Putting Coconut Oil in Your Hair: The Do's and Don'ts

Recently I’ve been putting my hair through somewhat of a whirlwind. If you’re following me on Instagram, then you know I’ve been hanging out with my ladies at Femme Akoi (a local Dunedin salon) about once a month. Every time I’m there I see Katlyn Shuart. She has been working her magic on my hair to help get it to what I like to call my “Pinterest Point”. That is, the color of the hair I showed her from a pin on Pinterest that’s never achievable in the first visit. It requires multiple appointments and LOTS of toner. We like to joke that I’m on the “incredible hair journey”. While Katlyn is doing her very best to make sure my hair gets to where I want it happily, and healthily, I’ve been giving my hair a little TLC on my own time to keep it maintained.

The TLC I’m talking about? You might have the product in your pantry currently. It’s a little secret I like to call coconut oil. I honestly don’t even know why I just referred to it as a “secret”. Anyone with the internet knows that coconut oil can be used for all kinds of things. You can cook with it, sweeten coffee with it, lather it on your body, the list goes on. I didn’t know until recently that you could douse it on your hair as a treatment to help with shine, softness, and to help minimize breakage. When I did this to my hair I used Simply Balanced Coconut Oil.

In case you think that your hair could use some extra TLC this week, then you’re in luck. Today on Keeping Up with Kahla I’m sharing my do’s and don’ts of putting coconut oil in your hair! Trust me when I say it was an experience LOL. You’d think things like this would be easy for me to do, but they’re not. To avoid making my rookie mistakes, read below.

Do’s:

Do get the virgin (aka unrefined) version of coconut oil. After extensive Googling I found that this is the version that works best for beauty needs because less processing is done to it. The other kind of coconut oil is “refined”, and that one is best for cooking use. BONUS: the virgin version also has a light coconut smell to it. Ben said I smelled just like an almond joy. I wasn’t mad about it.
Do warm up the coconut oil in your hands before applying so it’s easier to move throughout your hair.
Do start with less, then add in more as you go. Don’t just take a lump of coconut oil and throw it on your head.
Do wrap your hair up in a high bun once you have the coconut oil in it. You might need to loosely hang a towel around your neck in case of any drippage. Let’s not forget that coconut oil turns into liquid at room temp.
Do leave it on your hair for an hour. Some people actually leave it on overnight while they sleep. I don’t have the patience for that.
Do wash your hair multiple times to get all of the oil out. This was my biggest lesson learned. You’ll see why under the “don’ts” section.
Do put it on your roots and scalp. I personally would just be mindful of how much you put there. I really focused on putting it throughout my hair, with smaller amounts on the roots.
Do work the coconut oil through all of your hair. Use those fingers and coat baby, coat.
I would personally recommend either doing this process over the bathtub, or standing in the bathtub. That way any drippage, or pieces of solid coconut oil will land in the tub as opposed to on your floor.

And of course…the don’ts:

Don’ts:

Don’t wet your hair beforehand. You want the coconut oil to refresh your dry hair. The water from wet hair will likely repel it which defeats the entire purpose (thanks Google!).
Don’t do it on a night when you have plans. Ugh, guys. This is literally the reason why I’m writing this post. I wish someone had told me this. Hours before I was meant to go out with a group of girlfriends to downtown Safety Harbor, I lathered up my hair with coconut oil. I figured once I washed it out my hair would be refreshed, soft, and smelling like a coconut. Instead, I blowdried my hair to find that the oil was still heavily visible. I had to add my dry shampoo to it in an effort to combat the oil…which defeated the treatment in the first place. It honestly took 3 good washes for me to get my hair back to normal. As someone who usually washes her hair 2 times a week, this was tragic.
Don’t wear your $120 Free People sweater during this treatment. Throw on an old college t-shirt. The last thing you need is oil getting on your favorite clothes.
Don’t touch your hair while it’s “oiling”. Let it set and do its thang.

I’m obviously by no means a beauty or hair care expert. I’m just a girl with a blog sharing her experience with putting coconut oil in her hair. This was a hair care option that was recommended to me that I tried and enjoyed! I’m definitely planning to do it again to my hair soon.

Have you ever tried putting coconut oil in your hair? Did you see results?

Purchase Simply Balanced Coconut Oil here.