How To Use Hair Oil For Curly Hair

How To Use Hair Oil For To Reap The Benefits On Curly Hair:

Using oil on hair has panned back thousands of years, but it has recently gained popularity across the curly-haired community in recent years because of its amazing benefits.

Curly hair is the driest hair type of them all, and hair oils can penetrate deeply into the hair strand to absorb nutrients and retain moisture within the curl.

Which oils should you use, and what are the benefits?

This all depends on your curl type, hair thickness, and, most importantly, hair porosity. Different oils work better on different hair types, so it is completely unique to you.

But don’t you worry, I’m here to break down everything you need to know about buying hair oils for your curls and what ingredients to look for when buying the best hair oil for curly hair online.

So stay tuned, my friends, you won’t want to miss this.

What Is Hair Oil?

Hair oil is the practice of pouring or using oil on hair and massaging it into the scalp and/or the ends of your hair to increase moisture, luster, and shine.

Since curly hair is often lacking in moisture and hydration because of the texture, using hair oil can provide the ends and scalp with juicy vitamins and minerals as well as helping with moisture retention and hydration.

For curly hair, you can either use a professional hair oil from the store or make one yourself using some natural oils; it can help promote hair growth, seal in moisture.

Some oils even offer heat protection on curly hair, protecting hair from heat styling as well as creating a barrier to lock in and retain moisture within the strand.

You have to be careful when choosing a hair oil as you want it to be right for your hair type; some oils can be too heavy and weigh down curls, while others may not be enough.

Benefits Of Hair Oil On Curly Hair:

There are some serious benefits of using hair oil on curly hair. But it depends on the oils you are using (but I will run through this shortly). Here are some of the top benefits of using hair oil for curly hair.

Hair Growth:

If your curls are damaged, then using natural oils on your hair can massively help restore the damage and promote hair growth.

Some oils restore the hair and create the perfect environment for hair growth, while others increase blood circulation to the scalp to promote hair growth.

Using hair oils regularly can improve the condition of your curls to help promote hair growth.

Hair oil is also brilliant at strengthening hair strands from within. Since they penetrate into individual strands, they not only provide moisture but they restore damaged strands from within.

Can Be Used As Pre-Poo Treatment:

Hair oils can protect your hair strands before you shampoo your hair. Hair oils can be brilliant at detangling, and once they have penetrated the hair, they can protect your strands from damage caused by shampoo and mechanical damage.

It creates a seal over the ends of your hair, sealing moisture within the hair strands and strengthening the hair from within. This protects hair from damage during the washing process.

Detangling Properties:

Hair oils lubricate the strands to help ease tangles and matted knots. It provides slip on the hair, so the comb glides through the curls easily.

Deeply penetrating oils offer the best qualities for curly hair as when penetrating in the strand, it can help improve manageability and ease through tough tangles and help the comb glide through.

Using a wide-tooth comb is ideal with hair oil as it helps to ease tangles and to knot without snagging, pulling, or damaging the natural curl shape in the process.

When detangling curly hair while dry, you should always use hair oil to create slip and prevent breakage. Moisturizing oils will be your best friend for this process.

How To Use Oil On Curly Hair:

Using hair oil on curly hair should be a staple in the hair care routine, especially moisturizing oils. Curly hair tends to be known as dry and frizzy hair when not cared for properly; using oils can help lock in moisture to naturally curly hair and even act as a shield over curls.

There are a few different ways you can use oil on curly hair, and it offers some different benefits; some oils help promote hair growth which others penetrate the hair to offer deep hydration, repair, and lock in moisture into the strands by creating a water-oil barrier.

So let’s talk about how we can use oils on the curly hair type.

Wet Hair:

Applying oil to soaking wet hair can help when detangling curly hair some oils, especially store-bought oils, offer a barrier against heat damage caused when styling, but some natural oils can have the same effect too.

It can be applied before or after drying your curls!

