Oil Rinsing: My Latest Obsession (& why it should be yours too!)

May 20, 2014

Oil rinsing is something I learned about months ago, but never tried until recently. I have been really glad that I did and I just wanted to share the benefits with everyone right away! Oil rinsing has totally transformed my wash and go’s, from frizzy to fabulous. My hair retains moisture, even in nasty, dry, west Texas weather, and I get defined curls that last for DAYS. Ok, so onto the sharing. We’ll start with a brief explanation of the methodology, then move onto benefits and a couple of things you need to be careful of when doing it.

How to DO IT:

To do an oil rinse is really easy. I’d say the trickiest part is finding the oil(s) that your hair loves the most. For me it’s argan, olive and castor oil, but I like to mix things up from time to time as well. If you don’t know your hair’s favorite oils, then just start with olive oil. I’ve never heard of anyone who’s hair hated olive oil.

You can do an oil rinse before you shampoo, in between shampooing or conditioning or after you’ve washed and conditioned you hair. I have had the most success with doing an oil rinse at the end of my wash-day routine, after I’ve washed and conditioned. It’s best to do it in the shower or over the tub, as it can be messy.

1) You really just take some oil and literally drown your hair in it. You can distribute it through your hair with your fingers or with a shower comb. You’ll want to let it set for a while. Just go ahead and shave your legs or whatever else while you let it set.

2) Turn the water temperature down, to as cool as you can tolerate it, and begin rinsing.

3) STOP rinsing when you fell you rinsed about 85 to 90% of the oil from your hair. You want most of it gone, but not all of it.

4) Give you hair a good shake and finish up your shower. You’re all done!

*The reason that you want to rinse out only 85% of the oil of your hair is that you want to leave a layer of it over all your strands. You’ll notice also that I didn’t say to plop after doing the oil rinse. DO NOT PLOP. I never plop after because I want the oil to sit on top of my strands, not wind up all over the t-shirt I’m using. I get right out of the shower and start defining my curls immediately.

Here’s a video to let you see the process in action. It might help you to get a firmer grasp of the method.

The Benefits:

1)Extreme Sealing

This method works so well for sealing my hair. I do and it and don’t have to re-moisturize my hair for days. The layer of oil right over my soaking wet hair, distributed so evenly makes a dramatic difference in the appearance of my curls. They look SO hydrated for SO long.

2) Bouncy Flouncy Curls

After doing an oil rinse, I find that I don’t have to add anything into my hair before defining my curls. I don’t use a leave in, I don’t use Shea butter, I just do the oil rinse, section my hair, and start applying my gel to define my curls. That makes for less weight on my curls, so when they dry, they move and bounce and swing like there’s no tomorrow.

3) Frizz-Be–Gone!

I believe that the oil rinse helped my curl clumps to dry without sticking to one another. Before, when the gel dried, I’d see large sections of curl clumps all stuck together even though I shook my hair periodically as it dried. When I separated them, I would get a large amount of frizz. That does NOT happen after an oil rinse. I can shake my hair a few times as it dries, and the slip from the oil helps them to slide over one another rather than sticking. There’s really no need to go in and do any separating after my hair dries, so I get a lot less frizz!

Things To Watch Out For:

1) Rinsing with cool cold water is absolutely necessary to get the best results. You want to encourage your hair cuticles to close. Cold water does that, warm water doesn’t/

2) Don’t leave too much oil in your hair. The very first time I did an oil rinse, I left waaay too much oil in my hair and it was so annoying/slash embarrassing. My hair looked like it had beads of water in it all day because the oil gathered at the ends of my hair and dripped off. I l also had some oil coming down the sides of my face from my scalp randomly throughout the day. It was NOT cute. I had to keep dabbing with a cloth! Haha! So PLEASE ladies, be sure to rinse the majority of the oil out of your hair!

[By Shanti Terry of Let Me Let You Know]