Natural hair care can sometimes seem like a chore with all the tips, tricks and routines you hear about from your favorite influencers, hair care pros or even your girlfriends! One of these hair treatments that people swear by is hot oil treatments (along with the benefits of hair steaming).
You might have wondered, "is adding this to my routine really necessary?" Let's see some of the ways hot oil treatments can help you achieve the healthy, thriving hair you're looking for.
Helps Prevent or Calm Scalp Conditions
Healthy hair comes from a healthy scalp, no question about it. When dandruff and flakiness due to an overly scalp occur, this creates an unhealthy environment for the hair structure to grow well and strands can suffer. Including a hot oil treatment in your routine, massaging heated oil onto the scalp, can help calm this down.
Adding essential oils - like tea tree, peppermint, lavender, etc. - to your carrier oils of choice is a huge plus! These oils have anti-inflammatory and anti-fungal properties that will assist in removing impurities from the scalp, calm inflammation and keep dandruff at bay. Your scalp will feel refreshed.
Keeps Frizz and Tangles Under Control
Hot oil treatments not only benefit the scalp but the hair strand as well. This added step of a heated oil to the hair will help have an easier time with detangling and also, help hair clump together better for best results in your wash and gos or other loose styles.
Infuses & Seals in Moisture to Brittle Strands
If you're suffering from brittle hair, a nice hot oil treatment will curb dryness. Hot oil applied to damp hair will penetrate the strands better for best results. The most efficient way to do this is through steaming! After applying your oils to the hair and scalp, use the Q-Redew Handheld Steamer to really allow the oils plus moisture from the steam to open up the hair cuticle and penetrate the hair shaft.
Brittle strands split and break easily. Hair that's properly moisturized has improved elasticity and you're less likely to see damage caused by breakage and split ends!
Improves Shine to Dry, Dull Hair
Because hot oil treatments improve moisture within the hair strands, the result is seen on the surface of the strand as well. If your hair often looks dull and dry, the infusion of oils by doing regular hot oil treatments can really improve the appearance of your hair overall.
What Oils Should I Use in My Hair?
Before I give my recommendations, here's a description of my hair texture: I have a really tight, kinky curl pattern (which would be considered 4C hair), course, medium-sized strands and medium hair density. That said, I'm a fan of oils that sit somewhere in the middle of being super thick and thin like sweet almond and grapeseed oils. Extra virgin olive oil is also a favorite, since I always have it in the pantry, and my hair has responded well to Jamaican Black Castor Oil (JBCO) which has given me that extra kick during hot oil treatments. JBCO might work great for you if you have really coarse, thick hair as it is on the heavy side.
Even though you'll be washing them out after your treatment, you wouldn't want to use oils that are too thick if you have thin, fine hair as it will weigh the hair down. If you find yourself in this category, a great oil to start with is jojoba as it is closest to the natural sebum produced by the scalp.
As for essential oils, Tea Tree, Peppermint and Lavender essential oils are my favorites. Make sure to use a carrier oil (like jojoba oil) with essential oils! Mixed together, they also create a very relaxing aromatherapy session when steaming it all into my hair and scalp!
One of our biggest fans Angel aka JibaroBoricua demonstrates on his profile how his hot oil treatment routine keeps his curls looking fabulous!
Hot oil treatments with the use of steam is one major way you can keep damage at bay! The Q-Redew hair steamer can play a huge role in waving "goodbye!" to damaged hair.
