, I dyed my hair 3 times in one month and got highlights (don't worry, I never dye my hair this much, I typically just get highlights once every 4 months). I cut my hair from BSL to APL because of the over-processed ends, but needless to say, the length of hair is still quite damaged. It's not AWFUL, I definitely have seen worse, but my hair just isn't what I'm used to. It still moves and bounces, thankfully- I haven't created a stiff mass of frizz on my hair, but I have more flyaways and my hair just appears to be lacking moisture.

I've been using Mane n' Tail S&C for the past month, but it seems to have overproteined my hair (making it a bit brittle and rough) so I'll cut back to using it once every two weeks or so. I clarified my hair last week to remove the buildup, and I now wash my hair with a gentle shampoo, diluted, and mixed with equal parts coconut oil.

Since I don't REALLY need to look my best until my senior grad trip in March, I've decided to basically give up on my hair for the time being, and wear my hair up pretty much every day for 6 months. The hairstyle of choice is a wrap bun and thick headband at my hairline. Sounds gorgeous, doesn't it :D I'm hoping that after doing this my hair will have pretty much recovered from the dying incident, and I will be able to return to life as usual.

It occurred to me that since no one will be able to tell if my hair is greasy/if I have roots with this hairstyle, that I should take advantage of this and oil my hair generously and regularly in at attempt to help its condition.

I'm familiar with using oils for hair (I'm a fan of coconut and jojoba, and recently purchased some bur with nettle oil because of a friend's recommendation), but I'm a little bit confused... If I oil my hair lightly after shampooing and allowing it to dry, my hair feels very soft. However, after I shampoo my hair again several days later (and therefore wash out the oil) my hair feels the same as it did before oiling it- dry and a little frizzy. My question is, if I oil my hair generously nearly every single day, after several months, will this give me lasting improvements in my hair's quality/texture? Will I then be able to wash my hair, let it air dry, and be able to occasionally not oil it and still have my hair feel soft? Or are the benefits of oil short-lived, as in 'shampoo it out, and it's like it never even happened'?

Advice/experience would be appreciated. Also, if anyone has any other things that I could apply to my hair to help rehabilitate it, I would really enjoy hearing about them. Thank you in advance :)

[buttercupmcgee]

I have noticed long term strength, softness, and suppleness from regular oiling.

You may want to think about oiling lightly, not heavily if you're going to do it daily though, and also look into washing it out with conditioner most of the time, not shampoo.

Your hair will improve ten-fold....it may not look like virgin shampoo commercial hair, but in combination with other efforts (regular trims, no heat styling, wearing it up) you will see lasting results from regular oiling, for sure.

[MissEarlGrey]

I would not over oil. I personally think you would have better results if you lightly oiled in combination with reduced washings. That is what took my hair from average to excellent health. (I wash twice a week and CO the other days and oil my ends lightly with jojoba oil mixed with some EO's.)

[Ashenputtel]

I think you should try to do protein treatment. With all the chemical damage your hair must be lacking proteins. Oils my help to protect your hair but it won't repair it. I would suggest you to keep regular light oiling and alternate SMT and protein treatment and do regular small trim till the damage is mostly gone.

[thelittlestdoc]

I notice that a deep oiling once a week has vastly improved the condition of my hair. I don't naturally have an oily scalp, so definitely take that into account when thinking about heavy oiling.:cheese:

[jujube]

I think you should try to do protein treatment. With all the chemical damage your hair must be lacking proteins. Oils my help to protect your hair but it won't repair it. I would suggest you to keep regular light oiling and alternate SMT and protein treatment and do regular small trim till the damage is mostly gone.

I would do a protein treatment too, followed with moisture.

[spidermom]

Once hair has been damaged, you can improve how it looks, but you can't repair it. It's a maintenance thing; once the treatments are washed off, your hair will show the damage again.

[blondie9912]

What are some good protein treatments? I used to use Joico's Kpak Intense Reconstructor or something like that, but the tube is all done now. Should I repurchase? It made my hair feel lovely, but that's back when it actually WAS lovely :D

MissEarlGrey, I don't wash my hair very often. I was my hair every 3-4 days, sometimes I try and go 5. So pretty much what you do, but without the COing in between. Do you think adding that in would help?

[blondie9912]

Spidermom, you posted while I was typing, so I didn't see your message in time to include you in my reply.

I agree, that's what I thought the case was :/ What should I do about my hair!? Argh, such a problem. I want my hair to be healthy again, but I am definitely NOT cutting it shorter! I might be willing to microtrim, but I already lost 6 inches due to over-processing