A hair clipper is a crucial household appliance used to cut hair. It comes with a small container of hair clipper oil, which should be utilized periodically. But one day it will finish and there may be inconveniences while working with the hair clipper.
Therefore, it is necessary to own hair clipper oil alternatives in mind to prevent detrimental consequences and not cause pain to yourself. Let’s go through the alternative products, if can I use vegetable oil on hair clippers?
What is a hair clipper oil?
Hair clipper oil is a liquid, which is used to grease the blades of the hair clippers. It achieves its main goal by reducing the friction between hair and clipper blades.
While it might not be a mandatory procedure, it can potentially reduce the noise and extend the tool’s usage period.
Not oiling the hair clippers occasionally can increase loudness while utilizing them and make the process inconvenient.
Additionally, if you utilize the correct hair clipper oil, there won’t be any formation of rust and other things, which makes the usage less effective and reduce the life of blades.
However, wrong clipper oil can lead to undesirable consequences and have a reverse impact by turning the hair clipper into an uncomfortable household application.
What are the properties of a good hair clipper oil alternative?
There are plenty of products, which are labeled as alternative hair clipper oils. However, not all of them can be considered proper lubricants. Thus, there are some qualities, which should be taken into account.
The most essential quality is the presence of natural ingredients because non-natural consistents should be avoided.
Consequently, you must search for hair clipper oil alternatives with low viscosity, letting it enter the blades correctly. Using oils with high viscosity can result in blades getting even less lubricated.
Furthermore, some heavy types, including motor oil, can clog the blades and cause accumulation of other things.
The other quality is the ability to withstand elevated temperatures. While trimming the hair with clippers, the blades move rapidly and it might cause heat.
Thus, oiling hair clippers can decrease these side effects and enhance their performance.
Possible hair clipper oil alternatives
After comprehending the importance of utilizing a hair clipper oil and the required properties, let’s discuss the greatest available alternatives.
There are plenty of products, however, there are some really good ones.
Thus, it is important to purchase oils with ingredients identical to the clipper oil, which arrives with the clippers.
Mineral oil
Mineral oil is basically petroleum oil in a liquid form. Its qualities like low viscosity and ability to resist elevated temperatures make it a great alternative.
While maintaining the proper performance of the blades and preventing an increase in heat, mineral oil improves the overall performance of your tool.
However, according to several studies, mineral oil might cause damage to the clipper blades due to its long-lasting effects. Mineral oil should only be utilized with new or bladeless clippers.
Nevertheless, it is still considered to be a good clipper oil alternative due to its superior qualities and affordable price.
Additionally, the regular clipper oil, which comes along with the hair clippers, is just refined mineral oil.
Baby oil
It is a great alternative to clipper oils because it is basically mineral oil with some scents. The main components are mineral and coconut oil.
Despite these similarities, it might not match the superior qualities of mineral oil.
The scent of baby oil may become the cause of allergy and might not be liked by the users. However, baby oil doesn’t deteriorate the performance of hair clippers.
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil used for a variety of purposes. Thus, if you have no clipper oil, it is possible to utilize olive oil on hair clippers.
One of the most known oils of this type is called extra virgin olive oil. But any type of olive oil will assist you in this issue.
It is still essential to keep in mind that this exact kind is comparably less resistant to great temperatures.
Olive oil is a nice alternative because it can resist extreme conditions and will not accumulate inside the blades.
However, some claim that it can cause erosion of the blades and block them.
Sewing machine oil
Sewing machine oil is a very crucial tool for the performance of sewing machines. Although it is pretty difficult to find this type of oil, it is a great choice as hair clipper oil.
Its properties such as being lightweight and lubricating parts of the clipper can properly lubricate the hair clipper and enhance its performance.
A commonly known one is Singer machine oil.
Wahl clipper oil
If you own Wahl electric hair clippers, Wahl clipper oil must be the clipper oil you purchase immediately. Its remarkable heat resistance is a great advantage.
Also, the prevention of rust is one of the benefits and it leads to an extension of the usage period.
In total, can I use vegetable oil on hair clippers? Not recommended hair clipper oil alternatives.
When you find or purchase specific oil, you will want to utilize it right away without thinking about the possible effects.
However, there are some points to consider, therefore, some types of oil must be avoided at all costs.
