So this one I’ve been considering for a while. If you believe what you read on the internet, coconut oil is the answer to all your prayers – a natural, fairly inexpensive cure all for skin and hair issues.
For me especially, my hair is exactly the type that responds really well to oil treatments – thick, tends to dryness and can be quite porous. I’m an up-selling hairdresser’s dream and it took me years to catch on. I’d no sooner sit down in the chair and they were lecturing me on the condition of my hair – variations of ‘what have you been DOING to it?’, like I was sticking it on the ironing board every night – and foisting the (usually quite expensive and only averagely effective) conditioning treatments on me. It took years, genuinely years, before I learned to say: “actually, that’s just my hair type, it tends to get a bit dry” and I would actually manage to leave the salon without spending an extra 40 quid on hair products.
So there’s lots of tutorials out there on the web for coconut oil hair; the process is a little time consuming but fairly simple. These are the steps I followed:
1. Buy some coconut oil, either online (Amazon has a pretty good selection) or in most health shops. Just look for the words “Organic and Extra Virgin”
2. Brush through your hair then warm your oil, which comes in a solid form. I put it in the microwave this time but next time I’m just going to use my hands and see how that goes.
3. When applying the oil, I’ve seen some articles that state you should do this over the sink in your bathroom, as it’s going to get messy but actually I didn’t find that so much. I just put a couple of old towels down on my bedroom floor and watched the Cavallari-era Hills on my laptop so I could put the oil on and marvel at Brody Jenner’s face at the same time.
4. Work through your hair from roots to ends. If you’re using the oil in it’s semi-solid state, your hands are fine. If it’s liquid, saturate a wash cloth or a corner of a towel and use that.
5. Once your hair is covered, pop on a shower cap, put a towel over your pillow and go to bed to dream sweet shiny haired dreams.
6. In the morning, you’ll need to spend a bit longer in the shower to make sure your hair’s properly rinsed, shampoo twice and leave off the conditioner as it’ll weigh your hair down.
7. Style as normal and marvel at your softer & shinier hair!
My results? Not quite the miracle I was led to believe it would be, although I could see and feel a definite difference in my hair – smoother, softer and a lot less frizz. I’m going to continue to use coconut oil on a regular basis although I found the overnight treatment a little bit of a faff, to be honest so I’m going to try an express version next time round.
mintandginger 