Some oils come with a heat protectant within the formula, so for these oils, it is best to apply them before styling your hair, in between your leave-in conditioner and hair gel. You can apply it with your leave-in conditioner to help with the detangling process, as some oils can help provide a lot of slip on the curls.

If the hair oil also has UV protection, you can use some oil to scrunch out the crunch so you can remove the hard cast easily while reaping the benefits of the oil.

1). So step one is to wash your hair following your usual routine, whether it is co-wash day, clarifying shampoo day, or your regular weekly sulfate-free wash day. You should do two shampoos and really focus on massaging that scalp.

2). Next up, you’ll want to towel dry your curls using a microfiber towel or cotton t-shirt, then get changed and sit in front of the mirror ready to style. I like to work in sections and spray down each section with water spray before applying.

I like to apply my styling products to sopping wet hair, as do many other curly girls. Start with your leave-in conditioner, apply to the section, and comb through using a wide-tooth comb. Then apply your hair oil on top of this, then heat protectant (if it is not already in the hair oil), comb through again, and then follow with your styling gel.

Make sure you avoid the roots, as this will leave a greasy finish.

Then grab your styling brush (I am a personal fan of my Denman Brush to style my curls). Run it through the ends to create tension and then twirl it around the brush to create a defined curl. Then scrunch upwards until you are happy with the shape.

3). I then like to leave my hair to naturally dry around 50%. Once I have made it through all the layers, I will flip it upside down, give it a scrunch upwards with my cotton t-shirt, and then either plop it or leave it to air dry for a little while.

You can either plop it until it is completely dry or go in with the diffuser once it is around 50% dry. Focus on the roots with the diffuser and dry until roughly 90% dry but the ends are still a little damp; this helps with moisture retention.

Once it has completely dry, scrunch out the crunch using your hands or a tiny bit of hair oil until the curl is released and looks soft instead of crunchy and hard.

Dry Hair:

You can also apply hair oil to dry hair to help protect your curls from the UV rays, effects of pollution and even protect hair from humidity-related frizz. Using hair oil on dry hair has some serious benefits, and I’m here to show you how to use it.

You can either use it to scrunch up your curls straight after diffusing to scrunch out the crunch; it will help release the dry cast of the gel and let the oil penetrate into the hair strands to create a protective seal, these are also known as sealing oils.

You can use curl hair serum to revive curls, too, when they need a bit of bounce and have become quite dry on second or third-day hair. Just use a couple of pumps of your chosen intense hydrating hair oil and scrunch it into the ends of your hair.

Before Wash Day:

Using natural oils on very dry hair before wash day is a brilliant way to create slip and help ease through knots in the curls. Oiling curly hair before washing is super important as trying to ease through knots while the hair is dry will just cause breakage and damage to the natural curl shape.

So while you should always detangle curly hair before washing to offer minimal breakage, using a moisturizing oil is important to provide slip, so the comb runs through the hair nicely.

When detangling your hair, you should always work in sections. So starting underneath, apply a generous amount of hair oil to the entire hair shaft until the hair is damp and then start to detangle with a wide-tooth comb or a detangling brush for curly hair and run through the knots without snagging or pulling.

Be patient and don’t rip through the hair out of frustration; as long as you work in sections, then the oils should penetrate the hair and ease through knots and tangles.

Hot Oil Treatment:

Doing DIY hot oil treatments for curly hair comes with a whole range of benefits. For starters, it is extremely hydrating, moisturizing, and repairing for your curls.

Heating up natural oils like olive oil, castor oil, or coconut oil can seriously benefit the natural curl shape. Heating up oils over a gentle heat until warm and then applying to damp hair and leaving it on is one of the best ways to reap the benefits of hot oil treatments.

For ultimate benefits, you should wash and condition your hair beforehand, apply this ho oil treatment all over, and then just rinse afterward instead of shampoo. This is so the oils can work their magic for longer.

