How Often Should I Oil My Hair? (Spoiler: Your Grandma Was Wrong About Coconut Oil) 🥥

Listen up. I'm going to tell you the only truth that matters in a world determined to sell you falsehoods wrapped in hibiscus packaging. The question is: How often should you oil your hair?

The short answer, if you want long, healthy, and genuinely shiny hair that doesn't just snap off when you look at it sideways, is daily. Every. Single. Day. No, I am not kidding. Seriously. Stop acting like I asked you to put pineapple on a Neapolitan pizza—this is mandatory.

Now, let me explain you why I am right and why you are wrong. 😠

Part I: The Hair Industry Is a Lie (And You Are Its Victim)

Most people are stuck in a cycle of pure misery. They have what I call the "Short Hair Hamster Wheel":

1. Buy random products promising magic growth.

2. Products leave a gummy film or dry out the hair.

3. Ends split because they are brittle.

4. Get a "frequent trim" to remove the split ends.

5. Hair remains the same length.

6. Start cycle over.

   
   

Bold move. Unwise, but bold.

You’ve been told that cutting hair makes it grow faster. No. Absolutely not. That is the hair equivalent of trying to fix a leaky faucet by wiping up the water on the floor. Hair grows from the root. It's a dead, keratinized filament once it pops out of your scalp. If your hair isn’t getting longer, the reason is simple, pathetic math: the rate of breakage is equal to or greater than the rate of growth.

The real villain here is not heat styling (when done responsibly, with a 3-day rest period, and a proper leave-in, you’re fine). The real villain is dehydration. Ninety percent—90!—of your hair problems stem from dryness. Dehydration. Your hair is porous, like an old ceramic jug. Damage from colour, friction, sun, or just life itself creates microscopic cracks in the protective outer layer—the cuticle. Moisture bleeds out constantly. The ends? They’re the oldest, most exposed part, and they are crying out for help. They dry out, they fracture, they split. They break off.

This cycle, this Dehydration Death Spiral, is precisely why the concept of oiling daily is not a luxury. It is a daily maintenance requirement. It's the only way to seal those fractures and stop the ends from cannibalizing themselves.

The Problem With Grandma's Recipe 🥥

This is the point where half of you are nodding, maybe thinking, Aha! I oil! I use coconut oil once a week! And I have to stop you. Because using coconut oil or castor oil from your kitchen is actually making the problem worse, which, by the way, nobody tells you about.

It all comes down to molecular weight.

The history books love to talk about ancient Egyptians using castor oil and Indians using coconut oil. Look, I get it. Egyptians used the castor oil plant to promote growth (as far back as the Ebers Papyrus!) and the ancient Greeks bathed in olive oil. They used what they had, which, okay, was fine for 10,000 BCE.

But we live in the 21st century. We have chemistry. We have Netfilx. We have goth girls in fishnets.

• Coconut and Castor Oil are heavy. They have bulky, long-chain fatty acids. This means they are fantastic sealing agents, great for very thick, coarse, high-porosity hair, or for a deep pre-wash treatment... if you use the correct, professional-grade stuff. When you use the cheap cooking stuff, the large molecules mostly sit on top of the hair shaft. They create a thick, greasy, disgusting film.

  
  

• What happens? The hair feels heavy, looks greasy faster, attracts dirt, and feels "gunky." This forces you into a situation where you think, "Ugh, my hair is oily, I need to wash it more often!" You wash more often, you strip more natural moisture, the ends get drier, and you are right back in the spiral.

  
  

A quality, modern, professional hair oil (like Olaplex No. 7 or a refined Argan blend for fine hair) is a different beast entirely. It contains refined, short-chain molecules that can actually penetrate the outer cuticle to supplement the internal lipids and fatty acids, strengthening the cortex, not just coating the outside. This is a scientific process. It's about providing internal flexibility and external lubrication. It's about giving your hair the food it needs, not covering it in an unnecessary plastic bag.

Part II: The Mandatory Healthy Hair Routine (The Only One That Matters)

Oiling daily is useless if your washing habits are trash. They are connected. Your hair gets greasy too fast not because you oil it, but because you are failing at the single most important technique in hair care: Shampoo Kung Fu.

I swear, the sheer ignorance around this is why I need a cappuccino after 12 PM, and that's just a recipe for insomniac anarchy. Let me explain you why I am right and why you are wrong about washing your own hair.

The Three Deadly Sins of Washing

Sin 1: The Lather & Plop

You squirt shampoo into your palm, furiously lather it up, and then you "plop" the resulting foam onto the top of your head. This is wrong.

When shampoo foams, it expands, and that foam gets trapped in the hair strands on the top of your head. It never actually gets down to the scalp, which is the single area that produces all the oil. You're cleaning your hair, but not your scalp. Which is kind of a mess.

The Fix: You must apply the shampoo while it is still in a liquid form. Part your hair and press the liquid directly onto the scalp in three zones: the dirty, often-missed back of the head, the top, and the sides.

Sin 2: The Gentle Palm Swirl

Once the shampoo is on your head, you gently swirl it around with your palms. No. Absolutely not. Your scalp oil is a sticky, stubborn barrier. You’re not doing dishes; you’re lifting heavy oil.

If you are just splishing and splashing, you are being the classic example of The Office’s Michael Scott trying to fix a problem: you’re creating noise and chaos but solving nothing. Remember when he thought he could run a marathon but only made it a mile? That’s your single wash.

