Monday, October 17, 2011

Castor Oil Overdose?

My hair has been responding extremely well to castor oil lately. I think it's due to the season change- my hair seems to like this oil better in the cooler months. It has helped to keep my hair from getting too dry, and it has made my strands look thicker. I think I overdid it last week, though. Actually, I think I didn't wash it out enough. I applied a good amount of castor oil to my scalp a day before my wash day. I used diluted shampoo to clean my scalp, and I probably should have used straight shampoo. I proceeded to deep condition (using conditioner with a drop of castor oil in it!) and rollerset my hair. Although my hair looked good (=thick), it didn't feel good. It was really weighed down and felt like there was film of oil on it. On top of that, my scalp was flaky and a little itchy. At first, I thought I could keep it like that for a few days, but moisturizer and serum weren't doing anything but causing more buildup, and I didn't want my scalp to be clogged, so I shampooed again. I used a moisturizing shampoo along with some Hair One cleansing conditioner. When I finished, my hair felt great and was so easy to detangle. I airdried with a scarf and my ends clipped up. When I woke up, my hair was smooth and moist. My ends were a little dry, but I'm still working on this airdrying thing.

What I learned from this experience is that I can continue to use castor oil, I just need to use shampoo when I wash. I was afraid that the shampoo would remove all of the effects of the castor oil, but that's not true. Even though I don't like too much manipulation, my hair really does like being washed or co-washed more than once a week. I also learned that me and airdrying might be able to get along after all! I'm going to try to shampoo my hair once a week, and co-wash once a week. I'll airdry at least one of these washes and see what happens. I'm really trying to bun the majority of time this fall/winter, so maybe this will help.

2 comments:

Samantha said...

I'd been looking into using castor oil on my hair but was afraid it would look bad. The underneath layers of my hair are coarse and kinky-curly, while the top layers of my hair are fine, wavy and shiney.

What Do You Think? I've also started using mane n' tail shampoo and I can tell a huge difference in my hair. Love Your Site!

Tiffanita said...

Thanks Samantha! I was afraid to use castor oil too, but I'm glad I did. I think you should just buy some cheap castor oil from the drug store and test a LITTLE on your ends. It can be heavy, so be careful.