The Best Hot Oil Hair Treatments You Can DIY

Some hair treatments are only popular for a short time, but hot oil treatments for hair have been around for years — and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. For many years, people have used heated oil to add moisture into their strands. But do these hot oil treatments work? Read on to learn more about hot oil and how to do a hot oil treatment yourself.

Since the wrong oils can prevent the conditioning benefits of a hot oil treatment, it’s important to choose the best oil for your hair. These are the best oils:

• Coconut oil. This is considered the all-around best oil for hot oil treatments. This oil softens your hair while preventing protein loss in the hair shaft. Coconut oil is an option for treating dandruff, too.
• Olive oil. This oil is slightly heavier, but it provides moisturizing, healing, and soothing properties. Olive oil is rich in vitamin A and E and can even be a disinfectant. It’s best used on dry hair.
• Almond oil. This is another great oil for lustrous hair. Aromatic almond oil also works well for conditioning and nourishing hair, and it will definitely leave your strands softer than before. 
• Jojoba oil. This light oil won’t weigh your hair down. Jojoba oil is actually most like the oil your scalp naturally produces. So it’s a moisturizing and softening oil that works well with naturally oily hair. 
• Castor oil. This oil actually helps strengthen hair shafts that might break easily. Castor oil is particularly beneficial for those with thin or damaged hair since it will help prevent breakage. 

Your hot oil hair treatment can use one oil or mix several to get the different benefits from different oils.

Once you have decided on which oils to use, it’s time to start. Here are the steps to do your own hot oil treatment at home. 

• Boil a pot of shallow water.
• Place three to six tablespoons of your chosen oils into a glass or heat safe container.
• Once the water is boiling, place the container in the pot with the hot water. Be careful not to let the water get into the oil. 
• Heat the oil for a minute or so until it’s warm to the touch.
• Test the temperature of the oil by dabbing a little on your wrist. The oil only needs to be warm but not too hot because hot oil can cause scalp burns. 
• Apply the oil to either damp or dry hair. Make sure that if you pour any oil onto your scalp that you pour over the sink. 
• Massage the oil into your scalp and all the way down to your ends for about five minutes. 
• Wrap your hair in a towel, shower cap, or even a plastic bag to keep the oil from dripping. 
• Leave the oil in for at least 30 minutes or overnight. 
• Shampoo and condition as usual, ensuring that you rinse all of the oil out completely. Consider shampooing your hair twice to make sure all of the oil is rinsed out. 

You can do this treatment once a week or even up to three times a week, depending on time and your hair. To get the most out of a hot oil treatment for hair growth, combine it with hair growth supplements, such as Nutrafol’s Core supplements, which are formulated with medical-grade ingredients clinically shown to promote hair growth.