Hair Oils

[Chlorophyll]

I went back to 2013 and didn't notice a thread dedicated to hair and scalp oils. If one already exists somewhere, I apologize for not searching harder.

Anyway, I was wondering what hair and scalp oils everyone uses and why. I've noticed that argan oil is all the rage but I don't know why. Does it just make hair shiny, or what?

I use a mix of olive and coconut on my hair, and olive/avocado/jojoba on my scalp. I also use olive oil in liquid silicone as a leave in conditioner. The reason I use so much olive oil is because it adds shine without being too heavy and I think it strengthens a little.

[redrobin1017]

I still use brand oil serums for my hair by day, but at night I like to use coconut oil, macadamia oil or almond oil. When I use almond oil sparingly by day it's fine but otherwise my hair gets waaay too greasy (which never happens with an equal amount of brand oils). I hardly use olive oil although I have a lot of it and use it with coffee as a body scrub, I think I'll try it when I run out of coconut oil to test

What I've started doing as well with many conditioners, alone or mixed with oil, is leaving them in my damp hair and then putting a shower cap on to seal it in. I did it overnight once as well and really felt like it helped!

[Chlorophyll]

I didn't want to try olive oil for the longest time because I didn't want to smell like pasta salad. LOL. But some eucalyptus essential oil kills that specific scent it has. I'm mentioning this just in case anyone has the same trouble with it that my friends have had.

Darn. No activity in here.

[tresila]

Camellia oil is the best for messy hair.
I just apply a few drops of it onto wet hair before blow-drying it. The hair will untangle easily and be anti-static throughout the day. The best part is the hair will not get greasy during the day at all.

[Eastsiderider]

I use coconut oil and argan oil brand spray (Klippoteket), and sometimes jojoba oil that I have for my stretched ears. I'm very picky about the scent of the oil, so I don't like jojoba that much on the hair since it has kind of peculiar incense smell to it... I find coconut really helps, moisturises and strengthens the hair, I use it usually over night as a mask, especially if I'm about to dye or bleach my hair the next day since it really helps to reduce the damage. Bleach doesn't even dry the hair out, not the lightest bit. I used the coconut oil method to bleach my hair from black to magenta and then to platinum. Of course I lost some of the shine, but not as bad as I'd imagined. I like the argan oil best, at least that spray I have, it isn't too heavy but really softens the hair. Doesn't really boost the shine tho, at least on my hair. I have to use a non-oil "artificial" conditioner to achieve that
Oh and I've also tried macadamia oil but the serum had such a bad scent to it I gave it away... It was okay, I guess, quite similiar to jojoba oil and leaves the hair almost "wet".

[redrobin1017]

Maybe a bit OT but I'd like to add: same here with the bleaching! I'm a dark blonde naturally but have been dying my hair with bleach (even used sun-in for years, now I use luocolor 10 and 12.5% developer which leads to a light blonde but not platinum or anything) for 7 years now and it's down to the small of my back and I only cut it 2x a year and since using oils it's only been looking better and better. I wash my hair every day (I try not to, but meh if it doesn't look good it's shower-time!) but I don't blow-dry or straighten or anything which really helps, but tbh oil is the one thing that brought back shine to my hair.

Good tip with the essential oil btw! I just hate that the oils are so darn expensive/hard to get where I live.. But you only need a little bit on the up-side

[Eastsiderider]

This is too offtopic, since it's not for hair exactly. But I just used jojoba oil under my foundation and god did it make a huge difference. I have quite dry skin and foundation can look dry and artificial, but this oil... It looked so good, radiant and actually the coverage of the makeup was better. It's worth a try if you have a dry skin! Cool thing about jojoba is that it actually sinks in your skin pretty fast, it doesn't linger around but really penetrates in there.

[redrobin1017]

Speaking of jojoba oil, also super off topic but I really want to share it! I actually got a good tip about jojoba oil for under-eye creasing, supposedly it mimics skin's sebum as the oil is actually tiny little wax particles (or so I heard haha). I've tried it by patting it in under the eyes, just the tiniest amount, and it does really help! A pro is that because it's shiny it brightens up under the eyes a tax, but the con is that it tends to remove a bit of the color (even with gentle patting) and I prefer a bit of caking/creasing over my very dark circles, so I don't always use it. But in case of caking/creasing or anything else (I sometimes get this ugly patchy concealer look in my inner eye corner if I rub it too much) it really smooths out the look. And sometimes I'll just go over the oil with a bit of liquid concealer again (although powdering over that again will lead to more caking/creasing). It's fun to experiment with though!

I didn't know about putting it on under foundation, my skin isn't too try but I'd like to test that out! What I have been doing is using almond oil on my skin at night time and I really feel it's helped my combination skin to settle down.. Between that and using glycolic acid once a week my skin has never been better.

