What is a PrePoo? (Preshampoo Oil Treatment)

June 23, 2013

A pre-poo (short for preshampoo treatment) is very similar to traditional hot oil treatments (HOT) except your oil of choice is applied to your hair before shampooing, hence the name “prepoo.” One thing I would like to point out is that oils are not the only substances used for a prepoo treatment. Some women prefer to use other food items that have shown to be beneficial for hair, such as honey, avocados, yogurt, or bananas. Also, there are retail hair products that are made specifically to be used on the hair before shampooing such as Burt Bees Avocado Butter Preshampoo Treatment and Umberto Collagen Preshampoo Treatment. Another option some women choose is to deep condition with regular conditioner (some even add oils) on dry hair prior to shampooing. All of the aforementioned are considered prepoos because they are treatments done to the hair prior to shampooing.

My personal is to use warm extra virgin coconut oil (EVCO) and more recently hemp oil. EVCO has a number of proven benefits for the hair as it is known to penetrate the hair cuticle and provide some conditioning along with lubrication. My experience has been that after using EVCO for my prepoo my hair is well moisturized, soft, easy to detangle, and never feels stripped after shampooing. Other awesome options are extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), Jojoba, Sweet Almond or Grapeseed oils. I prefer pure natural oils over retail oil mixtures that are marketed as ‘hot oil treatments’ because these products normally contain many filler ingredients that are not beneficial for your hair at all. You really have to pay attention to how your hair responds to different oils to determine which would be best for you. I tried all of the natural oils I mentioned above before settling on coconut oil. I believe EVCO to be most effective when it has been warmed before apply to the hair and because I use warm oil for my prepoo, it is technically the same as doing a hot oil treatment, and some people call it an oil rinse. It is all the same thing…except that oil rinsers and hot oil treaters normally do it after shampooing and/or conditioning. Sometimes the terminology of the healthy hair world can be overly complicated and to be honest, the terminology is not that important.

As mentioned I recently began to use hemp oil to prepoo, so I will briefly mention its benefits as well. Hemp oil is one of several oils known to contain a high amount of ceramides, a lipid molecule made of a fatty acid attached to sphingosine. The cuticle of hair is the thin protective, outmost layer of the hair shaft and it is partially comprised of ceramides. A study has shown that synthetic ceramides improve the condition of the hair even though it is deposited in small amounts and only in the cuticle layer[1]. Although my choice is to use either EVCO or hemp oil by themselves, you can create your own special mixture of different oils if you so desire. In short, just to recap a prepoo is any hair treatment performed prior to shampooing and arguably the most popular items used are natural oils.[i]