When your hair is flat and dull, you might start thinking about searching your local store for a magic potion to douse on your head. However, the perfect solution is probably right in your kitchen cabinet. Coconut oil is super helpful in combating dry, limp hair because it’s a natural means of moisturizing your hair while also adding in a lot of shine.
Carrington Farms Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, 54 Oz.
How to Get Shiny Healthy Hair with Coconut Oil (TIPS)
Use Coconut Oil for Shine and Moisture
Coconut oil performs wonders for dry hair, especially if your hair is stripped of moisture from too many styling products. When you use a lot of hair styling tools with heat and don’t use a heat protector beforehand, you’re destroying a lot of that moisture in your hair. People with dry, frizzy hair can benefit by naturally moisturizing with coconut oil. It’s also great for boosting shine in your hair.
Coconut oil doesn’t break down very easily or evaporate in your hair, so when you add it to dry hair, it can actually help you retain more of the moisture. It leaves your hair feeling silky smooth and soft.
Use Coconut Oil to Repair Hair Loss Damage
The next benefit of coconut oil for your hair is decreasing hair loss, breakage and other forms of damage to your hair follicles. The extra moisture from coconut oil also reduces further damage from split ends and sun damage. If you have a mother or grandmother who is balding at an older age, then it may run in your family, so now is the perfect time to start protecting your hair from breakage.
Use Coconut Oil to Combat Dandruff
You may think that adding coconut oil to your hair would worsen your scalp build-up and dandruff, but surprisingly, it’s the opposite. Coconut oil is revered as being a top natural remedy for dandruff. There are fatty acids in coconut that can help get rid of all that build-up and help to prevent it from forming in the future. With a little coconut oil added to your shampoo or added directly to your hair when shampooing, you can stop being embarrassed whenever you wear black.
Use Coconut Oil for Detangling Your Hair
Since coconut oil helps so much with adding more moisture to your hair, this is also going to be beneficial if you struggle with knots and tangles in your hair. You might struggle with tangles if you have long hair, lots of waves or curls, or if you like to wear it up a lot, which can cause knots when you remove it from the hair tie. If you want to use coconut oil for detangling, always start with natural organic virgin coconut oil, since doesn’t leave behind a residue.
You should melt the coconut oil and apply it to the ends of your hair, then begin brushing it through to remove the tangles. If you apply the oil to your hair on a regular basis, you should start seeing less tangles.
Use Coconut Oil for Deep Conditioning Your Hair
In addition to basic moisture and repairing dryness, coconut oil can also be used to create a natural deep conditioner. You should only need to apply the oil about once a week. Since you are using it as a deep conditioner, you might want to let it sit in your hair for awhile.
Here’s some FAQ’s about deep conditioning with coconut oil:
How often should you do a deep conditioning treatment with coconut oil?
From all the research I’ve done this week, ONE time a week seems to be a good, timely manner for most women. Of course, you can choose an option that’s workable for you. If twice a month is all you can manage or wish to do, then that would certainly be better than doing nothing.
How do I distribute the coconut oil into my hair?
Some women put the coconut oil on their hair in cold fat form, massaging it into their scalp with their hands and then drawing the oil down their hair strands. Others warm the oil until it becomes liquid form and then distribute it. (I place some coconut oil in a little bowl and place that bowl in a bigger bowl that has very hot water. I let it sit five minutes until coconut oil is melted.)
*Tip: Another thing to note is that some women put coconut oil only on their hair strands and avoid their scalp. (This might be preferable if you already have a very oily scalp.) Others prefer to do a thorough massage on their scalp with the coconut oil, which encourages growth. Again, the choice is yours. You might test both methods.
How long do I keep the coconut oil on my hair?
This is totally versatile and completely up to the individual. Some women place a shower cap or plastic bag on their head and keep it on over night. Others leave it on for one or two hours. Others leave it on for only a few minutes. So, it’s totally up to you and your available time schedule.
*Tip: Do protect your clothes as oil will leave oil stains. What I do is select an old shirt to wear, and I keep this shirt tucked away just for deep conditioning my hair.
How do I wash the coconut oil out of my hair?
This part can be tricky, but from the tips I’ve gathered, it’s best to shampoo your hair and condition twice. Example: Shampoo hair for a little while, then condition it. Rinse well. Next, start a second round of shampooing, followed by another round of conditioning. And again, rinse well.
*Updated Tip: I read a comment online that provided a good tip for washing out your coconut oil treatment… “After your oil has stayed in for a while, coat your hair with conditioner and let that sit for at least 30 minutes, THEN wash it all out with your shampoo.” (Evidently, the conditioner will help absorb the extra oil; it also serves the purpose of sealing in the moisture from your treatment.)
*My Personal Tip: I have fine hair that is not that thick and tends to be dry, so my hair really absorbs and holds on to the oil. I can still end up with oily hair the next morning. A perfect solution for me has been using a simple DIY dry shampoo to put in my hair the next morning to absorb any extra oil left in my hair. This is a better solution in overcoming extra oil left in my hair since I do not want to use a harsh shampoo to strip away the natural oil that I just placed into my hair.
Here’s the recipe I use…
DIY Dry Shampoo Recipe
1 TB arrowroot powder (can use cornstarch)
1 tsp. bentonite clay powder
1/4 tsp to 3 TB of unsweetened cocoa powder
*Tip: Since I have fairly dark hair, I used 3 TB of cocoa powder. If your hair is lighter, start adding a little cocoa at a time until you feel it’s dark enough. I distributed my dry shampoo through out my hair using a spare makeup brush.
*Note: I recycled an old Stevia container, previously purchased from the baking isle at Walmart. I keep an old kabuki brush handy inside and keep this container under the bathroom sink. This stuff also helps you get some volume back into your hair if it’s been a couple of days since you’ve washed your hair.
*Credit: I found the recipe above on this blog: http://dearcrissy.com/homemade-dry-shampoo/
As last words of encouragement to treat your hair with coconut oil, give it a try for at least one month to see good results. It can take more than one or two tries for your hair to improve. If you see good results, then keep going! Treat your hair nicely and you’ll have hair that will have a healthy bounce and shine.
>> As an additional side note: Some women do not like the results of coconut oil on their hair. Test out different natural oils to see which ones will work best for your hair. You can try using olive oil, avocado oil, argan oil, grapeseed oil, walnut oil, almond oil, castor oil, sesame seed oil, jojoba oil, etc. Your hair may do better with some of these. I’ve read comments from others that their hair did really well with olive oil and the grapeseed oil.
2 Comments
Missy Shay
My hair has a tendency to look oily when I try oils. I’ll have to try it the way you suggest, on a day I’m not going anywhere. I love coconut oil.
Rhonda White
I also do my oil treatments on a day when I’m not going anywhere special for the next day. I’ve done a ton of research on this subject and it seems like it’s good to try different oils to see which one it the most suitable for your hair. I’m going to try avocado oil next week…so I’ll try to add an update on the post here if it works well for my hair. I’m also going to try the tip of adding conditioner to my hair 30 minutes before washing out my oil treatment to see if that helps.