As a South Asian girl, you might think hair oiling is embedded into my beauty routine. This is partly true, but only when I head to Bangladesh for long summers. When I'm at home in London, not so much.
Over the years, my beauty regime has become rushed and I always look for simple and quick fixes. But when my hair started to fall out rapidly, I knew I had to change my routine. I ditched shampoos with sulphate in and had endless blood tests, but I still had no idea why I was losing so much hair.
Hair loss
I hated seeing the clumps of loose strands on my hairbrush, so I turned to my ancestors for inspiration and decided to add hair oiling back to my haircare routine, in the hope of saving my strands.
Hair oiling
My first foray into oiling was with coconut oil; my mum would massage the oil into my hair and scalp, always reminding me, "This is better than conditioner, this is food for your hair".
I always found hair oiling to be a chore, having to time it for when I was staying indoors so that no one would see my greasy hair. Now that we can work from home, I have embraced the opportunity to oil my hair on the days I work at home.
Tackling hair loss
There's no immediate fix for hair loss, so as well as hair oiling, I incorporated other treatments for a double-pronged attack. I visited Nez Hassan, who is experienced with treating hair loss on the hairline/scalp, brows and beard.
A popular hair growth technician, I began visiting her for vitamin treatments, as this seemed the least intimidating option for tacking hair loss – I wasn't ready to try the injectable salmon sperm treatment that went viral on social media!
"Hair oiling protects your scalp and hair from damage," explains Nez on why it helps with hair loss. "It keeps your hair and scalp nourished and hydrated, can increase the speed of hair growth as well as helping it to grow in areas you've lost hair.
"Your scalp and hair go through a lot with so much product, using styling tools and any dye that you apply - and the trend of slicked-back hair isn't helping either. We don't realise how much hair can fall out due to continuous tightness.
"Using a hair oiling method will help to grow back damaged areas especially if you are hair oiling on a regular basis."
What I liked about Nez's treatment was that the main priority is to help stimulate hair follicles, using a specially formulated Salon Pro-Use Hairgredients Oil combined with their latest and most effective Microneedling Medical Grade II device.
The device is proven to help rejuvenate and penetrate the top layer of the skin to support collagen production to stimulate hair growth. The hair mask oil contains high amounts of antioxidants, vitamin E and biotin – a winning combination.
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Of the treatment, Nez says: "The Hair Vitamin Treatment is conducted with a medical grade needle that gently punctures the skin to open the hair follicles. We then apply and massage our in-salon hair oil - this will help to activate and stimulate your hair follicles especially if you are struggling with hair loss.
"This treatment is designed to firstly maintain healthy scalp and hair and secondly help increase hair growth."
Did the treatment work?
Over time, as I made hair oiling a regular part of my routine, I slowly noticed subtle changes. My once-frizzy strands started to tame themselves, becoming smoother and more manageable. Even on days when I skipped styling products, my hair still maintained a healthy shine and bounce that I had previously thought was unattainable.
Aside from this treatment and regular hair oiling, I have introduced a supplement to my routine – Viviscal Healthy Hair Supplements, as per Nez's advice and recommendation. When our B12 levels are low, hair follicles may not be able to grow new hair efficiently. These hair supplements will add extra help as they replace the minerals that support hair growth and health that you may be lacking.
Following my new routine, what surprised me most was the marked improvement in my scalp health. Gone were the days of itchiness and flakiness; instead I was in possession of a well-nourished scalp that no longer felt irritated or dry.
Although my journey with hair loss is still ongoing, adding oil to my routine has benefited my strands and nurtured the very roots from which they grew.