Hair oiling is one of the most popular methods of hair care. It serves sensitive scalp as well as hair of different porosity, thickness, colour and structure. However, before you conduct the treatment, first, you must choose the right cosmetic oil. How to do it and no to harm your strands?
Hair porosity and oils.
If you want your hair to be healthy, strong and beautiful, apply oil with appropriate saturation of fatty acids. This, on the other hand, must match your hair porosity. How to do it? It turns out that it is not that difficult. You can distinguish three types of hair porosity: low, medium and high.
Low porosity hair is the healthiest, smoothest and most shiny. It is difficult to dye or highlight it. Additionally, drying takes a lot longer. Such hair type is not susceptible to styling. Why? The cuticle layer is tightly bound, therefore, even the smallest portion of water or dye cannot penetrate so easily to the interior. The scales of medium porosity hair are a bit more raised. Such hair is easy to style and comb or dye. However, this hair type requires proper care. With a little bit of effort, you can change its porosity to low. On the other hand, it can be damaged which consequently leads to high porosity. Loose cuticle layer that has gaps and holes is typical for high porosity hair. Such hair type is considered to be the most damaged and vulnerable to damage. What is more, it is easy to style and susceptible to any treatments, such as:colour-treating, washing, blow-drying, etc.
However, you cannot forget that hair can have diverse porosity on different parts of wisps. Usually, hair on the top of your head will be low or medium porosity, while the ends – high porosity. Additionally, scalp can be greasy. Therefore, the best solution will be to use a few oils or a combination. A good idea is also an oil that contains the same proportions of a variety of fatty acids.
How to determine hair porosity?
There are many methods to check our porosity. The easiest way is to have it examined by a trichologist, in laboratory conditions, under a microscope. You can also solve an online test. Additionally, testes based on: touch, sight, water and coconut oil will also be useful. What are they like?
Sight test is based on observing how your hair looks after washing or blow-drying, whether it is easy to style or becomes frizzy in humidity. Touching test is nothing else but an organoleptic method for checking who smooth our hair is. Simply take one hair in two fingers and run them from the ends upwards. If your feel that your wisp is rough, coarse, it means that your strands have high porosity. Smooth and resilient wisp has low porosity. Furthermore, the ‘float test’ is probably the most popular among hair maniacs. Put a hair or a few into a bowl or any clear container filled with room temperature water. Make sure that the hair is clean, free of any chemical styling substances – silicones on its surface could alter the outcome of the test. If, after a few minutes, your wisp ‘drowns’ to the bottom, it indicates its high porosity. If not, then it is low porosity. The last method requires the use of coconut oil. Apply the cosmetic on the entire length of your strands. Wash it off after about an hour. Do not blow-dry. If your hair becomes frizzy and poofy it means that it has high porosity.
Do you finally know what porosity your hair has? Perfect! Not comes the time to select the best cosmetic oil. For high porosity care the most recommended are polyunsaturated oils. Try out: linseed oil, evening primrose oil, sunflower oil, pumpkin seed, soybean, corn, cotton seed oil. Medium porosity hair are fond of avocado, sweet almond, peach, apricot, cherry and papai seed oils. However, to take care of low porosity hair, you should reach for cosmetic butters. This group includes: coconut oil, shea butter, palm kernel oil, babassu oil, cocoa butter.
How to perform hair oiling treatment?
It is an extremely easy treatment. You can wash your hair before oiling, however, it is not obligatory. What to do next? Apply a generous amount of oil on your scalp and hair. Then, wait a few hours – allow the cosmetic to be absorbed. If you feel that your hair needs deep nourishment, moisturising and strengthening – leave it overnight. Additionally, put on a plastic shower cap and wrap everything with a towel. Therefore, the substances contained in the cosmetic will work better and faster. In the morning, using a gentle shampoo, wash your hair thoroughly. If you can, try not to blow-dry your wisps, just leave them to air-dry. It will be smooth and shiny.
