When your hair looks limp and greasy again by lunchtime, a quick tweak to your shampoo can help cut through that extra oil without turning wash day into a chemistry project. This simple oily hair treatment blends straight into the shampoo you already use, so you can wash, rinse, and move on with your life (always a lovely feature).
Making your own costs less than buying a separate oil-control shampoo. Using Walmart’s current price for a 12 fl oz oily-hair shampoo at $8.97, this treatment uses about 1/4 cup of regular shampoo plus a little aloe vera gel and lemon juice, so the batch itself is only a small fraction of that cost while letting you control the scent and skip extra specialty products you may not need.
You’ll need just 3 materials for this batch: aloe vera gel, lemon juice, and shampoo. The original method does not name a finished container or batch size beyond the mixed treatment itself, and it only requires a small bowl or cup plus something to stir with before you wash your hair.
- 🧰 Materials You'll Need
- 🔧 Tools/Equipment
- 🛠️ How to Make Oily Hair Treatment
- 🛠️ How to Use It
- 🎨 Customization Ideas
- 🛡️ Safety Information
- 💸 Cost Breakdown
- 🛍️ Need Help Finding Everything?
- ❓ Frequently Asked Questions about Oily Hair Treatment
- 📌 Love this Oily Hair Treatment? Pin it!
- 🖨️ Print-Friendly How-To: Oily Hair Treatment
Materials You’ll Need
- 1/2 tsp aloe vera gel squeezed from aloe vera plant
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1/4 cup hair shampoo
Tools/Equipment
- Small bowl or cup
- Spoon or small whisk for blending
How to Make Oily Hair Treatment
- Add the aloe vera gel, lemon juice, and shampoo to a small bowl or cup.
- Blend all ingredients together well.
How to Use It
- Wet your hair thoroughly.
- Wash hair with the treatment mixture.
- Rinse well.
If your scalp gets oily fast, focus the lather on the scalp where oil builds up most. The American Academy of Dermatology notes that people with straight hair and an oily scalp may want to shampoo every day, which makes a simple scalp-focused wash like this practical for in-between styling products and heavy buildup.
Read the AAD’s healthy hair tips here.
Customization Ideas
This basic treatment already keeps the formula short and simple, but you can still make it work better for your routine by changing the shampoo you start with.
- For frequent washers: Use your regular everyday shampoo so the treatment feels familiar and easy to repeat.
- For scented products: Start with an unscented or lightly scented shampoo if you do not want the lemon to compete with a stronger fragrance.
- For a fuller hair routine: Pair this with MYO Hot Oil Hair Treatment on dry ends only, not on the scalp.
- For styling afterward: If you make your own styling products too, follow up with MYO: Hair Styling Gel or MYO: Scented Hair Gel.
Safety Information
- Avoid getting the mixture in your eyes. Lemon juice can sting.
- Do not apply this treatment to broken, irritated, or freshly scratched skin on the scalp.
- If your scalp feels more irritated instead of cleaner after use, stop and switch back to a simpler shampoo routine.
- Because this uses fresh aloe vera gel and lemon juice, mix it right before use instead of storing it for later.
Cost Breakdown
Estimated project cost: about $0.63 per batch, depending on the shampoo you use and local prices.
- 1/4 cup shampoo: about $0.75 if using a $8.97 12 fl oz bottle as the comparison point
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice: about $0.10 estimated from bottled lemon juice pricing
- 1/2 tsp fresh aloe vera gel: minimal cost if cut from a home plant
That estimate is still far less than buying a separate specialty bottle just for oily hair, especially if you already keep shampoo and an aloe plant on hand.
🛍️ Need Help Finding Everything?
- Oil-control or everyday shampoo at Walmart
- Bottled lemon juice at Walmart
- Aloe vera plants on Amazon
- Grow Aloe Vera for its Medicinal Properties
Frequently Asked Questions about Oily Hair Treatment
I wouldn’t. This version uses fresh aloe vera gel squeezed from the plant plus lemon juice, and the original method is clearly a mix-and-use treatment. Stir it up fresh, wash your hair, and rinse well.
Use it as your shampoo for that wash. The formula already includes 1/4 cup of hair shampoo, so you’re simply boosting your usual wash with aloe vera gel and lemon juice.
It can be useful for a lot of people dealing with an oily scalp, but hair type still matters. If your hair is dry, curly, color-treated, or already feels stripped easily, test it cautiously and pay attention to how your scalp and lengths respond.
The original formula specifically uses aloe vera gel squeezed from an aloe vera plant. If you swap in a bottled product, check the label carefully because texture, added preservatives, and fragrance can change how the treatment behaves.
Use it as needed based on how oily your scalp gets and how your hair feels afterward. Some oily scalps need frequent washing, while others do better rotating this with plain shampoo instead of using it every single wash.
No special shampoo is required in the original instructions. Use your regular hair shampoo, which makes this an easy budget fix instead of another bottle cluttering the shower ledge.
Skip it until your scalp settles down. Lemon juice can sting on irritated skin, so this is better saved for days when your scalp is intact and not already angry at you.
Start by focusing on the scalp, since that’s where excess oil builds up. Let the lather move through the rest of your hair as you wash and rinse instead of piling extra product onto drier ends.
First, make sure you rinsed thoroughly. If it still feels greasy, use less styling product between washes, lather the scalp more thoroughly, or try washing more consistently to keep buildup from getting ahead of you.
📌 Love this Oily Hair Treatment? Pin it!
Keep this one handy for those weeks when your scalp decides to overachieve. It’s a simple way to stretch your regular shampoo into a quick oily-hair fix.
Did you try this treatment? Tell us whether you used your everyday shampoo or tweaked your hair routine around it.
🖨️ Print-Friendly How-To: Oily Hair Treatment
Oily Hair Treatment
Equipment
Materials
- ½ tsp aloe vera gel squeezed from aloe vera plant
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup hair shampoo
Instructions
- Add the aloe vera gel, lemon juice, and shampoo to a small bowl or cup.
- Blend all ingredients together well.
- Wet your hair thoroughly.
- Wash hair with the treatment mixture.
- Rinse well.
- Mix this treatment fresh right before use.
- Avoid getting the mixture in your eyes.
- Do not use on a broken or irritated scalp.
- Estimated cost is based on consumable materials only and will vary by brand and location.
is this safe for color treated hair? thanks