body lotion on your hair

just a bit of personal experience, I tried once throwing a whole bunch of jergens lotion on my hair and wrapping it with a plastic cap at night and washing it out the next day, (shampoo and conditioner) It washed out nicely, and made my hair smooth and shiny and not too oily. The only downside is it did itch a bit during the night so I agree you just don't know what stuff is going to do to you, but I did it because I didn't have anything else but standard wash out conditioner and I wanted a deep conditioning...I guess I should have used mayo or whatever lol.

Wendy

Kuroneko, thanks for bringing us back on topic. I remember you mentioning that you didn't have much luck with Garnier Fructis. Given your experience with GF, I bet St. Ives (with silicones?) did something similar. I've done the same thing with jojoba oil... sometimes the crunch doesn't show until the next morning!  

Taggi I totally forgot to address your original question. Body lotion may have similar ingredients as some hair conditioners, but it shouldn't substitute for a hair conditioner. Skin is much more absorbent than hair, so lotion is going to be much richer and more moisturizing than hair can usually handle. (As Eatgreenjello said, this means using a lot less lotion than expected.)

At the same time, manufacturers tend to put a lot more ingredients into lotions than some varieties of cheaper conditioner... so it's hard to be picky about things like silicones, petrolatum/petroleum, various oils, etc. when looking through ingredients in lotion. Normally, this results in compromising a hair routine with ingredients a person would normally avoid, especially silicones or parabens if you avoid them. Edited to add: A lotions can also have the exact ingredients as a conditioner, but in different proportions (therefore meant for a different purpose). my point: it's harder to have good long-term success with a lotion than something meant for hair.

I think one of the main questions is not "whether a person should use lotion on their hair", but "whether it would work if you have nothing else to use". If lotion works for you then that's great though  

Some leave-in conditioners include:
Giovanni Direct Leave-in (no silicones, available on HBMP)
Beauty Without Cruelty Leave-in Conditioner ("Revitalize") (no silicones)
Thermasilk Detangler/Leave-in Conditioner (contains silicones and silk protein)
Bumble and Bumble Leave-in

Hope this helps someone.

Hugs
Anais

Hi Harvard,

Taggi has given good advice about where to oil  Acne-prone areas such as the hairline should not be oiled, nor is it necessary to oil them.... then again, areas like the hairline and temples are prone to breakouts anyway. Sweat transfers residue from hair conditioner, mousse, hairspray, and other gunk. In this case, it's hard to tell whether the problem is the hair product or the natural scalp oils. 

It is also difficult to avoid oiling only the hair's length. Bangs, roots, and shorter areas will inevitably transfer an amount of oil to skin or scalp, or simply by human error. Dry scalps can also benefit from an application of oil immediately before shampooing (which is why brown sugar scalp scrubs can be mixed with your favorite natural oil).
I still stand by my research that there are alternatives to mineral oil that have better properties. Nut and plant-based oils tend to absorb better into skin, and many of them have miscellaneous healing properties (jojoba, for example tends to have a small degree of anti-inflammatory and helps rash. and shea butter greatly helps my eczema patches). Natural nut/plant oils can also be used in greater quantities before it starts to 'feel greasy'.
Still, some people can use mineral oil with a lot of success (excluding myself and many friends), and there's one upside: baby oil / mineral oil is really affordable and easy to find.  

I've done pre-wash oiling between 30 minutes to 4 hours before a hairwash. Oiling routines are mostly personal preference and mostly derived from experimentation. Most of the time it doesn't make a difference how long you wait after application, as long as it's more than a few minutes. The point of oil is to prevent the hairwash from removing moisture and natural oils that your scalp produces. These days I apply a fingernail scrape of shea to the length (mostly the ends) on each of the two days before my hairwash. On the right day, I do a full length hairwash and that gets all of it out.

Hope this helps.

Anais 

I posted my negative reviews about "mineral oil" but baby oil and mineral oil are the same thing.

Baby oil / mineral oil usually causes more dryness, and most importantly it causes breakouts by clogging pores.

Sorry for the confusion.

Some good plant-based oils include jojoba oil, coconut oil, sweet almond oil, macadamia nut [ditto], avocado, flaxseed, broccoli seed, sunflower, and shea oil or shea butter. (my oil reviews here, and more information about oil use can be found here)

Hairboutique Marketplace sells name brand jojoba oil.
a trusted American vendor
another trusted American vendor
a Canadian vendor
CranberryLane, another Canadian vendor

Please note, oils will not solve people's hair problems as effectively as a change in wash routine.

HB has had threads on oil.

Anais