So this is for all my sistas out there who suffer from poofy, frizzy, out of control (often curly) hair.
This is also for my other sistas who suffer from super dry or damaged hair.
Heck, this is for alllll my sistaasss :)
I present to you the MAGIC that is coconut oil! As a thick & curly haired girl I have struggled with poofy, frizzy and, lets be honest, plain old gross hair. Due to my super curly hair (that everyone other than myself seems to love) I have been forced to inflict upon it some severe form of undue torture - otherwise known as the STRAIGHTENER!! *dum dum duuuuummm* This has had the effect of giving me the lovely straight hair I have always craved, but at the cost of damaging and further drying my already super dry and damaged hair. NOT a good mix.
In my quest to fix this unruly hair I have tried many, many, many products. From the cheap and affordable drugstore stuff to the expensive salon quality. NOTHING seemed to work. Or they did, but… not *really*. It would make my hair look good for a few days, and then it would revert right back to it's original grossness. There was nothing permanent. Nothing lasting. Nothing that would actually REPAIR my hair (as the shiny bottles promised), but were rather more of a temporary fix.
One day I was sighing and complaining about all this loveliness to a class mate and she mentioned the idea of using something 'all natural'. I whined "But I have already tried all that!" I protest-eth. "I've tried everythinggggg. I've tried olive oil, egg yolks, yogurt, and every other cure. Nothing works!" That is when she embarked upon me her wisdom: Coconut Oil. She explained that she used it on her hair, on her face, on her nails, and even in her food! It was Amazing!!!!! I was skeptical, but mentioned I might give it a try (though to be honest I wasn't planning it - I had paid for soooo many other apparently tried and true cures that had never worked and was really not looking forward to trying another one).
Fast forward a few weeks later and I am grocery shopping with my Mom. I was put on the dreaded 'wait here and watch the cart' duty. As I waited for her to return, I looked around the shelves and saw that right in front of me there was a bottle of coconut oil. This was a SIGN right?! Probably not. It's just coconut oil. But I decided to give it a try, and boy am I glad I did!
The results were amazing and instantaneous. And what was more, is that it also improved the quality of my hair with each application! I find you can FEEL your hair getting more moisturized, and coming back to life. I usually end up needing to use less conditioner, and spend less time fixing and maintaing my curls. It also helps a lot with your dry and burned ends - I usually concentrate quite a bit on those ends.
SO How can you take advantage of this miracle oil blessed upon us frizzy haired gals by the Heavens themselves?
1. Buy GOOD Quality Coconut Oil
The most important thing here would be to find some good quality PURE coconut oil. Make sure there isn't any junk mixed in there. A few things to look for are a) that it comes in a SOLID form and b) that it's organic if you can get it. You may be confused by the 'solid' part - oil and solid don't seem to belong together. In this case they do! Coconut oil is a solid at room temperature, but its part of the reason why its so awesome! (more on that later). Also, I know it can be hard to find sometimes, but it's important to buy some good quality ORGANIC Coconut oil if you can. You could of course use the regular kind (which I myself have) with similar results, but think about it - this is something thats absorbing in to your hair and your body, do you really want it to have been produced with a bunch of pesticides and chemicals? Nope, nope, nope! I was able to find a really good deal at Costco for some Organic Oil, but if you aren't able to find any near you, I have found a few examples online on amazon:
(I used Carringtons' on the right)
2. Prepare Hair
Comb and prepare your hair, and find yourself a hair clip. You don't need to have clean hair for this - in fact I usually do this right before I need a shower. Just make sure its combed and easy to run your hair through. If you have a LOT of hair you may want to divide it into sections but its not necessary.
3. How to use the Oil
Now remember how I said coconut oil comes as a solid? So how do you apply it to your hair? Easy! There are 2 options, one you can take a spoon or two and put it in a bowl, and pop it in to the microwave and warm it up for a few seconds (be careful it melts fast!) and there you have it, a fancy spa quality hot oil treatment! And you didn't even have to get out of your PJs!
Or, you can do what I like to do which is to warm up the oil in your hands. What I do here is take a small spoon full and put it in the palms of my hand. Then you start rubbing your hands together! The heat from your hands melts the oil (I told you it melts fast!), then run your hands and fingers through your hair to get the oil on. To apply the oil to your hair I suggest working from the ends up, and avoiding the scalp if you can (it produces enough oils itself!). Since I have a lot of poofy hair I tend to split it up into sections, and add a little bit of oil at a time to each section. Once I am done doing all of this I like to put my hair up in a clip.
Now, you have more options. One, you can just let the oil sit in your hair. Or two, you can apply a shower cap and then run a blow drier all over your hair to heat up the oil when its on your head. Another instant hot oil treatment! :) This has the effect of opening your hair follicles and allowing the oil to truly penetrate down into the hair.
What makes Coconut Oil super awesome and different than other natural oil treatments like Olive oil is it doesn't drip. Remember how I mentioned earlier what makes Coconut Oil awesome is its solid state at room temperature? Well, uh...thats why! In the past, whenever I would attempt an olive oil hair mask, it would always make such a mess. The oil wouldn't sit still in my hair and would constantly drip down my neck (gross) and get on my clothes (super gross). But not with coconut oil! This magical creature stays put where its supposed to because of the very important detail I just mentioned - its a solid at room temperature! So even when you melt it to apply it, when left alone in your hair it will eventually solidify at room temp! No more drip!
4. How Often, How Long
How long you leave the coconut oil on is your choice. I have done it for only 10-15 min before popping in to the shower, and I have also done it for a few hours. When my hair is especially damaged, I like to apply it for quite a few hours on a Saturday when I am planning on staying in and getting some chores done like cleaning my room, washing dishes, doing laundry or making lunch. Ok, lets get real - when I am at home on Saturday and eating a 3 hour breakfast in front of Netflix.
I've also done it over night before, and since it doesn't drip, all I had to do was wrap a scarf around my hair and it caused no problems with my fancy shmancy pillow cases.
So give it a try and let me know how it goes! :) And if you have anyyy dry hair/face/skin/body suggestions of your own please let this dried up girl know!