If you have quick thick, coarse, dry hair, then this hot oil treatment will act as a deep conditioner and shouldn’t leave a greasy residue on the hair. But if your hair is rather oily anyway, then you might need to shampoo afterward.

Best Natural Oils For Curly Hair:

Knowing your natural oils is key for reaping the benefits for your curls; it all depends on hair porosity. You may have heard of the benefits of coconut oil for curly hair, and yes, it is beneficial, but only really for high porosity hair; for low porosity hair, it’s too heavy and might just sit on top.

So let’s talk about the benefits of natural oils for curly hair and which one will suit which curl and hair porosity best so you can ace your oily hair game!

Benefits Of Coconut Oil On Curly Hair:

So you may have heard of the holy grail oil that benefits every curl type, and that’s coconut oil. While yes, it is extremely beneficial for curly hair for hair growth, curl definition, and is deeply nourishing for curly hair, it is not for everyone.

For starters, it is very heavy oil, meaning it is not suitable for low porosity curls as it might just sit on top of the curl and leave a greasy residue instead of penetrating the cuticle.

But why does this happen? I’ve written a full guide of everything you need to know about hair porosity so be sure to check that out.

But for high porosity hair, coconut oil is liquid gold for the benefits that it comes with. Coconut oil can heal protein loss, add moisture and make hair stronger over time.

This can help increase shine, softness and massively decrease frizz. It promotes the natural shape of the curl while deeply nourishing the hair strand from within.

Coconut oil is brilliant for high porosity hair; while it is best suited for any curl type, it is best used on high porosity hair. This is because it prevents water from flooding into the hair strands too quickly.

Since it is quite a heavy oil, so it can weigh down your curls, so it is not suited for fine hair as it can be far too heavy. Thick, coarse curls can massively benefit from this treatment, though.

Just make sure you don’t do this treatment too often as since it helps with protein loss, too much protein can make the hair brittle, so using once every few weeks is recommended.

How To Use Coconut Oil For Curly Hair: 

Many people use coconut oil as an overnight deep conditioning treatment for curls or as a doing a DIY hot oil treatment, but you can use it in replacement of your existing hair oil within your styling routine.

For the deep conditioning overnight treatment, you can massage some coconut oil into your hair, wrap your hair up in an old t-shirt and then gently blow dry your head. You can do a heat cap as an alternative to help open up the cuticle and allow the treatment to be absorbed.

Sleep with the treatment on your hair and then wash and condition the next day.

Alternatively, you can melt coconut oil into a dropper bottle and apply coconut oil on the ends of your wet hair after applying your leave-in conditioner and before applying your gel and mousse.

It can be extremely beneficial for coarse curls as everyday hair oil.

Benefits Of Olive Oil On Curly Hair:

Olive oil is yet another one of the best hair oils for curly hair as it penetrates deeply into the hair cuticle to deeply moisturize and nourish the hair. It ensures all nutrients are absorbed, leaving curly hair smoother, shinier and healthier.

It is perfect for high porosity, thick, coarse curls as it works to create a seal over the raised cuticle. It creates an oil/water barrier so the water-based moisture is retained within the hair cuticle and cannot leave the cuticle.

It also protects the curls from the humidity. Olive oil hair masks are brilliant at treating curly hair, especially if the curls are dry, as they can work to smooth and nourish all the hair fibers while maintaining moisture. Who knew olive oil had so many benefits?

How To Use Olive Oil For Curly Hair: 

The top use for olive oil on curly hair is as a deep conditioning treatment, but it can be used in styling too. For deep conditioning treatment, you can apply and massage the oil all over, focusing on massaging the scalp and then evenly combing through to the ends.

You can then pop your hair in a protective cap or pop your hair into a protective hairstyle and leave it on the ends of your hair for 15 minutes or even overnight. Then wash and condition like usual. You can do this treatment once a week as a deep conditioning treatment.

