Coconut Oil Shampoo Pretreatment

My friends over at the Beauty Brains blog have been talking for a while about using coconut oil as a pre-conditioner.  Basically the idea is that the oil soaks into the hair shaft and makes the hair less brittle.  It is an interesting idea, and one that has some evidence behind it.  So I thought I’d give it a try.

There is after all, only one to find out if a coconut oil shampoo pretreatment works, and that is to pretreat your hair with coconut oil and shampoo it.

I let the camera roll while I was at it so this is a faithful record of exactly what I was thinking at the time. It will particularly appeal to people who like hearing me say umm a lot, but I hope you can put up with that.

Here is the blog post that inspired it.

http://thebeautybrains.com/2012/05/27/whats-the-best-way-to-apply-coconut-oil-to-hair/

5 thoughts on “Coconut Oil Shampoo Pretreatment”

  1. Very interesting indeed. I have very tight zig zag afro coiled hair and I use organic coconut oil as a pre treatment prior to washing. I find it very beneficial as it does result in softer and more moisturised hair. I’m not sure about the optimum time frame but I do leave it on for quite a bit – usually overnight – sometimes close to 24 hours. Not everyone can do that I’m sure but I suppose I get away with it as I’m on mat leave :-). Having the option of heating the hair also helps the oil penetrate in. So I wear a showercap around the house once I’ve soaked the hair in the coconut oil. Your friend’s blog post refers to coconut oil having a straight line structure so therefore inferring its easy to penetrate into straight hair. It would be interesting to know the effects of the curly hair variable? is it less effective? can that be changed?

    1. Hi Dija, and thanks for sharing your observations. There might well be a difference between straight and curly hair, but I don’t know what it would be.

  2. I tried coconut oil but I have big difficulties removing it. Shampoo never washes it completely. I saw on the Internet that applying conditioner before making your hair wet will help. Well, it’s true, that was a much better way to remove coconut oil but even after I do that, then shampoo and then condition my hair again there is still some oil left! I wonder what these people who say it works for them do differently. With olive oil things are a little bit easier but still, I can never remove all the oil. Any suggestions?

  3. Flower…. Try organic hemp oil instead. Coconut oil is highly comedogenic, I wouldn’t recommend it. I personally put hemp oil in my hair after every wash (tiny bit on fingers then run them through dry hair), and leave it in until the next wash, so it’s there before I shampoo my hair. Then try a gentle, sulfate-free shampoo, rinse with apple cider vinegar (1:1 ratio) & finish with a deep moisturising conditioner (avoid those containing comedogenic oils). I’ve been doing this regularly ever since I fried my hair by lightening it & it’s shiny, healthy & growing again.

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