Make Your Carrier Oils For Your Hair Last Longer

How to make your Carrier oils last longer

Hey Curly's

I purchased some vegetable oils for my hair a while ago, and went to reach for one to make my hair oil and to my surprise it smelled funny. No that was a understatement it was down right funky. LOL! It was rancid or spoiled if you will, and i could have kicked myself because thinking back i remembered i didn't do much to try to extend the life of my precious oils. I mean I paid enough for them why not try to make them last? So i remembered what i learned when i would make my homemade soaps that there are steps you can take to preserve your oils a bit. So here's a little of what I know about it.


Carrier oils (soft oils) by nature are unsaturated fats which mean they go rancid after a period of time. Because they are more receptive to oxygen than saturated fats they oxidize and smell funny.

Because solid oils (hard oils) such as coconut oil, palm oil, or nut butters are saturated fats they do not need to be preserved making their shelf life extremely long.

So to extend the shelf life of your liquid oils, as well as extend the life of soap for all the natural soap makers. it is a good idea to add vitamin E oil to act as a preservative. It is best to use a antioxidant such as a mixed-tocopherol vitamin E for the best benefit.


Vitamin E is composed of many types of tocopherols, such as alpha, gamma, and omega,


Alpha are especially good effective for healing the skin, so as a mixed tocopherol vitamin E your getting the optimum preservative in vitamin E oil.



Rosemary extract is an excellent antioxidant



Grapefruit seed oil is not an antioxidant but it does have anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.

So you paid your money for those oils and some can be costly so extend the shelf life.

Do we really need a leave-in conditioner?

So we co-wash with conditioner, we condition with conditioner, and we deep condition. So do we still need a leave in?

Well that depends on what your hair needs. As naturals the one thing our hair needs is the holy grail which is moisture. Leave in conditioners temporarily moisturizes in the same way moisturizers for the face or body do.

Leave-In's help to condition and moisturize, smooth, and protect the hair . Most leave in conditioners often use some form of silicon to coat the hair & make the cuticles lay flat so it appears to be healthy. The main problem with cones is that it doesn't wash off the hair easily leaving a nasty build up on the hair which means your hair cannot absorb moisture from conditioner. Some naturals just leave in their regular conditioner , some use the infamous glycerin and water mixture, and some buy a separate leave in conditioner. Everybody hair is different and we each know what our individual hair needs and what it doesn’t. What works for me may not work for you and vice versa.





I decided before I went out to buy a leave in conditioner or any other conditioner for that matter I would use all the conditioners I have hoarded underneath my bathroom sink. Either these conditioners were never used or were just left over, because before I knew better I always ran out of shampoo way before I did the conditioner. ( how many can relate to that one?) So I had a bottle of Nexxus Humectress and Nexxus Headress weightless leave in conditioner. I grabbed a spray bottle and added


1/4 cup Headress (moisture w/protein)
1/2 cup Humectress (moisturizing)
1/4 cup Water (enough to thin )
2tsp olive oil or coconut oil
1tbsp honey (humectant) or glycerin. Because my hair is sensitive to glycerin, I do not use it.
1tsp vitamin E oil
2 Evening Primrose Capsules (I also take them orally daily)
10 drops rosemary essential oil
5 drops sage essential oil
5 drops of Tea tree oil.

After Co-Washing or Shampooing I part my hair in sections and spray, and massage throughout my hair.