Coconut oil on dry hair or on wet hair?
Ok my new series is called Quick Fire Questions. The idea is that you can get a response in two or three sentences.This first question comes from Anya who emails, 'My hair really does not seem to like coconut oil on dry hair. I tried your fingertip tip but it still always feels funny. However when I wet my hair to moisturise it and then apply coconut oil, it really seems to work well. Does coconut oil really penetrate better on dry hair or on wet hair?'
A: Actually, coconut oil will always penetrate better on dry hair rather than wet hair. This is because water repels oil (notice how oil will always float on water?) and so dry hair is likely to allow more oil in rather than wet hair. It appears that you like coconut oil as a sealing oil rather than a penetrating pre-treatment.
Lesson : Penetrating oils are good to prevent hygral fatigue but your hair is your ultimate guide and may in fact not like penetrating oils. Trust your hair.
I think I am going to LOVE this new series ! Your blog is always so informative !
ReplyDeleteAww thanks :)
DeleteIn the past I occasionally used coconut oil as a hot oil treatment on my locs, but when it dried it made my scalp itchy and I had a few noticable coconut flakes. Now I use it as a daily spray on dry locs and I don't have to use anything else. It works much much better on MY hair when my hair is dry.
ReplyDeleteI love the personalisation (MY). I like it on both dry hair and wet hair.
DeleteDeep conditioning on dry dirty/old hair is quite confusing to me. In between wash days, if you are adding product daily for styling or just to moisturize, how can the deep conditioner fully penetrate your hair? Maybe it depends on the whether or not the products used during the week are light or heavy? There are some ladies that do this while using heavy products like butters and conditioners with non-soluble cones, mineral oils, gels and things of the sort. I feel like it would be such a waste of deep conditioner when used on dirty hair. It seems to make more sense to deep condition on clean slightly damp/dried hair in my opinion but I guess there is more to it so I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about this Jc? Not sure if you discussed this topic before I apologize if you did.
No I have not discussed it before, I also think it is quite odd. I will make this my next Quick Fire Question :)
DeleteI like this new series, tidbits of info <3
ReplyDeleteAnd you can always forward us to more in-depth articles if we want more info about something.
Thank you Rae
DeleteLove this! Coconut oil has NEVER done anything for my hair, I use it for my body, my hair doesn't like it - but it loves castor oil. Interestingly enough, Naja's hair loves coconut oil, but her hair type is TOTALLY different from mine - it's interesting getting to see first-hand how the varying hair types really do work!
ReplyDeletePS - hello friend, it's been a while :)
Mo!! Lovely to 'see' you :)
Deletemy hair hates coconut oil so i'll try evoo to prevent hydral fatigue...
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if hydral fatigue can also happen if you deep condition for a long period of time. My hair is really dry and i'm baby-ing it and overnight or DC for hours is what seems to be helping right now. Could I just "pre-poo" for a couple of hours then apply my DC...would that make any difference? Thanks!
Great idea. Love short and sweet.
ReplyDeleteQFQ Sessions...wooooohooooo (excited to see more!)!!!
ReplyDeleteThis is a great (timely!) question for me, I had similar concerns (concerning uses of coconut oil during pre-poo time), thanks for the clarity!!
It's more important to moisturize hair than oil it. This is why it's better to lock in the moisture on damp hair using coconut oil than applying it to dry hair.
ReplyDeleteOthers (both black and white) as well as myself noticed how much better my hair looked when I started sealing the moisture in my damp hair vs. applying oil on dry hair.
My naturally kinky hair seems to absorb the oil after the damp hair has dried. Probably because most of the oil doesn't just slide off my kinky hair as it may for straight hair.
Thank you so much!
ReplyDeleteI have started hot oil treatment for my hair but, firstly, I would like to know is it recommended to apply the oil on dry or damp hair?, secondly I would like to know which is the best and most effective oil to use ? cuz really I used olive oil but I am not sure if it is the best,it would be great if someone answer me , thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteIf you want to have the oil penetrate your hair (coconut oil) and prevent hair from expanding too much when wet, then dry hair is best. If you are just looking for your hair not to feel too dry after washing,then any oil on damp hair will work.
DeleteI wash my hair and pat dry so that it is ever so slightly damp. I warm the coconut oil and saturate my hair. I then use a blow dryer and melt it in to my hair even more. Then cover with a shower cap and keep it on a few hours or overnight.
ReplyDeleteThank you this helps so much!
ReplyDelete