The Art of Hair Oiling . . . Is It Worth It?

Oiling your hair is the newest form of self love and care. A process in which you get oil (typically one that strengthens, repairs damage, helps soften, helps smooth, controls frizz, etc) and massage it into your hair. After doing that for some time the results were supposed to be happy, shiny, healthy hair. The crazy part about this trend is that it's been around for centuries. The art of hair oiling goes back five thousand years to India. What started as a holistic medical practice in Ayurveda is now taking its place in everyone's self care ritual. Since, it seemed as though every one and their mothers (literally) was doing it. I decided to oil my hair for three months to see what the hype is about. Was worth it or just another trend we'll cringe at years later? I was determined to find out.

I have medium to thick curly hair (2C, 3A, and 3B). My routine isn't specifically for curly hair, oiling your hair is the same for hair types 1A-3C. People with curl patters of 4A-4C I don't have any knowledge about it but their are a lot of resources online if curious. The hair oil I used was by High Performance Hair Care and was the Lumiere d'hiver Fluoro5 Elixer Restore and Repair Oil. 

Photo By: Mia Rotell

 Before I started I did as much research as I possibly could. My curly hair getting weighted down and greasy was my absolute nightmare. So, to Tik Tok, Google, and Instagram I went. I learned some very helpful "not to do" tips, like putting oil on your hair right before bed was the worst thing you could do, focusing oil on your roots would make your hair grease prone, and using a lot at one time was a big no-no. What I also saw a lot of people have was a scalp massage that looked like a big garlic greater. Keeping this as baseline as I could I didn't purchase that. Through all the watching and reading I did of what not to do, and of other women showing their routine, I figured out the perfect one for myself.

I didn't put any oil in my hair on hair wash day or the day after. I didn't feel my hair needed it, as my shampoo and conditioner already did a great job of hydrating my hair anyway. On day 3 of not washing it, in the morning/ afternoon I poured about the size of a dime on my hand and distributed it all through my ends. I continued doing that daily until hair wash day. 

On hair wash day I started with the size of a quarter and distributed that. If I felt like I needed more I used more, if not I didn't. A lesson I learned while doing this was that it was my hair and even though a certain specific routine worked for a woman on Tik Tok doesn't mean it will work for me. After I distributed all that oil into my hair I would put my head upside down to massage it for a minimum of five minutes. Massaging it stimulated the hair follicles which promoted growth and thickness. After my five minutes were finished I put it up an a protective style and left it for at least half an hour. Protective hairstyles were up in a claw clip, back in a loose scrunchie, in a loose braid, or just down. Putting it in a tight pony tail would cause damage that the oil was trying to fix. You didn't want to do that. After the minimum of a half hour was up I would wash my hair like normal, and the cycle would repeat. For 3 months exactly. 

 After the first few times I didn't notice that much of a difference until suddenly I stopped shedding as much and my hair felt never ending. I didn't know my hair could get any thicker but after about a month and a half in it felt like I had so much more hair. Needless to say my hair styles were rockin. I also notices how much shinier it got. My hair went from being slightly dull and regular to bouncy and looking like I just walked of a shampoo commercial set. It was also noticeably softer. I couldn't stop touching my hair for a while because of how much softer and smoother it felt. Dead ends are fairly irreversible so it didn't glue them back together, but even my ends ended up feeling soft and smooth. Well, as soft and smooth as my brittle ends could. 

 The main take away from this experiment was that this is already a permanent part of my hair routine. I can get beautiful, healthy, shinny, thick hair, and only have it take, most days, literally one minute a day? Sign me up. Another added plus about this was as previously mentioned my hair is curly and it's best friend fizz is never left out. When I oiled my hair I noticed the frizz calmed down not entirely, but a significant amount. I've linked below the oil on Amazon!

Hair Oil Used 

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