This may sound weird but… I add olive oil to my shampoo all the time.
Hear me out: shampoos can leave hair dry. But add a few drops of a moisturizing oil and your locks stay soft and moisturised even after a vigorous washing session.
The catch? It makes the shampoo less effective. And that’s not exactly a bad thing…
Why Do You Use Shampoo?
There’s a reason why shampoos are drying. Their job is to dissolve the oils on your hair. I’m not talking just about excess sebum. Some of your haircare products have moisturizing oils to keep your hair soft and shiny. Problem is, these oils attract dirt and dust, too.
When your hair gets dirty, you WANT to wash it. Enter shampoo. It uses surfactants, a family that allows oil to mix with water so that they can be rinsed off.
Surfactants get a bad rap for being harsh and drying. But if they’re too mild, they won’t clean. If you’ve ever tried to wash oily hair with sulphate-free shampoos, you know what I’m talking about. Very mild surfactants work well only for children or dry hair.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying you should use the strongest surfactants, like sodium lauryl sulphate. I avoid that like the plague, too.
The key is to find a shampoo that contains cleansing agents strong enough to remove oils well but gentle enough not to cause irritations or dryness.
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Why Should You Add A Few Drops Of Olive Oil To Your Shampoo?
But if your shampoo is already too harsh? That’s where olive oil comes in.
Here’s the deal: shampoo dry out hair when they remove every trace of oil and sebum from your hair. By adding more oil to your shampoo, you’re guaranteed to have a little left on your locks after washing.
This extra oil moisturises your hair without making it look dirt and greasy. Win win.
The Bottom Line
Shampoo drying out your hair? Adding a few drops of olive oil prevents the shampoo from removing ALL traces of oils from your locks, keeping them softer and shinier for longer.
Have you ever added oil to your shampoo? Share your experience in the comments below.
I’ve heard that it’s best to add an oil to your hair prior to shampoo to protect the hair .. I haven’t tried this yet, but thinking about it 😉
Monica
Monica, yes, applying coconut oil before washing your hair helps reduce the expansion of hair when wet. This reduces the damage that occurs while washing hair. But to do this, you need to leave the oil on your hair long enough for it to penetrate it. Applying it 5 minutes before you wash it is unlikely to do much good. If you want to try it, apply the oil on your hair at night, and wash it in the morning. Even then, though, if you use too much, your shampoo may not be strong enough to remove all the oil, which means that your hair may still feel and look a bit greasy afterwards.
l will try this and see the result
Success Wesley, great. Let me know how it’s working for you.
I have tried to add ginger essential oil to my shampoo base to control hair fall and almost all my friends loved it but there is a issue the oil tends to float above in the bottel . Is there any way I could mix it thoroughly in the shampoo
Santosh, that’s because oil doesn’t mix with water. You need some sort of emulsifier to make that happen. Shampoos have them but I guess you’re adding more ginger oil than they can handle. I’d suggest you mix the shampoo with the ginger oil on the palm of your hand instead. Hope this helps.
Hi. How much oil should I add to how much shampoo? Thanks.