Thread: hot oil treatment for hair

Okay went to a hairdresser for the first time in months.I have a new one my other one her prices just were too high for me,. My new hairdresser suggested I do a basic hot oil treatment for my hair. I know this treatment has been around for years. But my question how easy it is to do and any bhuzzers have experience with doing hot oil treatments. Much needed advice and tips will be appreciated

I did this a lot when I was younger (had time).
I used VO5, Olive Oil, or Mayonaisse, on freshly washed wet hair.
The only hard part about it for me...was to NOT wash all the oil out (defeats the purpose).

It's a delicate balance. I would wash my hair sqeeky clean (bad), then add oil, then literally wash the oil out. Don't do that. If you put oil in your hair, don't wash it all out (just rinse well), you don't want it still too oily, but why bother adding oil if you scrub it all out? You will need to get used to a 'balance' of heavy, slick feeling hair.
Takes practice and a touch.

I am not a professional hairdresser.

I will say that when I oiled my hair, strangers (both sexes), would want to touch my hair, I recieved lots of compliments.

It's worth the extra effort.

Let me check with my girls at work(Salon) , will post answer when I get back!

I'd be interested to hear what your hair dresser friend suggests, shenu.

But I thought I'd add that I've recently used Vo5 because my hair is really dry. There is a certain type of Vo5 that you put on in the shower (it is activated by shower steam so you don't have to warm it up in the microwave) and rinse out after waiting a minute or two. It didn't do much for me; I don't know if anyone else has had the same experience.

After Vo5 didn't really work, I tried this stuff called Aussie 3-Minute Miracle. It's the same consistency as regular condition, but you put it on in the shower, wait the three minutes, and then rinse once in warm water and again in cold water. It is AWESOME. The 3-Minute Miracle makes my hair feel smooth, moisturized, and less notty (big plus!)

aura glow. www.caycecures.com

I do hot oil treatments. I like to use coconut oil. I heat the oil up and pretty much just pour it over my head. I either put on a plastic cap or wrap my head in a hot towel and then do my chores for a half hour or so. I wash out afterward. It leaves my hair very soft.

Keep in mind, I don't use shampoo. I either do conditioner washes or use WEN Cleansing Creams.

Ok. When using hot oil treatments,you want to rinse it out with cooler water. You don't want it too oily.... if it IS too oily, use warmer water,but not real hot. You don't want to wash the oil totally out of your hair, as mentioned.

If you are too afraid of the hot oil treatment, you can use a conditioner. First wash hair in warm water( to open hair follicle), use conditioner and let set naturally,or sit under warm hair dryer(portable ones at Sally's). Then rinse conditioner in cool water(to close hair follicle) Hair should be clean and shiny.
I do this with my daughter's hair. It's dry, and really curly. Almost a nappy curl. For every day use,after a regular shampoo,a small! dab silk therapy,or silk shine is applied on the ends and length. I don't go all the up to the scalp,though. That tends to make it greasy again...

What else do you "do" to your hair? Is it real coarse? Do you blow dry a lot? Permed? Naturally curly? Or damaged? Don't mean to be nosy, just trying to get a better "take" on the situation....

Originally Posted by shenudance

Ok. When using hot oil treatments,you want to rinse it out with cooler water. You don't want it too oily.... if it IS too oily, use warmer water,but not real hot. You don't want to wash the oil totally out of your hair, as mentioned.

If you are too afraid of the hot oil treatment, you can use a conditioner. First wash hair in warm water( to open hair follicle), use conditioner and let set naturally,or sit under warm hair dryer(portable ones at Sally's). Then rinse conditioner in cool water(to close hair follicle) Hair should be clean and shiny.
I do this with my daughter's hair. It's dry, and really curly. Almost a nappy curl. For every day use,after a regular shampoo,a small! dab silk therapy,or silk shine is applied on the ends and length. I don't go all the up to the scalp,though. That tends to make it greasy again...

What else do you "do" to your hair? Is it real coarse? Do you blow dry a lot? Permed? Naturally curly? Or damaged? Don't mean to be nosy, just trying to get a better "take" on the situation....

i just treat my ends...about 4", put in in a bun with ends tucked in and go to bed or about my business

I usually do what Makeda does, only with olive oil. I wash my hair with Dr. Bronner's soap and conditioner with apple cider vinegar.

Recently, though, I have this shea butter (just shea butter, various oils, and some scent) that I've been using on my hair. Lightly rubbing some on my hands and then running my hands through my hair. It has done wonders for my hair. It isn't a daily treatment, though, just something I do when my hair is starting to look and feel dry.