We should have called this the 'general oil' topic maybe hahah, there are sooo many uses for it. Supposedly oil gives a great close-shave as well along with moisturizing. Love products that can multi-task!

[Eastsiderider]

Ooh thanks for the tip! That reminds me that I do use coconut oil for shaving my legs It works better than a shaving gel imo, but I haven't had gel in a while now so I don't have very fresh memory about that result.

[Chlorophyll]

Thanks for the advise, guys!

When I was a teenager I mixed zinc oxide powder into coconut oil (coconut "butter") to use as a sunscreen. I did a little research and found out that it's not that easy to get a guaranteed spf....so I just used the mess as a shaving cream. It worked great! I should do that again sometime soon. My legs have been dry even though it's not winter anymore.

[redrobin1017]

Once again a bit off-topic.. I recently bought zinc oxide cream (the kind they use on rashes/baby butts) because they said on makeupalley that it helped with acne and I wanted a back-up plan for the occasional hormonal break-out. However, in the US I've heard people using it for sunscreen, and I have products that has it in there (along with titanium dioxide) like the Physician's Formula powders, albeit in micro form so you don't get a white sheen. When I tried using it in the evening all over my face I did get a white cast but it lessened after a while so I was really curious about using it by day, but I'm still hesitant to use it, plus the zinc oxide cream has a white vaseline basis and I have to say vaseline never worked for me like oils do

Did you find the zinc oxide powder worked with anything else?

Speaking of shaving, I use the baby oil gel to shave with and also as a heavy-duty moisturizer when I'm feeling dry. It leaves the most beautiful sheen on your skin but it is of course stickier than oil being a gel, but it also doesn't slide off like oils (even dry oils) tend to do with me. Only thing I've always been confused on is whether it's better to use oil on wet, damp, or dry skin. I seem to get conflicting information from different sources, some people say wet skin so it seals in the moisture but I would think on dry skin would be equally effective?

With hair on the other hand, they say using oil before you shower helps as it penetrates the shaft (especially if you have porous hair) and prevents water from getting into the shaft, swelling it and making it easier to break/more brittle and dry. I have done it a couple of times and liked the results but I prefer to use oil in my hair after the shower as my hair will look really greasy if I do it on dry hair..

[Chlorophyll]

I've still got plenty of it. I don't really do much with it unless I'm making a powder cleanser or using it as a spot treatment for pimples. I wonder what the water soluble stuff is like?

I forgot to mention that I started using argan oil for my hair and it seems to help the other oils absorb and retain better. So I guess I'll always have to have some on hand now.

[Kristy M]

Here are some tips I would like to share that will help you.
Head massage would do the trick......in strengthening the roots and thick hair growth:

A thorough massage is necessary to improve the blood circulation of the scalp. By massaging the scalp the hair follicles are stimulated and the texture of the hair is also enhanced. Massaging activates the nerves and a sense of calmness in the mind ensues. This therapy is useful for people who have routine stress.

Everyday spend about 5-10 minutes massaging your hair with your fingers. Move your fingers circularly all over the head starting from the temporal parts to the occipital area. Apply the necessary pressure to the areas. Even Yoga exercises such as the headstand are recommended for proper circulation to all the parts, especially the hair follicles to stimulate growth.
There are various types of massaging techniques, which can be followed. Indonesian style is best suited for relieving mental tension and improving the quality of the hair. The massaging steps are given below in detail:
1) Stand with your feet apart and start breathing in and out
2) Bend from the waist till the level of your head falls below the waist area.
3) Bring your feet close to each other and start rubbing your scalp with your knuckles all over your head for about half a minute.
4) Slowly start bringing your body to the normal level and continue rubbing on the scalp.

Be careful that when you are massaging your scalp, do not massage roughly. The hair fibers may split causing you pain and damage to the hair. So massage gently and thoroughly.

[Chlorophyll]

Massage is important, too! Thanks for bringing that up. The stress relief benefit is enough on it's own.

[Island Buttercup]

I use grapefruit seed oil to seal the moisture in my hair after I apply conditioner. I prefer lightweight oils that don't have too much of a scent to them. I have also used and liked pistachio oil and cherry kernel oil in the past.

[Bhed]

I don't notice a difference when I use oils I just like that it makes my hair smell good haha. I like Moroccan oil.

[whatisgoingon22]

Use olive its the best. Almond is great too... vitamin e. etc.

ARGON is best for all of u. lol... but olive is even good in food. olive is what everyone should use.

[nckx]

I did start to use coconut oil and argan oil all the time mainly because of the hype around them, they really helped my hair at first but continous use caused a lot of protein overload for me. So now i love using castor oil,olive oil, and shea butter oil, they are amazing for dry damaged hair and help keep it soft and also add thickness for fine hair.

[LEGO]

Coconut Oil is THE BEST!

[ewwyoucool]

When i bleached my hair I would use coconut oil and lavender oil. It did wonders for my hair