The Fix: Use your fingertips—not your nails—and vigorously scrub the scalp. Physically break up the oil layer. Lift it. This allows the shampoo to bind to the oil and lift it completely away. This also, bonus, increases blood flow, which is a genuine factor in follicle health, unlike that stupid rice water.

Sin 3: The Single-Wash Scam

If you don't double-wash, you are leaving oil, dead skin, and bacteria trapped between the hair follicles. That leftover residue is why your hair looks greasy and starts to smell funny by day two.

The Fix: Always wash twice. The first wash is the rough draft, removing surface dirt and some oil. The second wash, applied with the same Kung Fu technique, actually gets your hair perfectly clean. When your hair is perfectly clean, your style lasts longer, which means you wash less, which prevents dryness, which prevents breakage. It’s a beautiful, scientific, self-fulfilling prophecy.

The Correct Conditioning Protocol (Don't Be a Fool)

When you're done with the double-scrub, you must condition correctly.

1. Squeeze the water out. If your hair is dripping wet, the water dilutes the conditioner, and it just slides off the hair shaft, doing nothing.

2. Apply only to mids and ends. The oil you scrubbed away was at the root. The conditioner's job is to close the cuticle and reintroduce healthy lipids to the dry, old parts of the hair. Applying it near the root makes hair heavy and greasy faster.

Part III: The Daily Oil Mandate and The Growth Myth

So, now you’ve washed your hair correctly. It’s squeaky clean. Now what? Now we introduce the crucial final steps of the Healthy Hair Routine (The Only One That Matters).

The single most important purpose of the entire routine is to prevent breakage. Because—and I’m going to yell this until my voice is gone, like a public loudspeaker playing bad Europop—hair growth is protection, not supplementation.

Your hair is always growing. Your mission is to make sure the hair that left your scalp six months ago doesn't snap off six inches lower.

Why You Oil Daily: The Drip-Feed System

Think of your ends. They are the furthest point from the natural scalp oil (sebum). They are, by definition, moisture-starved. You can use the world's most luxurious mask on wash day, but within 24 hours, the moisture starts bleeding out of those microscopic cuticle holes.

Daily oiling is the solution. It's a drip-feed system.

1. Post-Wash: You apply your leave-in conditioner (the protective barrier) on your mids and lenghts. Then, you apply a few drops of high-quality oil to your mids and ends to seal that moisture in and nourish the cortex.

2. Every Morning: When you brush your hair, you apply one or two more drops of oil to your hands and gently work it into your mids and ends. That's it. Two minutes of effort.

This consistent, daily application ensures the ends never reach the critical dryness threshold where they become brittle and fracture. This is what allows that half-inch of monthly root growth to actually accumulate as length. You will add inches in mere months just by consistently protecting the hair you already have.

This is the principle of Death Note. Light Yagami had the power (the growth) but had to be meticulous and repetitive in his actions (the daily oiling) to achieve his goal. If he'd forgotten one step, the whole plan would collapse. If you forget the daily oil, your length collapses. Simple.

Don't Fall for the Trend Trap

The worst thing you can do now is fall for another Trend Trap—like those scalp scrubs and exfoliating routines.

I searched the internet for the science behind hair porosity, and what you find is that damaged, high-porosity hair (which is most of us) needs moisture and sealing. You do not need aggressive, acidic exfoliants unless you have a genuine medical issue. Your scalp is not a kitchen counter that needs sanding down! If you scrub your scalp aggressively, you create irritation, inflammation, and potential hair loss. The oil will come back, the inflammation will stay. Stop.

Focus on the two true ingredients for long hair:

1. Protection: Leave-in conditioner (root to tip).

2. Moisture Retention: High-quality hair oil (ends only), applied daily.

Questions From The Internet

I have fine, thin hair. Won't daily oiling make it look limp and greasy?

Yes. If you use cheap, heavy oil or apply it near your roots, it will look like you’ve been sweating in a sauna for three days straight. That is not the oil’s fault; that is a user error. You must select a lightweight, non-comedogenic oil with a smaller molecular structure, not the thick stuff meant for coarse hair. And the application is key: one single drop, rubbed between your palms, then lightly patted over your mids and ends. We are talking about micronutrients here, not a full marinade. If you can feel the oil, you used too much. If your hair is perfectly clean (thanks to your new Shampoo Kung Fu), it will absorb that small daily amount without fail.

I want to use a hot oil treatment for deep conditioning. Should I use olive oil for that?

No. You shouldn't be marinating your hair with Italian leftovers, no matter how much those ancient Romans liked it. While research confirms that heat helps oils penetrate faster—because heat increases molecular mobility and temporarily expands the cuticle—you must use the right oil. Olive oil is primarily a sealer with large molecules. If you want a deep treatment, use a professional hair mask (the one that specifically says mask and penetrates deep) or, if you must use an oil, use a quality refined penetrating oil (coconut oil is actually penetrable due to its lauric acid, but only when it's high quality, not the cooking kind). The point is to put the right molecule where it needs to go, not just make a mess. If you want to use heat, apply the correct product, wrap your head in a warm towel, and relax. Don't use food; you can't eat the hair, you can't feed the dead hair. Simple.

Affiliate Disclaimer: Listen, I’m an honest man, which is why I’m telling you the truth about your hair and why I hate pineapple on pizza. If you buy the products I recommend—which are the only products that actually work, by the way—I might get a tiny cut. This doesn't make the products any better or worse; it just means I can afford more quality espresso to keep these truth bombs coming. So, yeah. Deal with it. I'm helping you; help me.