Dear Readers, do you apply oils to your hair?
I use natural oils in hair care very often and I’m a huge fan of this method. Possibly there is no other better thing that might happen to my hair! ♡ I thought that now, when natural beauty care techniques are so popular, most women know what oil hair treatment (a.k.a. hair oiling) is. Well, I was wrong. I was surprised when a girl asked me one day whether I really applied greasy oils to my hair. The girl was equally surprised when I confirmed that I treat my strands with oils; I didn’t also spear her brief explanation of the qualities some vegetable oils have. You know what? That was the very moment when I realized that an entry concerning this issue is crucial – which vegetable oil to choose for the procedure and how this procedure looks like.
It’s not hard to guess what OIL HAIR TREATMENT is. Since hair conditioning depends on applying conditioners, oil hair treatment depends on applying oils. This is a very popular, especially Middle East and Far East, beauty treatment that is about putting appropriately selected oils to hair before or after washing.
And here comes the bewilderment I have mentioned above. Many people can’t comprehend how it is possible to apply a dense and greasy oil to hair. The first thought is that oil will clump together the hair and make it greasy! Nothing could be further from the truth because vegetable oils, if used in sufficient quantity and when they match hair structure, are absorbed by the strands and don’t leave any sign of their presence (despite the silky smoothness and shine). The issue connected with selecting oils accordingly to hair porosity level will be discussed below.
I would like to convince you that natural oils are truly precious for your hair. I get used to telling my friends that vegetable oils are a kind of natural hair conditioners – this is the coolest and most accurate description, in my opinion. It’s worth realizing that owning to regular application and following some basic rules, vegetable oils deliver many precious features to hair.
Action delivered to hair tanks to vegetable oils:
- prevent excessive water loss;
- add softness and moisturisation to hair;
- protect hair from adverse action delivered by the sun;
- counteract frizz and static of hair;
- limit excessive hair loss and accelerate hair growth;
- improve general scalp condition;
- facilitate detangling, drying and styling.
This comprehensive action is possible to be delivered because natural oils equal diversity of essential fatty acids, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. And these are the fatty acids that are one of the most important hair building blocks. I bet, a panel of experts is going to raise their hands now to correct me saying that hair is built of keratin. Well, keratin cuticles surrounding hair (so-called cuticle layer) are connected one to another with a lipid bond and this bond needs to be supplied with the very fatty acids. Besides, the same ingredients are useful for hydro-lipid layer that protects our skin from water loss and the adverse action delivered by external factors.
However, this doesn’t mean that each oil will serve our hair well – it isn’t as simple as that. It’s hard to deny that oil hair treatment is a beauty procedure perfect for all hair types. It works, indeed, but only if we match oils to hair needs.
How to choose oil to benefit from oil hair treatment?
- We have to be aware of the fact that natural vegetable oils can have different structure. Their main ingredients are saturated, mono-saturated and poly-saturated fatty acids. Without getting more into details: the oils differ in terms of the size of molecules, which influences how fast a particular oil penetrates hair. The smaller the molecules, the better absorption is.
- We have to define hair porosity. This feature provides a lot of valuable information concerning which oil to choose to treat your hair with. In short, our hair is built from cortex, medula and cuticle layer. And this cuticle layer is a kind of an armour that is able to open and close. The gaps between the cuticles are called pores, and this is what defines hair porosity level. Its degree is determined by how much the cuticles are lifted up being separated from the cortex.
Certainly, hair porosity is a more complex issue. Hair cuticles might become open too wide and this is when the problem begins because hair is damaged, dry, matte, rough and brittle. This type of strands lose water and nutrients very fast. In general, we distinguish three types of porosity, where:
- low porosity hair is the healthiest, thick, heavy, smooth and straight;
- medium porosity hair is normal, sometimes frizz-prone, wavy;
- high porosity hair is significantly damaged, dehydrated and with split ends.
And this is the very hair porosity factor that guides us which oil to choose for oil hair treatment to expect particular effects. You want specifics? Here are specifics!
Vegetable oils for low porosity hair should contain the hugest amount of saturated fatty acids of small molecules because such hair is easy to be weighted down. In this case, it is suggested to use vegetable butters such as shea butter, cocoa butter, mango butter, exotic cupuacu butter as well as coconut oil, and palm tree oil of buttery consistency.
Vegetable oils for medium porosity hair should feature slightly bigger particles to fit into bigger hair pores. Here, the best oils are mono-saturated fatty acids that belong to omega-7 and omega-9 group. Which in particular? As far as I’m concerned, medium porosity hair owners should go for: sunflower oil, jojoba oil, pumpkin seed oil, passion fruit oil and marula oil.
Vegetable oils for damaged hair should be made of the biggest molecules in order to seal the outer hair structure. Therefore, the best natural substances to use in this case are oils rich in mono-saturated fatty acids from omega-3 and omega-6 group. In the light of this, you can reach for grapeseed oil, cotton seed oil, argan oil, avocado oil, sweet almond oil.
Do you want know more about this subject? Leave your questions below.
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