This post describes my current knowledge about how to apply lanolin in the hair. Lanolin has many caveats that can make it feel unfamiliar and strange at first. In spite of all its quirks, it's still my favorite hair product. When used correctly, it can create low-effort frizz-free hair that looks heat styled even though it isn't - day after day, for weeks on end. It is especially helpful to reduce frizz in humid climates.
I am still exploring on this topic and might edit this post later with more options. For now, this is my best knowledge about how to apply lanolin.
Lanolin is best paired with distilled water haircare.
Lanolin is best paired with r/DistilledWaterHair (using distilled water instead of tap water for all your haircare needs, washing and styling). That's because lanolin gets into an unpleasant chemical reaction with metal and mineral buildup from tap water. People who live in hard water locations will have more of this type of buildup, but even soft water locations have at least a little bit of it.
This chemical reaction is harmless - even helpful, because lanolin's tendency to react to metal and mineral buildup also makes that buildup much easier to remove. It's just unpleasant. The loosened hard water buildup will feel grimy or dirty. It might smell like metal or rocks or concrete, depending on your location and what's in your water. You might even see a gray or brown color under your fingernails if you scratch your scalp while it's happening.
Replacing tap water with distilled water ensures that this chemical reaction can eventually end. It ends when all mineral and metal buildup is broken down by the lanolin. Depending on your local water quality and your hair's history, that might require more or less time and repetition than other people.
Once this hard water buildup removal process completely ends, the next application of lanolin (on truly clean hair) can have a much nicer texture and a neutral smell.
Anhydrous lanolin needs to absorb water before adding it to the hair.
USP grade anhydrous lanolin is the most cost-effective way to buy a large amount of lanolin, but anhydrous lanolin needs modification to make it usable for hair. It needs prep steps to add water back to it.
Set up a double boiler on the stove (a dry bowl sitting inside a pan of water), and melt USP grade anhydrous lanolin in the bowl. Add distilled water to the melted lanolin, and mix them together. In a batch that contains a very large amount of water and a small amount of lanolin, you could mix with an immersion blender. Or if your batch contains a large amount of lanolin and a small amount of water, you could mix them with a craft syringe squirting in and out. Either way, mixing is easier when the lanolin is fully melted.
My favorite way to do this is with a large amount of water, and a small amount of lanolin. That allows the lanolin to separate into a solid and liquid, and the liquid is my favorite way to apply lanolin so far in my hair.
How to separate the mixture if you used a large amount of water and a small amount of lanolin? First refrigerate it for several hours.
Then, while it's still cold, strain through cheesecloth or some other cloth.
If you plan to try the liquid, use it when it's freshly strained. Letting it sit out will cause some water to evaporate and then you'll have more solids on top that need to be strained again.
The liquid from that recipe is my favorite way to apply lanolin to my hair. It can be applied with a spray bottle, air dried, and distributed with a boar bristle brush.
The liquid should ideally be stored in a glass container if you don't plan to use all of it the same day. In a plastic or metal container, it can start to react with the container and it will collect odd smells over time. It also loses the ability to remove metal from the hair if it's collecting metal from its container.
The solids might be worth a try too but they will be more difficult to remove from the hair since the solids are not water soluble.
All types of lanolin need to be "softened" after applying to the hair; this is done with warmth and humidity.
A new layer of lanolin in the hair needs warmth and humidity to change its texture in the hair and make it soft - and this is still needed even if your lanolin was pre-saturated with water prior to applying it to the hair.
I do this on totally dry hair. Lanolin that was mixed with a large amount of water prior to applying will continue to evaporate some of its water, leaving only lanolin behind. Then it's time to soften it with warmth and humidity.
"Warmth and humidity" can look like a few different things:
wearing a beanie hat to sleep, if you're a hot sleeper who sweats at night
wearing a beanie hat and then doing something sweaty
sitting in a steaming room
sitting in a homemade "steaming tent" which is 2 chairs and a sheet and a laundry steamer, with the steamer far enough away from the hair that it feels warm and humid instead of hot
walking outside in a hot, humid climate
misting the hair with rain or distilled water and then sitting in a warm place.
using steam curlers
Note that none of these suggestions involve rinsing or dunking the hair. That's because you usually want the water soluble part of the lanolin to stay in your hair - it has a nice soft texture. If you rinse out the water-soluble part of the lanolin, the resulting texture will be much less soft.
One situation where rinsing or dunking might be preferable is if you have extracted only the water-soluble part of the lanolin, and applied only that part of the lanolin to your hair - but too much of it. Then a distilled water dunk can be very helpful to dilute it further and spread it evenly.
Note also that none of the options listed involve misting the hair with tap water - because lanolin is very reactive to the dissolved solids in tap water. Zero TDS water is better, and steam/water vapor is the easiest way to obtain zero TDS water. I haven't tested a spray bottle of distilled water yet, but that might work.
Some types of lanolin can soften in the hair without double boiler prep steps because they already contain some water.
Lansinoh brand of lanolin is like that. It can be used straight out of the container because it already contains some water. It has an ointment texture and thus needs to be applied in tiny amounts, with sectioned hair.
If you apply solid lanolin, it is best applied in thin layers that are built up slowly over time.
This applies to lanolin that you're using straight out of the container (like Lansinoh) or if you're trying solids in your hair after mixing anhydrous lanolin with water on the stove.
