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Best Oils for Dreadlocks To Apply On Your Locs

Having beautiful and cool dreadlocks is not enough. You should have healthy beautiful dreadlocks. In order to maintain the nice looking and healthy locs, you should keep them moisturized enough.

The simple ways to keep your dreads and scalp hydrated are: drink more water, keep a good diet, or sleep with a stocking cap.

Also, there are some haircare products you might consider purchasing are: conditioner, essential oils, and natural oils.

This article will show you how to choose the best haircare for your locs and moisturize your dreads the right way.

Why using oil for dreadlocks?

Using oil is an efficient way to moisturize black people’s hair for ages. It is especially perfect for dreadlocks because your locks tend to become dry and brittle over time, and chemical products are likely to leave buildups on your hair.

Oil when combined with other moisturizers is a great way to seal moisture in your hair follicle. A proper care with organic-based oil will always keep your locks soft and strong from the inside out.

Can You Put Oil on Dreads?

Since oil such as essential oils or natural oils are also considered as hair care products, oil with the right amount is okay to put on your dreadlocks and your scalp.

Once you apply oil to your scalp and your locs, the oil will create a seal to prevent water and the natural oil (another name is “sebum”) produced by your scalp from escaping, which keeps your dreads hydrated.

However, don’t assume that you can use any oil at any time since the oil is good for the locks. Keep reading to find out how to use it right.

How Often Should You Oil Your Dreadlocks?

When you’re thirsty, you need water. The same goes for your locs. To add moisture to them, oil alone doesn’t do the job well. You also need to combine it with water.

There are 3 main methods to apply oil to your locs, each will have their own schedule:

  • Moisture your dreadlocks in between shampoo – can use it daily: combining water, essential oils and natural oil into a spray. Spraying it to your dreads and scalp and giving them a massage for better absorption.
  • Apply the oil after shampoo – when you feel your locs dry and brittle: once you finish shampooing and drying your locs, applying oil on the dry and breakage areas can help make your locs softer and vibrant. If your scalp is having dandruff, you can consider using a few more essential oil drops such as tea tree oil for better healing.
  • Give your dreads hot oil treatment: once a week: this is great for the really dry dreads. Warm up your oil and apply it to the dreads, keep pressing them to make sure the oil is well absorbed.

Should You Condition Dreadlocks?

Conditioner is also a good product to provide your hair with vitamin and keep it moist.

However, it’s hard to clear up all the residue of the conditioner out of your locs, even when you do wash your locs thoroughly.

The build-up, if staying on your locs and scalp for a long time, can cause scalp irritations, dandruff, smelly odor or even worse – mold.

As conditioner is not good for being a daily care product, we recommend using a conditioner every two weeks, and you should wash your hair and dry it properly.

What Is the Best Oils For Dreadlocks?

Depend on the purpose of taking care of your hair: moisturizing or healing, there are 2 main types of oils that are good for your dreads:

Essential oils

They play an important role in anti-inflammatory and healing scalp issues such as: itchy or dandruff.

This type of oil is so strong even with only a few drops, so take note that essential oils can not be applied alone on your scalp, you need to combine it with the carrier oil.

Essential oils without fat will be great for your scalp and dreads. Some effective and easy to find oils are: lemon oil, lavender oil, rosemary oil, tea tree oil, and so on.

Natural oils or Carrier oils

This oil type is more about giving your hair moisture. They contain amino acids and vitamins (A, B, E), which ensure your hair is healthier, shinier and softer.

Some popular oils are: avocado oils, coconut oil, grape oil, olive oil, etc.

Oil should be used in deep conditioning or hot oil treatment for your mature dreads once or twice per month.

When it comes to daily moisturizing locks, it turns out not to be a good candidate, indeed. You can choose between using moisturizing mist, or combining natural oil with aloe vera juice.

Natural oil will be best to moisturize dreadlocks, below is the list of oils that we highly recommend using on your locks:

Olive oil

Olive oil is not only a staple in kitchens but also in beauty caring. You should buy the extra virgin olive oil to apply on your hair because it is pure with no industrial additives.

Olive oil will help nourish your scalp and your hair, thereby keeping it soft and moist.

Avocado oil

If you expect a kind of oil which doesn’t give your hair a greasy look, avocado oil will be ideal. It is superb rich in vitamins, nutrients, and fatty acids.

Therefore, your locks will be strengthened from the inside out.

Coconut oil

This is a great natural oil to heal damaged hair. It penetrates your hair deeply to strengthen it from the inside out.

Therefore, coconut oil also works great on matured and dry dreadlocks. However, you should not use coconut oil too frequently, or it will cause backwash effects.

Argan oil 

Argan oil is a perfect way to moisturize your hair without leaving buildups on your dreadlocks. It is packed with essential nutrients and fatty acids to nourish your hair from root to top.

Basically, most vegetable-based oils are good for your dreadlocks if you properly use them on your hair. In the next section, let’s figure out how to appropriately apply oil to dreadlocks for the best result.

Final Words

It is important to understand that good dreadlock care products don’t do all the job.

Along with giving your hair good shampoo, good conditioner or good oils, you should also keep a healthy living habit in order to make your locs look strong and nice.

Check out our upcoming article about other products to protect your dreadlocks such as stocking cap, dreadlocks scarf wrap here.

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Aida

I’m Aida and this is my blog where I write mostly about beauty & make up related stuff, but I like to spice it up a bit with lifestyle and photography posts. Or with whatever that comes to my mind. Hope you will enjoy the reading enough that we will ‘see’ each other more often!

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