Vegetable oil
Vegetable oils can be derived from diverse sources. There are commonly known categories such as corn, almond, and sunflower oil.
While vegetable oil can lower friction by somewhat lubricating the clipper, it can’t perform excellently as real hair clipper oil.
There are several reasons.
Their natural thickness will deteriorate the performance of the blades. Additionally, vegetable oils can get stuck and become the reason for the accumulation of dirt and other unnecessary things. These consequences might damage your hair clipper permanently.
There are other types of vegetable oil, including canola oil and jojoba oil.
Canola oil is also very thick by nature, which is one of the properties that shouldn’t be present in the hair-clipper oil alternative. Moreover, it can cause damage to your skin.
Additionally, canola oil might be the potential cause of why your hair clippers are getting heavier and used up earlier than expected.
Jojoba oil also isn’t a good oil for your hair clippers because as a vegetable oil, it has high viscosity.
As mentioned previously, high viscosity will result in permanent damage to the hair clippers. So, if it is used as oil on hair clippers, there will be unwanted consequences.
Although jojoba oil can withstand high temperatures, it will eventually accumulate between the blades.
Also, it can’t reduce friction to the desired degree. Despite its beneficial properties such as the absence of color, and scent, and being more stable on the shelf, it can’t be used due to the drawbacks.
Coconut oil can cause clogging, which is a significant problem for hair clippers. The unwanted accumulation in the blades will make the utilization procedure more challenging.
Coconut oil will not give a long-lasting lubrication effect. In addition, once some time passes by, you will notice the residues causing an increase in heat, friction, and an overall decrease in performance.
As a type of vegetable oil, olive oil isn’t heavily recommended, too. Some say that due to its thickness, it can’t be utilized as a clipper oil.
You shouldn’t use cooking oil on hair clippers because it will eventually cause more damage with its high viscosity.
Thus, despite being able to resist considerably extreme conditions, it mustn’t be used as an oil on hair clippers. It is best to avoid using it as beard oil, too.
Silicone oils
The next possible choice is silicone oil. Its affordable price and good ability of lubricating might make it a good candidate.
However, it can cause the accumulation of unnecessary things such as dead cells and filth.
Additionally, don’t forget to carefully wash your hair after utilizing silicone oil.
Frequently asked questions
There will be responses to the commonly inquired questions. Make sure to read them properly to find answers to your questions.
Is vegetable oil good for hair clippers?
As one of the most common and available oils, it can be rather challenging not to utilize vegetable oil as hair clipper oil. Additionally, they can lubricate and considerably reduce friction.
However, they are too thick by nature and this property cancels them from the list of hair clipper oil alternatives.
Furthermore, vegetable oil will continuously accumulate inside the hair clippers and cause the build-up of dirt.
The successive drawback is the unpleasant smell of the vegetable oil, which might affect your hair, too. Therefore, you mustn’t utilize vegetable oil on hair clippers.
Can you use vegetable oil as blade oil?
As noted previously, vegetable oil isn’t a good hair-clipper oil. Although it has some advantageous qualities, it will ultimately cause more damage than an aid to your hair clippers.
It is better to utilize other oils, including baby oil, mineral oil, and sewing machine oil. Thus, in case you possess vegetable oil at hand, try to purchase other ones to avoid damaging your tool and hair.
What oil do you use for hair clipper blades?
There are a lot of general oils in the markets, however, not all of them can be utilized as hair clipper oil alternatives.
There are some, which can replace regular clipper oil. Thus, if you are looking for things to oil hair clippers, try to pay attention to properties such as low viscosity, natural consistency, and acceptable resistance to high temperatures.
Some of such hair clipper oils are mineral, sewing machine, and baby oil. These can almost perfectly act as a clipper oil substitute.
However, ensure that you check your hair clippers occasionally once you start utilizing oil other than the regular ones.
Summary
After discovering and fully understanding the properties of vegetable oil, it is feasible to conclude that it mustn’t be utilized as clipper oil. Instead of enhancing the performance of the hair clipper, it will damage it perpetually.
There are other better options, which act perfectly like regular clipper oil. However, unsuitable ones can cause irreversible damage to your hair and tool. Therefore, don’t underestimate the importance of choosing the proper clipper oil.