olive oil tress treatment

A natural and effective hair treatment

After spending two sun drenched weeks in Hawaii playing in the salty Pacific Ocean and taking advantage of the natural hair dryer created by a topless rental Jeep, my red tresses needed a major moisture makeover.

My treatment of choice?  Olive oil.  Organic, pure, natural, chemical and chemist free.

The result?  A smooth, shiny, frizz-free, bouncy and healthy head of hair that I would be proud to don on the runway.

It’s a pretty darn easy treatment to figure out, but here are some of my tips in case they can help you avoid any blunders.

Dress for success – Wear an old top that you can live without.  A large neck opening or button-down placket is best.  Why?  You know how impossible it is to get oil stains out of clothing, so don’t risk it.  I suggest identifying one rag-top that you stash in your closet for all messy projects.  It will surely come in handy when painting, dyeing hair, spring cleaning, gardening, etc.

Healthy portions – As you do when dyeing your hair, portion it out in smaller sections using clips.  This step is not absolutely necessary for the oil treatment but I think you’ll find that it makes things less messy.

Saturate your strands - I opted to use my olive oil pour spout and drizzle directly onto my hair as though it were a delicious caprese salad, though you can also pour the oil into a dish and use your fingers or a hair dye brush to apply the oil with some control.  Regardless of the technique you choose, focus on the ends – obviously – which are always the most damaged.  If you have a naturally oily scalp, avoid adding more oil to that area and start applying an inch from the scalp (you will definitely want to portion out your hair of you are going this route).

Lightly place a couple paper towels over your head to catch any drips and cover your head with a plastic disposable cap.

Simmer – You can leave the oil on you hair for as long as you want, but I would suggest no less than 10 minutes.  Since I had some housekeeping to do upon my return from my vacation, I left the oil on my hair for 5 hours as I unpacked, did laundry, washed the dog, watered the plants and fashioned a homemade trap for all the obnoxious fruit flies that were breeding aggressively in my kitchen while I was relaxing on the beach.

Wash up - As you learned in grade school, water and oil don’t mix, so you have to use plenty of shampoo to remove the oil.  But, be careful not to undo the treatment’s hard work by over cleaning your hair (which is probably why it’s damaged in the first place).  Use a mild shampoo and lather once.  Resist the urge to scrub until you’re locks are squeaky clean.  Apply conditioner as usual and rinse.

Serve – Expect your tresses to be oilier than usual – dah.  It may be a good time to finally try out all those up-dos you’ve been planning, but without a doubt you will be left with a rejuvenated coif that is as dahlicious as it is Dahlightful

Enjoy!  laura

Shout out to you Dahlight-ers.  Please send your homemade beauty treatments my way.  I’d love to test them out and then share the best of the best!