Since I have very long hair, conditioning it is serious business, and there are very few products that would impress me beyond the first couple of rinses.

I’m totally a fan of Kerastase, but it’s expensive to keep up, especially if you need a lot of it to make it work.

Since I was a teenager, I used oil on my hair to transform it from dull locks to mirror shiny tresses. Although I see some advice articles recommending a bit of oil to be smeared on after washing your hair, I prefer to oil my hair for at least half an hour and then shampoo it off. Normally, I would smooth some into my hair and tie it into a pony tail and then work out or run for an hour. The longer you leave in the oil, the more stunning your hair will look and feel.

Putting on oil after a wash doesn’t do it for me — it’s just too oily and my hair gets all clumpy. But would a normal shampoo work on oiled hair? No, using a shampoo for dry hair will not remove all the oil, so opting for a clarifying shampoo makes sense. The Body Shop’s Nettle Oil Balance Shampoo works wonders, and I would highly recommend it to those who have an oily scalp. Clairol’s Drama Clean is excellent, too.

So I started with olive oil, and then progressed to mustard seed oil, which is much more moisturizing than the former. Although mustard seed oil has a miraculous effect on limp, dry hair, it smells baaaad. Even after years of using it, I still think it’s unpleasant. But it’s not so strong that your shampoo can’t take its pungent nature away.

What’s another good oil that smells great and does the job? Almond oil. I received L’Occitane’s almond-scented Supple Skin Oil as a gift and swooned at the gorgeous scent.

Unfortunately, I don’t usually lather oil on my skin so I thought, “Hey, I’ll use it on my hair!” Alright, you’re thinking, doesn’t the label say it’s for skin? Well, my personal opinion is, it’s oil and it ain’t gonna wreck your hair. It’s not like I’m slathering hair conditioner on my thighs.

Anyway, this is an excellent treatment for your hair once a week and I can guarantee that whatever shampoo you use, the sexy almond scent will shine through. It makes my long, thick hair shiny, soft, and more manageable. It is a fairly pricey product but you only need a little each time, and believe me when I say it, it’s been two years since I started using this bottle and it still has about 10 per cent left.

I would probably buy a bottle of pure almond oil to put in my hair when this finishes. I’ve tried sniffing those in the baking section at the supermarket and they smell awesome. Remember, oil is oil — it’ll do the job. In fact, the more natural it is, the better it would be for your hair, I reckon.

Related posts:

1. Ma Cherie Review: Smells nice but…
2. A deconstruction of Japanese shampoos Part Two
3. A deconstruction of Japanese shampoos Part One