So in essence mineral oil isn’t really the evil monster others would have you believe, it won’t in itself break your hair and most hair will tolerate it quite well from time to time. In humid environments, it will also help keep your hair frizz free for longer but in terms of a benefit vs performance ratio, mineral oil will probably come last against the multitude of other vegatable oils* available on the market.
I am reminded of a tv advert I saw some time ago stating that baby oil holds in 10 times more moisture than the average body lotion. Baby oil is largely mineral oil so the statement is probably true. But we wash our skin with soap or shower gel daily before re-applying the baby oil so our skin remains soft and supple. The same should be true of your hair and mineral oil*.
Sorry to be strict but if you are just starting your journey in long hair care then you have no business using mineral oil so put your pink toned hair lotion down and get a nice bottle of coconut oil*, castor oil*, shea butter*, wheat germ oil* etc to use in your hair instead. Until you get used to your new regimen of washing your hair every few days (or at the very least weekly), you really don’t need to be falling back into old habits of ‘moisturizing’ your hair with hair lotion instead of water. Get used to your new regimen first before you can with caution consider using mineral oil again.
If however, you are already well into your hair growth journey and you are retaining length consistently but have this one conditioner with mineral oil* that you absolutely adore then knock yourself out and use it from time to time remembering to shampoo throughly during your next wash.
I’ve spend a good half hour at the beauty supply store looking for a non-mineral-oil containing conditioner before I found one that I didn’t end up buying anyway. I now tend to buy my conditioners from high street pharmacies or the supermarket, yes ‘white girl’ conditioners! Hey, they make my hair feel great without any red flag ingredients. I’d rather have the option of co-washing my hair at the weekend rather than know that I HAVE to shampoo/clarify it so I personally avoid mineral oil.
Quennie Dixon says
It is a problem…