BucketCrab
If you can't climb out, drag others down.
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Introduction
What is this guide for?
This guide is intended to show you how to use coconut oil to improve hair quality. Coconut oil has been shown to reduce frizz, restore vitality to damaged/brittle hair and give overall a better shine and softness to hair. This guide has been written with long hair in mind (mine is past my shoulders), but its fundamental benefits are applicable to any hairstyle with a little length to work with.
Keep in mind everyone's hair is a little different, so what works for me might not 100% work for you. That being said, the scientific basis for the usefulness of coconut oil is rock-solid, and it is thus unlikely you won't have some benefits especially if your hair is frizzy/weak.
Coconut oil and hair loss
Coconut oil is NOT meant as a remedy for hair loss, especially not androgenetic alopecia. While the antibacterial qualities of coconut oil can help regulate scalp skin and thus improve overall scalp health, leading to better hair growth, it provides no benefits against genetic hair loss.
Why coconut oil?
What makes coconut oil different from other hair oils
One may wonder why you should go for coconut oil when there are dozens of different hair oils to choose from. Coconut oil has been scientifically proven https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12715094/ to be uniquely useful in hair care because of how effectively it can reduce protein loss.
'The findings clearly indicate the strong impact that coconut oil application has to hair as compared to application of both sunflower and mineral oils. Among three oils, coconut oil was the only oil found to reduce the protein loss remarkably for both undamaged and damaged hair when used as a pre-wash and post-wash grooming product. Both sunflower and mineral oils do not help at all in reducing the protein loss from hair.'
What is protein loss?
Have you ever wondered why your hair looks at its worst right after you've dried it, while it looks its best a few days from washing? It's because of protein loss.
Putting it simply, when your hair gets wet, it opens up. The longer your hair remains wet, the more proteins it loses, leading it to become weak and brittle. Coating your hair in coconut oil before washing gives it a layer of protection that makes it harder for your hair to lose proteins, retaining its strenght and luster.
What coconut oil should I use?
Cold-pressed, 100% pure organic coconut oil. It's not expensive at all, while hair masks based on coconut oil can get expensive. I personally mix in a bit of castor oil too before using it, but coconut oil only is also fine.How should I use it?
- 1 to 5 teaspoons of coconut oil (depending on hair length). Do not apply too much oil or it will be a pain to wash it out. The idea here is covering your hair in a thin layer of oil, not having it become a oily soaked mess.
- A night-cap to keep your hair covered during the night.
- A hair tie, hair pins, or anything you might need to use to tie your hair (if it doesn't stay put by itself).
- A wide-toothed comb.
- De-tangling: Using your wide-toothed comb, thoroughly de-tangle your hair. It is important to de-tangle before oiling the hair.
- Wetting: Using lukewarm water, wet your hands and pass them through your hair. It does not need to be soaking wet, just a little wet.
- Applying coconut oil: Put one teaspoon of coconut oil in your hands, rub them together to heat it up, and gently apply it to your hair by working the oil in from the top to the ends. Coconut oil does not need to be applied directly to the scalp. You might find it easier to apply it if you work in sections, especially if you have long hair.
- Massaging: Gently massage your scalp to improve blood circulation for around 5 minutes.
- Securing it for the night: Tie it neatly (not tightly) and put your night-cap on. The night-cap will make sure the heat allows for better absorption and it will prevent you from leaving coconut oil on the bed and pillow.
- The morning after: In the morning, wash your hair as you normally would. An additional washing cycle might be needed if your hair is prone to being particularly oily, as coconut oil is very thick and dense and it can stick to some people's hair more than others.
How often should I use it?
Be careful not to overdo it. You can apply some oil to your hair 30-60min before washing every time you wash it (unless you wash your hair every day or every other day, but you shouldn't: everyone's hair is different but you are not supposed to wash hair that often).The night-time deep conditioning mask should only be done a maximum of once a week.
Additional hair care
There are a lot of things one has to learn in order to take perfect care of their hair. If you want to know more, make sure to educate yourself on how to wash your hair, how to comb it, optimal nutrition for hair, scalp massages, derma rolling. One thing most people get wrong is DRYING: heat in general is terrible for your hair and it could defeat the entire routine. If your hair is prone to being frizzy, only air-dry it or only use the cool setting on your hair drier. This girl offers a very useful hair drying routine, and her channel is overall really good for hair care:
This guy's channel is very informative and a great resource for any guy looking to improve their hair: https://www.youtube.com/c/TravWhiteStyle
