oiling makes hair poofy

**intothemist1999** · May 7th, 2021, 01:52 PM

(my hair info under my avatar is now updated)

Has anyone else had that happen?

My current routine is:
Wash; leave in a towel for a few minutes; apply leave-in to the length (no sulfate/no cones)
Air dry a bit, then blow dry (more on that in a moment)

My hair is coloured and I'm suspecting high-porosity. Probably dry at the ends (if not, it's the very slight kink (?) I have in my otherwise mostly straight hair that makes it look a bit fried). Hair is "floaty"

2 or 3 months ago I ended up with scalp issues, maybe because of increased product use after a year on the Curly Girl Method...then followed by air-drying (which granted I've always done since joining LCH many years ago). I finally have the scalp thing resolved, but the hair might have taken a beating from it, from the shampoo as well as going back to blowdrying.

I've never found that sweet-spot of how much oil to add to the ends of dry hair to give them some weight (to be less floaty) and some shine, but not look greasy.

I've started oiling the length and smoothing some oil on the the outer hairs of head as a pre-wash treatment. The hair is somewhat less floaty, but HOLY SMOKES, the POOF!! I guess one could call it volume? lol I don't mind it much, but it's not what I was after...and certainly not what I expected. It hasn't helped the shine at all, at least not yet. Maybe I need to apply even more oil?

Is this a normal side-effect of pre-wash oiling? I don't think I ever heard that before. If I'm on the wrong track, is there something else I could be doing to accomplish what I'm after?

**Shorty89** · May 7th, 2021, 02:10 PM

I have no idea about your problem but I had to pop in and say hi! It's been a long time. I remember we had a mini-meet years ago.

**foreveryours** · May 7th, 2021, 02:12 PM

I find the same thing. After washing, air drying, and combing my hair is very "airy" almost fluffy. I never understood why (I don't really like it that way) but I recently had my hair typed here and it turns out I've not straight hair (type 1) but wavy hair (2a-ish). My ahah moment anyway.

It does flatten out and become shiny iwht more oil. It takes me almost a gram (3 fingertip fulls of coconut oil) to coat my length. It never, to me anyway, appears "greasy" and in fact the oil seems to disappear over the course of the day. I keep my hair covered so it's not like it's wiping off onto the furniture or whatever. I think my hair may just absorb it.

Just have to experiment with the amount. Worst case is wash it out with conditioner and try again

**Mariekeeee14** · May 7th, 2021, 02:19 PM

So you don’t use conditioner? I’d start there! You hair sounds thirsty.

**intothemist1999** · May 7th, 2021, 02:20 PM

Originally Posted by Shorty89

I have no idea about your problem but I had to pop in and say hi! It's been a long time. I remember we had a mini-meet years ago.

Hi!!!!

Yes, it's been a long while! I'm back

**intothemist1999** · May 7th, 2021, 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by foreveryours

I find the same thing. After washing, air drying, and combing my hair is very "airy" almost fluffy. I never understood why (I don't really like it that way) but I recently had my hair typed here and it turns out I've not straight hair (type 1) but wavy hair (2a-ish). My ahah moment anyway.

It does flatten out and become shiny iwht more oil. It takes me almost a gram (3 fingertip fulls of coconut oil) to coat my length. It never, to me anyway, appears "greasy" and in fact the oil seems to disappear over the course of the day. I keep my hair covered so it's not like it's wiping off onto the furniture or whatever. I think my hair may just absorb it.

Just have to experiment with the amount. Worst case is wash it out with conditioner and try again

Thanks for sharing your experience!

**paulownia** · May 7th, 2021, 02:25 PM

It probably means you are using wrong kind of oil

High porosity hair and, for exemple coconut oil does not go hand in hand.

**intothemist1999** · May 7th, 2021, 02:26 PM

Originally Posted by Mariekeeee14

So you don’t use conditioner? I’d start there! You hair sounds thirsty.

Both conditioner and leave-in?

I will try going back to conditioner. I had stopped when I had the scalp issue and I didn't want ANY product up on my head when I had the hair in a towel. Although...maybe I should get a turban towel again, back in the day I used to use it "upside-down"..that might be a good work-around.

Thank you for the advice!

**intothemist1999** · May 7th, 2021, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by paulownia

It probably means you are using wrong kind of oil

High porosity hair and, for exemple coconut oil does not go hand in hand.

Interesting! I thought it did. However, I did use hemp oil the first time and it was amazing...however my understanding is that it has protein and and that protein shouldn't be used often (?)

What would you recommend?

**JasminxCat** · May 7th, 2021, 03:08 PM

Yeah I would start using conditioner again. And still use leave in if you want to, it's fine to use both. I use both natural oils and oils with silicone. Like 8 drops of sweet almond oil on fresh washed, damp hair, then seal it with 3 drops of a silicone oil on dry hair. Or if you are using leave in, apply a silicone or natural sealant oil over a leave in to keep moisture in. You could try something like that, it's what works for me at the moment