Olive oil isn't just good for your diet. This mainstay of Mediterranean food can also be an ingredient in your hair care routine. Olive oil contains an emollient called squalane that has the power to penetrate deep into your hair follicles without leaving an oily residue behind. Olive oil is also rich in the healing vitamins A and E, allowing it to play a role in repairing damaged cells.
Repairing Damage
The telltale signs of damaged hair--lack of shine, brittle ends and rough texture--all result from a lack of moisture. Damage can come from a variety of sources, including extreme weather, overzealous use of heat to style your hair and chemical treatments like hair color. Whatever caused your hair to dry out, restoring its moisture is the best way to heal it. Olive oil does this in two ways: it penetrates the hair shaft to hydrate your hair, then provides a protective coating on the outside of the hair shaft to seal the moisture in.
Clearing Up Dandruff
Olive oil can also restore moisture to your scalp, where it helps fight the dryness that causes dandruff as well as the itching and flaking that accompany it. Some commercial dandruff treatments contain olive oil--look for versions that list olive oil in the first few ingredients to ensure you get a product with a high concentration of olive oil. You can also rub a few drops of olive oil directly onto your scalp, massaging vigorously, to achieve the same results.
Increasing Shine
Olive oil coats the outer layer of your hair shaft--called the cuticle--smoothing flyaways and split ends. This gives your hair a smooth, flat surface that reflects light, making your hair look shinier and glossier. You can use it as you would any shine enhancer by smoothing a tiny amount of the oil through your hair to eliminate frizz. You can also massage a generous amount of olive oil through your hair like a deep conditioning treatment and let it sit, wrapped in a towel or shower cap, for 30 minutes before rinsing it completely with warm water.
Treating Head Lice
Working through affected hair with a fine-tooth comb is one of the most effective ways to get rid of head lice, but it can be a long and arduous process. MedLine Plus, the health information resource maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, says rubbing a little olive oil into your hair before you get started can make it easier to comb out the lice.
References
- "Natural Beauty at Home: More Than 250 Easy to Use Recipes for Body, Bath and Hair" (revised edition); Janice Cox; 2002
- CareFair: The Benefits of Olive Oil
- MedLinePlus: Head lice
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