Over-oiled Hair

[Arrow]

So, last night I smothered my hair in coconut oil and have completely overdone it. On washing and drying this morning it does not feel soft and shiney but limp and greasy :( What can I do about it?

[Tisiloves]

Try CO washing it?

[pepperminttea]

^ Agreed. A CO soak on dry hair for about an hour should do the trick (keep it under a shower cap so it doesn't dry out). Use a light cheap conditioner, be generous, and avoid ones with more coconut oil.

[Arrow]

I don't have a shower cap. Can I wrap in a towel?

[SnowWhite]

I over oiled with EVOO one day (used half a bowl for my shoulder length hair *facepalm*).

I shampoo'd about 6 times to get everything out... It worked eventually, and after that shower, my hair still felt a tiny bit oily. The day after I had NO volume at all, it was just sleek and straight...
The next hairwash two days later did the thing though. It felt great :D

Had I known about using conditioner on oiled hair... It makes removing oil so much easier!

So I think you could wash with a cone-free conditioner, leave it for some time and rinse VERY well, then use shampoo a few times to finish? This works now if I over oil. :)

[auburntressed]

I'd say wash again.

I can't fathom why anyone recommends CO washing to get oil out. Every single time I have tried that, I ended up with hair that was coated in a slimy, filthy slick of some kind of goo that was neither oil nor conditioner. And it didn't come out until clarifying.

[pepperminttea]

I don't have a shower cap. Can I wrap in a towel?

I'd think a towel would soak up too much of the conditioner; try bunning your hair loosely and then wrapping it in clingfilm. :)


I can't fathom why anyone recommends CO washing to get oil out.

For a lot of people, it does work. :shrug: Did you use a heavy conditioner, or one that had the same oil in it you were trying to remove? (I've done that, I didn't even think to check if my conditioner had more coconut oil in... the result wasn't pretty!)

[Ocelan]

Over oiling doesn't work for my hair either. No matter if I try to shampoo or CO wash it out with gallons of conditioner or shampoo, my hair is an oil slick. Yes, clarifying helped, but only after shampooing and CO washing the previous wash.

My hair gets a little heavy and and greasy looking after just a few drops of oil in the lengths though, so I only oil once my roots have started getting greasy already and I wouldn't be able to wear my hair down anyway, so I might not be the best candidate to ask for oiling advice. :D But then again we come back to the "different hair likes different things".

[caadam]

I can't fathom why anyone recommends CO washing to get oil out.

I'd actually recommend using conditioner to get the oil out, too. It works fine for me, as it does a lot of other people. Maybe not for everyone, though. Just how it is, and it doesn't hurt if she tried. She could be one more person it could work for. And if it doesn't, she can try shampoo. Simple. :cheese:

I think it's a matter of also using the gentler solution before moving on to harsher solutions. In this case, conditioner is in most way a gentler cleanser than shampoo. :grin:

[skyblue]

A light runny conditioner all over your dry hair and scalp, let it sit for a bit, I'd say 10 or 15 minutes then rinse, if it still feels oily wile your rinsing, wash with shampoo and condition again, it should work, I castor oil weekly, sometimes very heavily and this always works for me, also you might want to use a vinegar rinse after just to help with all the water residue ;)

[Arrow]

OK... I've got conditioner on my dry hair, wrapped in clingfilm and a towel (because clingfilm looks daft). I'm going to give it an hour and see what happens.

[Tisiloves]

Good luck, just remember to rinse really well, apparently that was what I did wrong with CO washing.

[Arrow]

Thanks, ladies! I left the conditioner on for an hour, rinced like crazy, and did a wash with a tiny amount of shampoo. It looks and feels much better now. :)

[Long_hair_bear]

I over oiled with mo using just 4 drops. Took a lot of shampooings to get my hair back to normal. Now, it's only 1 drop on the ends once a month if they feel crunchy.

[pepperminttea]

Thanks, ladies! I left the conditioner on for an hour, rinced like crazy, and did a wash with a tiny amount of shampoo. It looks and feels much better now. :)

Hurray! :D

[Tisiloves]

Thanks, ladies! I left the conditioner on for an hour, rinced like crazy, and did a wash with a tiny amount of shampoo. It looks and feels much better now. :)

Yay:cheese::cheese:

[Darkessa]

A great substitute for a shower cap is a plastic grocery bag. Reaaaallllly ghetto I know, but it honestly works great!
I use the handles to tie it easily around my head, and then you can wrap a towel around it, or do whatever you want. Its pretty darn great!

[skyblue]

A great substitute for a shower cap is a plastic grocery bag. Reaaaallllly ghetto I know, but it honestly works great!
I use the handles to tie it easily around my head, and then you can wrap a towel around it, or do whatever you want. Its pretty darn great!