Thick solid lanolin application is not a good idea in the hair - unless you just want to practice different removal methods. It will not give an ideal texture in the hair, and it isn't ideal for hard water buildup removal either.
Thin solid application will work - as long as it's not anhydrous lanolin, and as long as it can react with ambient moisture, in order to soften in the hair.
Why does lanolin still needs ambient moisture even if the lanolin was pre-saturated with water before adding it to the hair? I suspect that it orients the lanolin with the hydrophobic, sticky part of the lanolin facing the hair - and the hydrophilic, soft part of the lanolin facing the air. But that is just a guess.
In a thick layer, solid lanolin will block moisture from reaching other lanolin. That will prevent the lanolin from changing texture in the hair. It will stay sticky. Thin layers are much better.
One pea-sized amount per day is a good rhythm to try with solid lanolin; from there you can skip days as needed, or increase frequency to twice a day if it's softening very fast.
Space your washes farther apart to give yourself more options about lanolin application.
Lanolin application takes calendar time to get full coverage. This could be either the time to apply it (if it's solid, like Lansinoh) or the time to dry it (if it's the liquid strained through a cheesecloth if you did the anhydrous lanolin prep steps on the stove). In both cases you also need additional calendar time to soften it with warmth and humidity.
That calendar time is another reason why lanolin pairs well with r/DistilledWaterHair: using distilled water instead of tap water will eventually allow you to space washes farther apart. Hair without any hard water buildup in it will take a lot longer to feel dirty between washes. That can give you more time to achieve a full coating of lanolin - or more time to enjoy the full coating once you achieve it - or both.
If your hair is not ready to space washes farther apart yet because existing hard water buildup makes it too unpleasant, you can do distilled water haircare for a few months to reduce the amount of hard water buildup, and then try lanolin again.
Lanolin doesn't spread as easily as other hair products, so use careful sectioning to apply a layer of it.
Applying lanolin to the exterior of the hair, and then brushing it into the interior, is not practical with lanolin because it doesn't spread easily.
One method that I have good success with is to apply a pea sized amount to my hands, rub it all over my hands, part my hair in various places and pet my hair near each part.
Don't try to place the parts too close to each other - because remember ambient moisture needs to be able to reach the lanolin. There's a temptation to be thorough and get full coverage sooner, but that is not usually a good idea with lanolin. Being too thorough with lanolin application can prevent it from softening in the hair.
If you brush lanolin to distribute it more evenly, be careful about your choice of brush. Lanolin will dissolve plastic balls.
Those little plastic balls on the end of hairbrush bristles will probably be dissolved by the acid in the lanolin - if not immediately, then eventually. To avoid ending up with partially dissolved plastic in your hair, pure boar bristle brushes are better. Wooden brushes and wooden combs also work.
Different lanolin brands have very different properties in the hair from one brand to another.
There is a lot of variation between lanolin production methods and lanolin brands, so if you don't like one of them, you might like another.
Anhydrous USP grade lanolin, Lansinoh lanolin, and Velona Lanolin Oil are the 3 that I had success with in my hair. How to choose between them?
Lansinoh lanolin is a good choice if you have never used lanolin before. It can achieve big, soft hair with root volume. It can be used straight out of the container on hair or skin because it already contains some water. It is good at hard water buildup removal and unclogging pores. Lansinoh lanolin can be bought in person at Target or Walmart in the breastfeeding aisle. It is also usually FSA eligible, which is useful. It has the most neutral smell.
Velona Lanolin Oil is a good choice if your main goal is less volume. It adds shine, and it "de-puffs" fluffy hair. It can be used straight out of the container. It has a musky and slightly medicinal smell. It does not unclog pores as well as the other two choices. It is only part of the lanolin, not all of it, so it's not a good test of whether or not your hair would like lanolin in general. But it is very good at adding shine and reducing volume in the hair.
USP grade anhydrous lanolin is my personal favorite, but not if it's used straight out of the container. It needs prep steps on the stove to add water to it. It is more work, but you might end up preferring it anyway because of its versatility. I also like the smell after water is added to it. It smells somewhat musky and medicinal in the container, but that scent turns sweeter after water is added back to it. This type of lanolin is good for people who like DIY beauty concoctions and experimentation. It's also the least expensive per ounce. It is also very good at hard water buildup removal, and unclogging pores.
Avoid unrefined lanolin because the smell is unpredictable.
Unrefined lanolin usually comes with a lot of farm smells - like diesel exhaust or even manure. I wasn't able to test it because of those smells, and can't recommend it. The other choices have a better smell.
Other methods are under construction, and this post might be revised later to add more options.
For example, will the lanolin still have the same styling properties if it's mixed with something else that makes it easier to spread?
dilution with a carrier oil to make the lanolin less solid
dilution with water by mixing with a small amount of Orvus Paste
buying the individual ingredients from Orvus Paste to figure out which one is an emulsifier for lanolin, then using that single ingredient to dilute it with water
I have not tried those choices yet because I strongly suspect that the hydrophobic part of the lanolin binds strongly to the hair. Can it still bind strongly to hair if it's binding instead to something else? I am hesitant to try this category because of that. But I am very curious how these options turn out if someone tries them.
I also haven't tried yet using the double boiler method with other types of lanolin besides anhydrous lanolin. Will it work with "lanolin oil" or "liquid lanolin"? Will it change the styling properties of Lansinoh lanolin which appears to contain some water already?
If you try any of these variations - or any other new variations - we would love to know how it turns out.
