How to read a hair oil label

Ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity. The first two or three make up the overwhelming majority of what is in the bottle. Everything after that is present in progressively smaller amounts, and the tail end of a long list may be fractions of a percent.

So a product named after a botanical, with that botanical appearing tenth in the list, is mostly something else. That is not automatically bad, since it needs a carrier, but it does tell you what you are buying.

Almost every hair oil is mostly a carrier oil with other things infused into or added to it. The carrier matters, because it is most of the product.

Plant carriers

Coconut, sesame, almond, sunflower and similar. These are triglycerides from seeds or fruit, and they interact with hair to different degrees. Coconut oil is unusual in being able to penetrate the hair shaft somewhat rather than sitting purely on the surface.

Mineral oil

Listed as mineral oil, paraffinum liquidum, liquid paraffin or white oil. Petroleum derived, inert, cheap and stable. It sits on the surface and does not penetrate. It is not dangerous, and it is genuinely effective at reducing friction and slowing water loss.

The honest position: mineral oil is a functional ingredient with real uses. The problem is a product marketed as a traditional herbal preparation whose first ingredient is paraffinum liquidum, which is a pricing and honesty issue rather than a safety one.

• Natural. Not a regulated term in this context. Anything can claim it.
• Chemical free. Physically meaningless; water is a chemical.
• Ayurvedic, used loosely. Meaningful when it describes a recognised formulation and licence, decorative when it is on the front of a bottle with no supporting detail.
• Cold pressed, when applied to a whole blend rather than a specific oil. A blend cannot be cold pressed; a component can.
• Dermatologically tested. Tells you a test happened, not what the result was.
• Enriched with, followed by a botanical. Compatible with a trace amount.
• Non-sticky, fast absorbing. Sensory descriptions, not composition.

• A full ingredient list. Its absence is itself informative.
• Net quantity, clearly stated.
• Manufacturer or packer name and address.
• A manufacturing date and a best-before or use-by period. Oils oxidise.
• A batch number, which matters if there is ever a problem.
• Country of origin.
• For products claiming Ayurvedic status, a licence number.

In India these declarations are largely required under the Legal Metrology rules for pre-packaged goods. A bottle missing several of them is worth a second thought.

Fragrance or parfum can cover a large number of undisclosed components, and fragrance is among the more common causes of contact reactions. If you have reacted to products before, a shorter list with no added fragrance narrows the variables.

Essential oils are not a safe alternative by default. They are potent, and several are common sensitisers. Botanical origin says nothing about reactivity, which is why patch testing is worth the trouble.

Plant oils oxidise when exposed to heat, light and air. Oxidised oil smells sharp or crayon-like, and it is not doing your hair any favours.

Keep bottles out of direct sun and away from the shower's heat, close them properly, and trust your nose. If it smells wrong, stop using it regardless of the date printed on it.