There is a developing conversation on Twitter about oil’s place in your natural hair regimen. The debate is split between two groups: Pro-oil (we should use oil in our hair) vs. Anti-oil (we should not use oil). We will explore the claims made and investigate each claim to find the truth about oils for locs. As always, we recommend you confirm your understandings of this article with a hair care professional.
Oils do not permanently seal moisture.
Claim 1: Oils are not moisturizers via Twitter.
Loc Genius findings: True
Oils do not moisturize. Moisturizers must add water to the hair. Examples of moisturizers are water, aloe vera and glycerin. Humectants are another example of a moisturizer.
Source: Curly Chemist
Claim 2: Oils are bad for the hair.
Loc Genius findings: Mixed
Oils can help the hair. They can also cause complications.
Pros:
Oils are not bad for your hair. The body produces its own oil for hair. The scalp produces sebum, a natural oil for hair. Sebum is a combination of triglycerides, fatty acids, cholesterol, and more. This natural oil helps protect your hair follicles and maintain a healthy scalp by forming an acidic barrier to keep disease-causing microbes at bay. Sebum also coats the scalp and hair to combat dryness.
Oils help the hair prevent hydral fatigue. The best oils to prevent hydral fatigue are oils that penetrate the hair shaft. Oils that penetrate the hair shaft make the hair proteins more hydrophobic (water-repelling). Hair absorbing too much water, too quickly results in swelling.
Cons:
Oil penetration can also cause issues.
Some people experience hair dryness using coconut oil. This may happen because the oil is used without hydration. It may also happen because coconut oil penetrates the hair cuticle and takes up space within the strands. When hair gets saturated with water, the strand has less space for water. This results in hair being less water saturated. Hair that is more porous may experience less dryness than lower porosity hair.
Source: Ni’Kita Wilson, Curly Chemist
Dry Hair and Oils for locs
Claim 3: Oils dry out the hair by preventing moisture from the environment entering the hair shaft via Twitter.
Loc Genius findings: Mixture
True:
Some oils can create dryness. Typically, this happens when oils are used without hydration or water.
Needed Clarification:
Hair coated with oil (mineral, sunflower or coconut oil) can still take up water vapour from the air. However, uncoated hair takes up the most water vapour from the air.
Source: Journal of Cosmetic Science
Claim 4: Hair oils prevent your hair from absorbing water and retaining hydration.
Loc Genius findings: False
Oils cannot completely prevent water from entering hair cuticles. Strands covered in oil can absorb water. Uncoated hair absorbs more water than hair covered in oil. However, oil covered hair takes longer to get water in and takes longer to get out.
Source: Journal of Cosmetic Science
Hair Porosity
Claim 5: You do not have low porosity hair. Oils and butters are preventing your hair from absorbing water via Twitter, Twitter.
Loc Genius findings: Mixed
Hair porosity describes the morphology of the hair strand not just how hair behaves. Under a microscope, you can observe the cuticle structure of hair strands. Hair strands with lifted cuticles are high porosity and strands with closed cuticles are low porosity. Genetics and environmental factors like hair treatments (color, heat, and other chemical processing) impact porosity. Wear and tear from detangling also impacts hair cuticles (and over time porosity) as well.
Needed Clarification:
Oils and butters cannot prevent water from entering hair cuticles. Strands covered in oil or butter can absorb water. It typically takes longer for water to penetrate. This delay in absorbing water may signal low porosity. However, when determining porosity, one should examine uncoated hair. Water temperature, the condition of the hair (dirty, coated with conditioner, etc.), and other factors impact the way hair absorbs water. Oil does not create a permanent, impenetrable seal preventing the hair from absorbing water and trapping moisture within hair from evaporating. Uncoated hair absorbs more water than hair covered in oil.
Source: Sister Scientist
Final Thoughts
We wrote this article in good faith to investigate claims made on Twitter to help readers understand the best practices of loc maintenance. Loc Genius writers collected information from cosmetic scientists and a doctor whose expertise is in hair, skin and chemistry. We also reached out to the authors of the tweets. Again, if we discover that our findings are wrong, we will update and correct this page. We suggest readers to consult the advice of their hair care professional for personal advice.