I don't really do 'treatments', as I don't use shampoo on the length and that would be necessary to get out a really heavy oiling. I just rub a little bit of coconut oil or almond oil on my hands and work it through the ends whenever my hair's dry (at least once a week or more often in winter). I hardly get any split ends anymore since I started oiling regularly and rarely using shampoo (I wash with conditioner most of the time).

get tips thanks. I printed them out. My hair is fine and naturally wavy and curly. I regimen is simple usually shampoo and condition my hair and put leave in conditioner. i wash my hair every couple days, Its usually keep it down, pony tail or in a bun. I also henna my hair.
I may try the aussie 3 minute miracle and the conditioner idea. I am a bit scared to do the hot oil(sounds silly but true)treatment

Originally Posted by Maral

I don't really do 'treatments', as I don't use shampoo on the length and that would be necessary to get out a really heavy oiling. I just rub a little bit of coconut oil or almond oil on my hands and work it through the ends whenever my hair's dry (at least once a week or more often in winter).

On a related note, can you just use a bit of your regular conditioner this way? Rub a tiny bit through your hair? Does that work well?

Originally Posted by mehndidancer

get tips thanks. I printed them out. My hair is fine and naturally wavy and curly. I regimen is simple usually shampoo and condition my hair and put leave in conditioner. i wash my hair every couple days, Its usually keep it down, pony tail or in a bun. I also henna my hair.
I may try the aussie 3 minute miracle and the conditioner idea. I am a bit scared to do the hot oil(sounds silly but true)treatment

Have you considered the conditioner wash method and stop using shampoo altogether or rarely? That might help significantly all on its own. The shampoo is stripping your natural oils every couple of days, then you work to put them back in. Perhaps try not stripping them out for a while? I love washing with a tea tree oil conditioner for its antiseptic properties (sweaty shows and all...) and finish with a regular leave in conditioner.

Another vote for the coconut oil method!

I'm not a big fan of Vo5's hot oil, either. Honestly, there's not enough in the little vial for the length of my hair. I've used a different one before, that worked better, but the name escapes me right now. It might be Tressemme's? I don't even know if they still make it, honestly. I've been using a deep conditioning treatment instead.
They're not too hard to do on your own, but not rinsing it all out is a trick sometimes. I love the smell for some strange reason. :)
I second the conditioning treatments like the Aussie one. I like how those work and how my hair feels afterward. I've never been one to not shampoo my hair, so I don't have much comment on that. My scalp just seems to be too oily for that, and I hate how that looks if I don't wash after 2 days tops.
Another thought, have you tried wrapping your hair in a silk scarf at night or using a silk pillowcase? I know silk is good for your hair, and if you don't like taking chances on self-treatments, that's an option. It helps smooth the follicles out, I think.

Originally Posted by ripple_fargo

I've never been one to not shampoo my hair, so I don't have much comment on that. My scalp just seems to be too oily for that, and I hate how that looks if I don't wash after 2 days tops.

Since this thread turned to talking about shampooing/not shampooing your hair, I thought I'd add that I only wash my hair once a week. My hair is super long, so it is a pain to wash, dry, and comb out--which is part of the reason why I only wash it once a week. However, the main reason why I only wash once a week is because I don't want to strip my long hair of its oil.

I dance 6 days a week (on top of going to the gym) so my hair does get a bit nasty sometimes in between my once-a-week wash. So I use this stuff by Tresemme called "Waterless Foam Shampoo." It contains mostly witch hazel, looks like mousse, and you rub it on the part of your head that could use a little cleaning. After it sits for a minute or two, you towel it off to remove sweat, dirt, and oil from your hair.

I've used dry shampoo before as well, but I like the feeling of this Tresemme waterless shampoo. I feel like dry shampoo just sits on top of your hair while this waterless shampoo actually does some cleansing.

I have waist length fine hair. I colour it about every 10 - 12 weeks. I will usually do some kind of treatment about once a month. My shampoo & conditioner of choice is Mane and Tail. But when I finish a bottle, I switch to something which is "cleansing" such as Neutragena, in order to remove any build up.

What I was told 100 years ago about oil treatments was to put it on while my hair was dry, wrap my head in a towel, and just hang out for an hour or so. Then shower and wash and condition as usual. I have done this with Olive Oil and Mayo - full fat. As my hair is fine, this seems to be the best for me, as leaving a lot in will weigh my hair down.

The other thing which is good is to rinse with an apple cider vinegar rinse. This will also help to close the follicle.

