Better for hair: oiling wet or dry

[Boadicea]

Which do you think is better for the hair: oiling it when wet or oiling it when dry? By oiling, I mean saturating the hair with the oil for best effect. What I want to do is keep the oil on overnight and rinse it out the next day.

I was thinking maybe oiling it when wet would be best because the hair has a chance to soak up more oil even as it becomes dryer as opposed to perhaps the oil just sitting on top of the hair if it was dry to begin with.

So, what are your opinions and observations?

 

[Tee]

Oil treatments are more effective for me when I do them on dry hair. Oil and water repel each other, so I think that doing a treatment on wet hair diminishes the penetrating capabilities of the oil.

 

[ngaa]

wen i oil my hair i do wen its wet coz it allows my hair to be moisturised by the water and alos have this moisture locked in by the oil and therefore potentially remainin moisturised for longer

 

[KinksnCurlz]

I usually mist my hair until it is slight wet (NOT saturated or soaked) than I apply my oil.

 

[Nyambura]

I too do preshampoo, warm oil treatments on damp hair. Post-shampoo, however, I like to seal in the moisture of my damp hair with oil (not saturate it though!).

 

[Boadicea]

I'm sorry, what I mean by "saturate" is apply enough oil to the hair that every part (I part my hair in four sections) is coated.

Thank you for your answers!

 

[daviine]

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I usually mist my hair until it is slight wet (NOT saturated or soaked) than I apply my oil.

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I do exacctly the same thing.

 

[Supergirl]

I bet wet is better

'cause when hair is wet, it is stretched--then when it dries it "shrinks" back down to it's normal length. So I'm assuming that oils seep into wet (stretched) hair and then it's "trapped" inside because when the hair is dry, it shrinks back!

 

[pressncurl]

I've always heard applying oil while wet is better because it traps some of the water in the strand and therefore leaves the hair more moisturized.

 

[Brownie]

my vote is: oil on WET hair---for all the reasons everyone already stated.

 

[mirrormirror]

Actually oil penetrates on dry hair. On wet hair it is just sitting on top your hair. Oil and water do not mix.

 

[Kaela]

this is one of those questions that you will get probably a 50/50 divide on...

I think for an overnight treatment you'd be good to go applying it to dry hair.

However, my personal experience with oil treatments and using oil as a daily moisturizer period is with just barely damp hair. I tried hot oil treatments on completely dry hair and they came out crunchy feeling. I can't explain why, but based on those experiences I always go with damp hair. You'll probably have to try both ways and see what your hair prefers.

 

[Tee]

I think it also depends on the type of oil you are using. For example, I get better results using Olive oil on wet hair. It doesn't really penetrate my hair that well when I use it on dry hair, so I think it's a good oil to use on wet hair because it tends to sit on top of the wet hair, making it a good moisture sealer. But when I use Avocado oil, which does penetrate my hair, I get better results on dry hair.

 

[Peachtree]

I agree with Tee... it really depends on the oil. Avocado, carrot & Hot 6 oils penetrate my dry strands effortless. Olive, tea tree, castor, etc offers better penetration on wet hair

 

[myco]

I agree.

 

[marabou1]

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I agree with Tee... it really depends on the oil. Avocado, carrot & Hot 6 oils penetrate my dry strands effortless. Olive, tea tree, castor, etc offers better penetration on wet hair

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Exactly!!

The hot six does wonders for me when my hair is dry and the EVOO is incredible on my wet hair.

 

[Karonica]

I agree, Hot 6 Oil is better used on dry hair. If I put it on my hair while wet, it frizzes a bit.

I think oils work best on dry hair, while creme type stuff work better on wet hair. Oooh, I just made my own rule.

 

[72792]

I've always heard that oil is better absorbed into the hair shaft when wet. On dry hair they sit on the hair. I think that's why some people say they apply some kind of oil to their hair while conditioning & blowdrying and use cream on their hair daily. It probably depends on the hair. My hair does better with oil on wet hair.

 

[sweetcocoa]

Wet! Works a whole lot better for me...

 

[Boadicea]

Thanks again, ladies. The oils I use are Amla and Vatika and I think it works better when my hair is slightly damp.