Does An Olive Oil Hair Mask Actually Work?

Chances are, if you’ve been on TikTok in the last week, you’ve already seen that one viral video documenting one woman’s olive oil hair mask saga – set to a backdrop of a stunned Pepé the King Prawn and a chorus rendition of Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’. (And if you haven’t, you can watch it here.)

While most of the internet is fixated on the chaos of the story – 57.2 million views don’t lie – those on BeautyTok are a little more preoccupied with the ‘beauty hack’ itself. So the question is: does an olive oil hair mask actually do anything for your hair? Let’s find out.

What Is An Olive Oil Hair Mask?

As you can probably tell from the name, an olive oil hair mask is an at-home beauty treatment which promises to improve the condition of your hair. It’s thought that olive oil, a natural emollient, can work as a moisturising agent for dry, dull-looking hair.

@clarissapisciina Homemade Mask No more dry tips! #hair #haircare #hairgrow #haircareroutine #wavyhairtutorial #wavyhair #rosmarywater #rosmary #rosmaryoilgrowth #rosmaryoilforhair #fyp #viral #viralvideo #honey #oil ♬ Chosen (feat. Ty Dolla $ign) – Blxst & Tyga & Ty Dolla $ign

How To Make An Olive Oil Hair Mask

Creators have taken to putting their own spin on the ‘recipe’ for an olive oil hair mask – adding other ingredients like honey, egg and shea butter – but we’ve stuck to the classic version. Here’s how to make (and use) one at home:

You’ll Need

• 2 to 4 tablespoons of olive oil (depending on hair length and thickness)

Method

1. Warm The Olive Oil: Warm the olive oil in 10-second increments in the microwave. Stir the oil with a spoon to ensure an even temperature. Be careful not to let it get too hot.
2. Apply The Mask: Apply the warmed olive oil to dry hair, starting from the roots and working your way down to the ends. Massage the oil into your hair thoroughly.
3. Cover & Wait: Cover your hair with a shower cap or wrap it with a towel to trap the heat. (If you want to avoid the same fate as olive oil girl, we’d recommend skipping over the saran wrap.)
4. Rinse: Leave the mask on for 15 to 30 minutes. Then, rinse your hair with warm water and shampoo as usual. You may need to shampoo twice to remove all the oil.

@dorealasmrYou don’t need expensive conditioners to make your hair healthy and shiny. Honey, olive oil & egg is all you need♬ y o u l i k e i t – ➷｡˚ ೃ࿔₊

Are There Any Benefits?

While you might be sceptical, it’s generally believed that olive oil can provide a whole host of benefits for your hair. These include:

Moisturising & Conditioning

The biggest appeal to this beauty hack, by far. Olive oil is rich in fatty acids, particularly oleic and linoleic acid. This is thought to help deeply moisturise and condition the hair, leaving it soft, smooth and more manageable.

Manageability & Shine

This moisturising capability can also make hair more manageable by smoothing and softening it, reducing frizz and adding shine to the hair.

@arveen.raza Olive oil hair mask resultss #curlyhairroutine #curlyhair #fyp #doctor #healthcare #hairoil ♬ original sound – Arveen Raza

Reduced Damage & Breakage

The antioxidants and fatty acids in olive oil also help protect the hair from damage caused by heat, chemicals and environmental stressors – reducing breakage and split ends.

Hair Strength & Growth

There’s also plenty of nutrients in olive oil, including vitamins A and E, as well as antioxidants like oleocanthal. These potentially help strengthen the hair shaft and promote healthier hair growth by reducing inflammation-caused hair loss.

Are There Any Cons?

As you might expect, there are indeed limitations to this at-home fix (other than causing a commotion in the middle of the night).

Beauty influencer Jenn Alvarado emphasises that this isn’t a ‘one fits all’ solution. ‘Olive oil – if you have super thin hair, you probably shouldn’t be using olive oil,’ she says in a TikTok video. ‘It’s going to weigh your hair down. If you have thicker hair, maybe you’ve kinda seen some improvements – but again, this is a quick fix. This isn’t actually improving anything, it just makes your hair look or feel a little bit better. But it’s not doing anything for you in the long run.’

@_jennalvarado DIY hair oil treatments- Olive oil #hairtreatment #oiltreatment #haircare #growthtips #hairoil #diyoiltreatment ♬ original sound – Jenn Alvarado

Using olive oil on your scalp also runs the risk of increased dandruff – an issue which Dr Luke Maxfield, a physician and dermatologist, alludes to in one of his TikTok videos. ‘Any. Other. Oil. Would be a better,’ he captions. ‘Quite literally any other oil. Pro inflammatory, bad for the scalp skin barrier and From JAMA 2012 “…olive oil is a standard in vitro culture media for Malassezia” Literally feeding your dandruff with this one.’

@dr.ljmaxfield Any. Other. Oil. Would be a better. Quite literally any other oil. Pro inflammatory, bad for the scalp skin barrier and From JAMA 2012 “…olive oil is a standard in vitro culture media for Malassezia” Literally feeding your dandruff with this one. #hair #haircare #dandruff #seborheicdermatitis #flakyscalp #skincare #skincare101 #dermatologist ♬ MILLION DOLLAR BABY (VHS) – Tommy Richman

Jenn also points out that there isn’t any concrete backing behind claims that olive oil can help with specific haircare concerns. ‘There’s actually no real scientific evidence that olive oil even helps with hair growth, which is something I used to hear [claimed] a lot,’ she says. ‘I think it’s been tested on mice, but not humans. So there’s no scientific evidence that it even helps with that.’

So, take it all with a pinch of salt (or a tablespoon of olive oil).

Featured image: Kristaps Grundsteins, Unsplash