{{{HUGS}}}

My hair is knee length. I do this all the time. I use a variety of oils (often blended)...shea butter, coconut oil, olive oil, sweet almond oil. jojoba oil is good but doesn't do enough for my hair to be worth the price (others find differently; all hair is different and you might need to experiment to find what's best for you) Sometimes I'll add some vitamin E oil. For an oiling newbie, I'd recommend the almond oil; it's nice and light. Or you could use grapeseed, even lighter. (Don't buy your oils in the beauty section. They'll cost more. Go to the cooking section. And you don't need to buy fancy "hot oil treatments" that probably contain a bunch of fake chemical crap anyway) Use organic-source oils, not petroleum-based crap like baby oil; that'll do nothing for you. You can add essential oils if you like.

You can also just do a deep treatment with your favorite conditioner. Or mix oil and conditioner. Adding honey makes your hair great! (No, this is not as scary as it sounds. The thought of it used to freak me out too, thinking my hair would be a gummy mess, but put a bit of honey on your hand some time and then wash it off. See how it comes off way more easily than you think? It'll do that on your hair, too.)

When you oil, heat is your friend. I like to oil sometimes if I know I'm going to be going out in the summer and getting warm and plan to wash anyway; I'll just oil my hair, put it in a bun, and let the sun/warm day do the work for me. Come home, wash it out, it's great.

You can leave it in overnight if you want--you might want to sleep with your hair in a bun and wrapped in a scarf, though, to keep your pillowcase from getting oily.

When you first start out, start with less oil and if you find that's not enough, you can use more next time. This is MUCH easier than finding out after your hair is a an oily, drippy mess that you used way too much.

You can dampen your hair before you oil if you like (using a spray bottle is great. Some people like to use distilled water if their tap water is too full of minerals or chlorine). I like to do this in part so the oil can seal in some of that moisture, and in part because I find it easier to spread the oil through my hair and I don't have to use so much to try to get all of my hair covered. But I wouldn't try this until you've done it dry a few times to find out how much oil works for your hair--when your hair is wet, you can't tell as easily when it's getting TOO oily.

I don't use shampoo to wash out the oils. I used to, but felt like I had to use so much/suds up so many times that it probably negated the benefit of the oils. Use lightweight conditioner instead...think VO5, Suave, White Rain. Put on a whole bunch-it's cheap--work it through well, and let it sit for several minutes. Then rinse. It really does work, and for me it works better than shampoo. There are plenty of people who swear by using only conditioner to clean their hair--it does contain a mild surfactant so it will do it. (This is also good for you, at least sometimes, if you find shampoo is too harsh for your hair.) If you simply must use shampoo, some people swear by putting the shampoo in your hair BEFORE you wet it. Never did anything for me, but again, everyone is different.

My hair gets a light oil treatment after washing, too.

You could try doing a scalp-only wash rather than the whole length of your hair. But honestly, I found that if I did this, after a few washings my hair was actually MORE dry. It doesn't like being washed too often, but I dunno if it just needs to be immersed in water sometimes or what. I wash the hair on my head with shampoo, and usually suds up the hair about down to my shoulders. Those are the only parts that get oily on their own. The rest gets what is called a "condition-wash-condition" treatment--I put the lightweight conditioner on the length of my hair and let it sit while I shampoo the parts that get shampoo, then it all gets rinsed out, then my usual heavier conditioner (I used to swear by the Aussie 3-Minute Miracle and Aussie Moist too, but then I found out that they no longer are on the "does not test on animals" list [I think they got bought by a company that does test] so I don't use their anymore. I miss those two conditioners as I haven't found anything comparable that can make my hair behave quite so well, but what can you do),

Well I tried the coconut oil - all my husband can say afterwards is "who put the lime in the coconut" song. It seems to make a difference in the texture in my hair. i'm happy with the results. it wasn't as scary to do as I thought. I also used the aussie stuff 3 minute miracle and also works. I want to say thanks to everyone for their help. i'll try the other techniques to see what works. But my first time doing it and with all the great tips I did it with no problem..

Ok, so I was recently told be a hairdresser friend here in Beverly Hills to use vitamin E oil on my ends and the bottom hair before shows. I told him my hair breaks easily, and the sweat+costume changes+ styling is damaging my hair. He said that sweat is acidic, and that when it touches the hair, it causes the follicle to weaken, eventually causing breakage. He suggested to buy a liquid vitamin E oil to apply before the show, which would seal the cuticle and prevent damage... Haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like it would work, lol

p.s. he didn't say anything about heating it up

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