Hahaha!! Yep thats what I use! Those handles work great!:cheese:

[skyblue]

So glad it worked for you Arrow!!

[LauraWolfhart]

Oh dear, wash like everyone else has said and next time use either a very small amount of oil or use Argan oil which has the same hair smoothing/polishing/hydrating benefits but without that heavy, greasy feeling.

I always use and recommend Pro naturals Moroccan Argan Oil. It's fantastic and is also great for dandruff, hair thinning and hair stimulation. It's just such a wonderful product :)

[Astraea]

I went nuts with EVOO just a few weeks ago and thought 'my god I'm like a newb!'. Glad it worked, coconut oil is the devil on my hair and to my scalp, only mixed with other oils and not the first ingredient is it even remotely tolerable.

[jacqueline101]

I'd clarify.

[mendy]

You know how if you stain your shirt with some oily food you can put talc on it, let it sit for a while and then brush of the powder and the stain is gone? Well....

I have been known to comb talc through my over-oiled hair, let it sit for as long as I can stand it and then shake and comb out the powder...takes a good deal of the oil with it.

[Tabihito]

I'd say wash again.

I can't fathom why anyone recommends CO washing to get oil out. Every single time I have tried that, I ended up with hair that was coated in a slimy, filthy slick of some kind of goo that was neither oil nor conditioner. And it didn't come out until clarifying.

I basically soak my hair in olive oil once a month (my hair likes it, but it's a hassle and I'm not a fan of the smell). CO works perfectly fine to get it out for me.

That being said, the vast majority of the oil is in the bottom six inches of my hair, and almost none touches my scalp.

[gracenotes]

For me, COing always gets heavy oil out. Try using a very runny cone-free conditioner, or dilute a thicker one. Use a LOT of conditioner, leave it on for a while, then rinse REALLY REALLY WELL while massaging your head and carefully fingercombing your hair to distribute the conditioner.

[catamonica]

I put two capfuls of olive oil in my shampoo & conditioner. You could put coconut oil in both. Hope this helps.

[henné]

I had the problem with olive oil before too, but the idea of removing it with conditioner really worked for me! I CWWC, btw. First, I put some cone-free, light runny conditioner in, let it sit for just a couple of minutes, rinse it, apply watered down shampoo, massage, rinse, another application of watered down shampoo and then some nice conditioner on the ends. It works for me every time - whether I'm oiling with EVOO, coconut or castor oils or doing a honey lightening treatment.

Give it a try :)

[ptricia]

I had a problem once with palmer's hairfood. I had used way to much of that stuff. And I had a really hard time washing the grease out of my hair. Than I remembered what I had learned in school... I needed an emulsifier. I remembered eggs are a natural emulsifier. I beat up 2 eggs add a little yogurt en some fenugreek powder to make it thicker. I smeared the mix into my hair and let sit for 30 min. Than I rinsed and washed it out with a little bit shampoo. My hair was super soft and shiny.

[sumidha]

Do you find CO to be ineffective in general? It did not work for me at all and I'm beginning to suspect it's just not very good on coarse thick hair...

[pepperminttea]

Do you find CO to be ineffective in general? It did not work for me at all and I'm beginning to suspect it's just not very good on coarse thick hair...

If I remember rightly, Igor (http://igorsbelltower.blogspot.com), who used to be a member here and has coarse and very thick hair is a CO washer. :)

[Mya]

I'd say wash again.

I can't fathom why anyone recommends CO washing to get oil out. Every single time I have tried that, I ended up with hair that was coated in a slimy, filthy slick of some kind of goo that was neither oil nor conditioner. And it didn't come out until clarifying.
Sometimes it depends on the brand of the oil. I once bought a different brand of linseed oil and it made my hair all heavy and greasy and dirty. With my regular brand, I can oil my hair richly and still it would be absorbed and not be oily anymore after a while.

[prettyhairisred]

Wouldn't just washing it again several times work?!

[Tisiloves]

Wouldn't just washing it again several times work?!

It would get it out, but can also strip your hair, CO doesn't tend to do that.

[Arrow]

I filmed myself on the day I over-oiled my hair and have finally gotten around to editing and uploading the video to YouTube.
You can view it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MHheJ8CElE

[Amanah]

Suave Coconut Conditioner can get anything out of your hair.

[Wildcat Diva]

There is an article on here on getting oil out. I believe that CO washing would work for many people. The trick seems to be really getting in there and massaging the CO while you start to rinse. Probably have to repeat the process again, leave a second application of CO a few mins, massage while starting to rinse, then really rinse well.

[catamonica]

I would just shampoo it twice. I use a mixture of olive oil & water in a spray bottle. Wait five minutes. Then shampoo.