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Oils are extremely common in products made for curly/wavy hair. Since most of these products are silicone-free, they need other ingredients that provide shine, slip, and protective coatings. Oils often serve that purpose. But there are so many types of oils, and finding the ones right for your hair can be challenging.
Types of oils
CurlsBot classifies oils by how likely they are to penetrate the hair shaft[6], with a separate group for mineral oil just because many of our users prefer to avoid it
Heavy Oils: These are oils that are likely to penetrate (soak into) the hair shaft
Medium Oils: These are oils that have moderate capacity to penetrate (soak into) the hair shaft
Light Oils: These oils are less capable of penetrating (soaking into) the hair shaft
Petroleum oils: These are light oils, but due to their fossil-fuel origin, many people especially prefer to avoid them
Like silicones, oils are hydrophobic (they donât like water). Oil and water donât mix. So you canât wash off oils with just water.
Gentle surfactants can likely remove some but not all oils. So you need to be careful with oils.
A common experience in the curly hair community is trying coconut oil on your hair and regretting it. Because once coconut oil soaks in, it can be very difficult to remove.
But for some, coconut oil can be extremely useful. If you have damaged, high porosity hair, coconut oil can help protect your hair[7].
If you have low-porosity hair thatâs prone to getting oily, you probably want to avoid oils like coconut oil.
The benefits of oils for curly/wavy hair
While there are some downsides to oils, science has shown that oils can be very beneficial for curly/wavy hair, especially damaged high-porosity hair.
The way oils can help high-porosity damaged hair is by protecting it from water damage and filling in the damaged cuticle. This lowers the hairâs porosity and makes it much less brittle, preventing further damage[8].
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