You can also mix this oil with other ingredients like avocado, coconut oil, or shea butter.

Benefits Of Jojoba Oil On Curly Hair:

Jojoba is a sealing oil that is much lighter than coconut oil, so it is best suited for low porosity hair and looser and finer curls. It won’t weigh down your curls as much as coconut oil or castor oil but has serious benefits for curly hair.

It moisturizes low porosity curls and hard-to-reach areas of your curls. Since natural oils have a hard time traveling down the structure of your curls, then jojoba oil works wonders to moisturize these dry spots that don’t usually get touched by natural oils.

The small molecular structure easily penetrates through the hair shaft and locks in moisture to low porosity hair.

Jojoba oil can also help to reduce frizz and define curls, making it one of the best hair oils when using heat styling tools as it helps curls maintain their shape and shine as well as restore moisture back into the hair.

The sebum-like qualities are extremely beneficial for curly hair too.

How To Use Jojoba Oil For Curly Hair: 

Using a few drops of jojoba oil, rub it into your hands for even coverage and apply to the ends of your curls, either wet or dry. For wet hair, apply after your leave-in conditioner and before your gel/mousse.

For dry hair, you can either use it as a pre-treatment/ overnight treatment, or you can use it after you’ve styled your curls to scrunch the crunch. It will help restore shine and prevent frizzy hair from occurring.

Alternatively, you can massage jojoba seed oil into your scalp and ends of your hair the night before washing as an intense treatment for brittle hair. It can penetrate through the hair shaft overnight and wash the next day– I like to do a 5-minute scalp massage for this treatment.

Benefits Of Argan Oil On Curly Hair:

Argan oil is brilliant at preventing dry, brittle hair and nourishes the curl by providing a water-oil barrier to lock in moisture. It is one of the best sealing oils for your hair. Any water-based moisture cannot pass through the oil barrier, so it is also protected from humidity.

Argan oil is also brilliant for frizz as it can help increase your hair’s shine while keeping frizz at bay. This is because argan oil can help flatten the cuticle and lock in moisture, so your curls are more likely to be bouncier and less frizzy.

Argan oil can even provide a protective layer to protect your hair from heat damage and UV damage. Argan oil is also brilliant for low porosity hair as it is extremely lightweight and has the same benefits as heavier oils.

It is another penetrating oil that offers similar benefits to coconut oil but is much more beneficial for finer, low porosity hair as it is small in molecule size so it penetrates the hair shaft easily.

How To Use Argan Oil For Curly Hair: 

Argan oil is best used as an overnight treatment for curly hair. Massage argan oil through your hair and put a shower cap over your head and keep it on your hair overnight. It can benefit dry, frizzy curls as it restores moisture.

When applied to dry, styled hair, argan oil can better fight frizz, and the shine factor will be far higher. So if you’re using it when styling, I would recommend using it to scrunch the crunch as you’ll get more UV ray protection than applying it to wet hair.

Argan oil is perfect for frizzy hair!

Benefits Of Castor Oil On Curly Hair

There are some serious benefits of castor oil for curly hair. For starters, castor oil is a natural moisturizer that can soothe a dry and itchy scalp. It can also help unblock pores and create the perfect environment for curl growth.

It is bursting with omega-9 and ricinoleic acid, which can help prevent hair loss. Castor oil hair oils boost blood flow around the scalp, which provides nourishment for the roots and the hair follicles. It can even promote the natural curl pattern.

Castor oil is an emollient which helps to smooth and calm curls that are prone to frizz. It even adds extra softness to the hair. It locks in moisture which can help tame frizz while nourishing the hair from the inside out.

Summary:

 So there you have it, everything you need to know as to how to use hair oil on curly hair. Knowing how to care for curly hair is key to ultimate curly hair!

So if hair oil isn’t already a staple in your curly hair routine then what’s stopping you? Check out my guide of the best hair oils for curly hair to get started.

Your hair will thank you later, I can guarantee it!