How to Oil Curly or Wavy Hair!

 Contrary to popular belief, oil does not actually moisturize the hair, water does. An oil seals in the moisture, which is what moisturizes the hair. Oils can be used as pre-shampoo treatments or over leave in conditioners (or regular conditioner used as a leave in) to seal in the moisture in the hair. They can also be added to regular conditioner to make a deep conditioning treatment. Some people use the oil only directly applied to the hair as a deep conditioning treatment. A deep conditioning oil treatment and a pre-shampoo oil treatment are the same process, but the reason for doing the treatment may be different. Any time you are deep conditioning, adding heat will always increase the treatment's ability to work better. If oiling only, you can oil even overnight or all day with no issues. However, if deep conditioning using conditioner; I recommend no more than an hour to avoid hydral fatigue. The minimum for deep condition to get a decent effect is about 15 to 30 minutes. Tips for deep conditioning are using a beanie cap over a shower cap, a hooded dryer, or a towel thrown in the dryer so it gets hot and then wrapping the hair up in it like a turban. Pre-shampoo (pre-wash or pre-poo) treatments are excellent if you need to clarify your hair from build up, shea butter, or hard water that can cause limp curls, flakes or itchy scalp; but you don't to want to end up with dried out frizzy hair. Also, pre-wash treatments can help with protein loss. The oils trap the proteins in your hair, so you don't lose them after washing. 

When looking at ingredients in your conditioners and stylers be aware of the properties and heaviness of these oils. It can help you pick the correct product for your hair type or the correct oil for the time of year when doing the LOC or the LOCG method. Oils that are added over a leave in or included in a leave in conditioner help soften the crunch in a hair gel. If you are having trouble with crunchy hair from gel, try a little oil or a leave in containing oil. Start with just a few drops or less, depending on your hair thickness, of a light oil. You can use a light oil to SOTC as well. Listed below are oils that are locally found in your grocery store in the cooking oil aisle or at your health food store. 

Penetrating Oils

These oils soak into the hair. They are usually better for deep conditioning or pre-shampoo treatments because the oils sink down into the hair and remain in the hair after the hair has been washed, locking the moisture into the hair. They are best for pre-shampoo treatments because they penetrate into the hair and decrease water's ability to enter the hair during the washing process, which causes the hair to swell and over time can cause hydral fatigue. Hygral fatigue is usually a direct result of high porosity in hair. It is the weakening of hair caused by the strands swelling during the uptake of water and contracting when the water is lost. The swelling and contracting of the strands weakens them substantially and increases the likelihood of breakage. Penetrating oils seal moisture the hair on the inside. Some oils have both sealing and penetrating properties. Some have more penetrating properties and less sealing or vice versa. 

Deep Penetrating Oils

• Coconut Oil - medium weight oil (Penetrates and seals, the only oil that truly penetrates deep inside the hair shaft, acts as a protein and prevents protein loss, helps with breakage and is great for length retention, may be heavy for fine wavies, make not work for protein sensitive hair types)
• Sunflower Oil - very light oil (Penetrates, but not as deeply as coconut oil, excellent for adding shine)

Mostly Penetrating Oils (heaviest to lightest)

• Olive Oil - heavy oil
• Avocado Oil -heavy oil 
• Canola Oil - medium weight oil (can be very oily)
• Sweet Almond Oil - light oil

Make a DIY deep conditioner with any of these oils, honey and your favorite conditioner! Try adding a teaspoon or less, depending on your hair thickness, to start. Mix the oil and honey into your conditioner.

Sealing Oils

These oils do not penetrate and coat the outer layer of the hair. They seal and lock in the moisture that is already in the hair. They form a film on the exterior of the hair and seal it, whereas penetrating oils sink down into the hair. They add shine, lubrication (so the hair is more easy to manipulate), and increase softness. 

• Jojoba Oil - light oil (Plant wax that is very similar to our own hair sebum, adds shine)

Mostly Sealing Oils (heaviest to lightest) (These penetrate somewhat)

• Castor Oil - very heavy oil (great heavy sealer, provides great shine, great for hot oil scalp massage treatments, stimulates hair growth and hair strength at the follicle, but not able to remove with conditioner only methods, must use low poo or must be a PEG-Castor which is water soluble)
• Shea Butter - heavy oil ( butter is just an oil in solid form, great sealer especially on porous types, may build up in the hair and need occasional low poo to remove, too heavy on many fine, wavy or low porosity types and can weigh the hair down and make it look greasy)
• Grapeseed oil - light oil (can get oily if using too much, penetrates somewhat, so good for some low porosity types to pre-poo or deep condition)
• Safflower oil - light oil (light shiner)

Penetrating and Sealing Oil

• Argan Oil - very light (adds shine to the hair, but also can deeply moisturize)

You must experiment with all these oils to see what works best on your hair type. You can use either a penetrating or sealing oil as the O step in the LOC or LOCG styling method. If you have low porosity hair, try the LCO or the LCOG method with a light oil, so you don't seal out the moisturizing properties in the cream. For porous types, LOC works because it traps in the moisture as soon as possible and layers the cream over it. It is really is all trial and error, but these are some good experienced guesses based on my hair type (2c/3a, porous and coarse) and research. 

Suggestions Based on Hair Type:

Low Porosity and/or Fine Hair

• Coconut oil pre-poo, if too heavy, try sunflower or grapeseed oil 
• DIY deep conditioner  -
•  Sunflower oil, honey and conditioner
• Oil to seal (your leave in conditioner)
• Argan (lighter)
• Joboba (light)
• Grapeseed (light-medium, heavy on some wavies)

Medium Hair 

• Coconut oil pre-poo, if protein sensitive, try olive oil
• DIY deep conditioner  
• Olive oil, honey, and conditioner
• Any penetrating oil, honey, and conditioner
• Oil to seal (your leave in conditioner)
• Argan (lighter)
• Joboba (light)
• Grapeseed (light-medium, heavy on some wavies)
• Sweet almond oil (medium-light)
• Coconut Oil (medium, heavy on many wavies, good in the winter to penetrate and seal, good for curlier or coarser wavies, light for high density/coarser types)

High Porosity and/or Coarse/Thick Hair

• Coconut oil pre-poo, if protein sensitive, try olive oil
• DIY deep conditioner  
• Olive oil, honey, and conditioner
• Any heavy penetrating oil, honey, and conditioner
• Oil to seal (your leave in conditioner)
• Argan (lightest)
• Sunflower (lighter)
• Joboba (lighter)
• Grapeseed (light)
• Sweet almond oil (light)
• Coconut Oil (medium, heavy on some finer types, good in the winter to penetrate and seal, good for curlier or coarser wavies, light for high density/coarser types, does not work well for protein senstive types)
• Shea Butter (medium-heavy, great sealer, heavy on some, seals out the humidity, I don't seal with it, but it acts as a sealer in my stylers and conditioners)
• Castor Oil (very very heavy, awesome sealer, can get oily or heavy, good for porous hair or winter, too heavy for me, I don't seal with it, but it is great in lower amounts in my stylers when I need extra moisture)
• Olive Oil (very heavy, only for higher density very coarse hair, too heavy for me, I don't seal with it, but it is fine in my conditioners or stylers when I need extra moisture)

http://www.blackhairinformation.com/growth/deep-conditioning/porosity-and-hygral-fatigue-two-problems-one-solution/

http://www.curlynikki.com/2015/05/is-your-favorite-oil-moisturizer-or.html

http://science-yhairblog.blogspot.com/2013/06/oils-which-ones-soak-in-vs-coat-hair.html

http://www.hairboutique.com/tips/tip000453.htm