Hello World & Naturalistas!
This post is about coconut oil and how it can contribute to your dry natural hair. Or to make it even more personal... how it contributed to MY natural hair.
Seriously.. who doesn't like coconut?! It's great for so many things. All parts of the coconut can be used for something meaningful. In the natural hair community, a lot of naturalistas rave about how they love coconut oil. They claim that it's moisturizing, they consider it "staple product" worthy or even refer to it as their "holy grail". There's always a debate amongst the human race. but this debate is about whether or not coconut oil is one of the best things to use in our hair. My answer is yes and no. Here's why..
Many of you may know by now but just to reiterate, it is important to have a moisture/protein balance. All that means is you need an equal balance of both to avoid dry/brittle hair or mushy feeling hair.
The catch is a lot of your favorite hair products have coconut oil which contains protein. I used to use the Cocnut and Hibiscus Line from Shea Moisture a lot because at first my hair responded so well to it. But after a while it started to dry my hair out. I tried other products that claimed to be moisturizing and still no difference. So I started paying attention to the ingredients. The first three or four things on the ingredient list is what the product has the most of. Coconut oil was usually the second or third thing on the list in EVERY "moisturizing product" I was using. Especially in Shea Moisture! So basically my hair was getting "over proteined" instead of maximum hydration. and that's why these "moisturizing" hair products were not working for me. (I seemed to have found the culprit)
I say all of that to say...
1. If coconut oil is your "holy grail" and you suffer from dry hair, you might want to hold off on that oil for a little bit. Try Jojoba oil.
2. Make sure you create a protein/moisture balance... do some research and test out products that do not contain coconut oil to see which one works best for you.
3. If coconut oil works for you, keep using it. don't fix what's not already broken.
4. Water is your number one moisturizer .. Figure out what helps YOU seal it in.
Now because my hair felt so dry after taking down my crochet braids I decided to go BACK TO THE BASICS.
For my lastest natural style I did a perm Rod Set. I used Herbal Essences Shampoo and Codnitioner and Just For Me (yes the children's line) Hair Milk Leave-In conditioner. Products pictured below:
If you're interested in how I achieved the look below, Check out the video on my >>YOUTUBE<< channel.
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