Monday, November 14, 2011

Hair Conditioning

Today's hair has it rough. 

If it's lucky, it has been merely curled, ironed, blown, and permed. The hair needs a pick-me-up after such harassment. Once a week I use a deep conditioning treatment instead of regular conditioner, like Neutrogena Triple Moisture Deep Recovery Hair Mask. It sinks into the hair for 3-5 minutes, then can be rinsed out.

I thought that was sufficient . . . until I started to get dandruff, which I am still a little stunned by (dandruff? Me? Who knew?) Dandruff isn't good for the scalp, and all I need to hear is "hair loss" and I'm searching for remedies. It is also annoyingly itchy.

Coconut oil is a pretty awesome being. It's good for practically everything - as a skin moisturizer, a hair treatment, a margarine replacement (try it in cookies).

Coconut oil had a bad rap for a while as some guy claimed he had a heart attack because of it, but here's the deal: anything that grows from the earth, providing it is edible and non-poisonous, cannot hurt you. Fattening, yes, but good for the heart.  The only evil oil out there is hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated, which is a  man-made process, and that should always be avoided.

I bought a tub of non-hechsher coconut oil (it's much cheaper) and began to work it into the scalp. Oh, how soothing it was! When working any product into the scalp, use the fleshy tips of the fingers, not the nails. While massaging, I felt the dandruff flakes loosening amongst the hair roots. Scalp massage also helps to stimulate hair growth. 
http://img2.timeinc.net/health/images/gallery/living/tummy-coconut-oil-400.jpg
Many recommend keeping the oil in overnight, but I wouldn't sleep comfortably thinking I was greasing up my favorite pillow. I keep it in for a minimum of a half hour. 

I then shampooed twice (that seemed to be enough to get out the oil) and my hair being thick and all, conditioned as usual, although other hair types may not need to.

My hair was softer than ever before. It felt healthy, it shined, and it wasn't as thick as it usually was. It was also more manageable. And my dandruff went on hiatus.

No wonder Indian women have been using this stuff for centuries.  

Coconut oil is now returning as a skin and hair treatment, so there  are products available for specifically that. Such as Cococare 100% Coconut Oil. Be sure to check the ingredients; some products claim to be natural oils, but the main ingredient is mineral oil instead (which is a pore-clogging, skin-strangling, petroleum-derived pollutant. Yuch.)

Coconut oil solidifies at room temperature, so to make it more manageable I stir in another oil, like olive or avocado or almond, which is also good for the hair.

6 comments:

Yedid Nefesh said...

I dont use conditioner in my hair because i need it to be rough enough to be textured ( my hair is short). Its a blessing :)

Princess Lea said...

It's been a long time since I had short hair. I miss it.

Rachel said...

Have you ever tried Garnier Fructis Style Fortifying Deep Conditioner? http://amzn.to/tecvlA

It works wonders on my hair, at least. I have longish thickish brownish wavyish hair, fwiw.

Princess Lea said...

Yes, I have! Also great stuff, and also worked wonders. But the coconut oil took my hair to a whole new stratosphere. And my hair type is the same as yours - long, wavy, thick, and brownish.

I actually had to look up fwiw.

Rachel said...

See my Garnier array: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/41598367/garnier%20city.jpg

Btw do you pronounce it gar-nee-YAY or GAR-nee-uhr?

You mean "FWIW, I had to look up fwiw" ;) I frequent a certain site where its members have no problem voicing their opinions, hence "fwiw" is typed as often as "a" or "the".

Princess Lea said...

I pronounce it Gar-nee-yay, like they do in the commercials.

All that is yours? Impressive. They do make great hair products; I have the super-sized bottles all stocked up. I'm not that crazy about their skincare, though.