Water-in-oil microemulsions containing triglyceride oil for personal care applications are described. The W/O type of microemulsions based on triglyceride oils such as soya oil and sunflower oil are suitable for skin cleansing shower oils. The microemulsions of the patent application allow the use of several mild surfactants, thereby obviating the use of aliphatic amine based anionic surfactants for personal cleansing. The microemulsion based on coconut oil serves like a ‘two-in-one’ formulation for pre-wash hair conditioning like a typical hair-oil and subsequently like a shampoo for cleansing the hair.