I was telling my cousin that I was looking for a new deep conditioner and she mentioned that she used olive oil to condition her hair and scalp.
Well duh.
I always have olive oil in the bathroom, whether I’m using it as a body oil or on my face for my Oil Cleansing Method I’ve used other oils in my hair, I don’t know why it never occurred to me to use olive oil as a pre-poo. A “pre-poo” is a hair conditioning method that you do before you wash your hair. In other words, you deep condition before cleaning your hair instead of after. I started using the following method weekly on “washing day”, and I love it!
Olive Oil Pre-Poo Method
There are various ways of doing this. Some people like to heat their oil up first, but since I’m going to put on my heat cap anyway, I just skip that step and start with plain old EVOO. (That’s Rachel Ray speak for extra-virgin olive oil)
What you’ll need:
- A jar or a cup
- 1/4 cup of olive oil
Directions:
my hair in sections before I apply oil
Pour olive oil into container. Before washing your hair, separate dry hair loosely into sections. I make big sloppy sections with my fingers and then tie them off into puffs with tiny terry ponytail holders.
Next, I remove the hair band for a section and dip my fingertips into the olive oil and massage my scalp only. Then I dip my fingers again and rake my fingers through my hair, concentrating on getting the majority of oil on my ends. If your hair is really tangled don’t yank on your hair, just apply the oil to your scalp and do your best to get some on the rest of your hair in the section. Then I wrap that section back up and move on to the next section.
It’s important to remember that this method concentrates on your scalp and your ends. Don’t worry, all the massaging you’re doing will get the oil on your hair, but it’s not as important.
When all of the sections are complete, then I get out my heat cap and sit under that for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn’t get as hot as a hair dryer, and because it’s like a helmet, everything heats up evenly. This is the one I use, but this one is also great and it doesn’t stay plugged in, so it’s more green!
After that, I wash my hair and condition/detangle as usual. Since I deep conditioned with the olive oil before I washed, there’s no need for me to do it again after. Sometimes I throw in a tea rinse but usually I just squeeze my hair dry with my favorite towel, and put my hair into two-strand twists as usual.
That’s it!
I’ve practically eliminated my dry scalp using this method. Any dirt/debris on my scalp is loosened which makes washing my hair more effective, and I’ve experienced more hair growth from the scalp massaging. Doing this weekly has also cut down on shedding.
- Do you “pre-poo” What do you do?
