I love coconut oil. I use it pretty much daily for a hair product. Not only does it tame my frizzy hair, but it also smells wonderful (if you get the organic kinds, that is). I use it instead of conditioner and as a smoothing “serum” after I straighten it, curl it, or even when I just let it go curly.

I can’t even remember the last time that I used conditioner. I basically just shampoo my hair as normal, and then use a little bit of coconut oil for my conditioner. I place a little in my hands, rub it together and then I smooth it into my hair starting at the ends and making my way up to the roots. It took me a few showerings before I was able to figure out exactly how much coconut oil I needed, but don’t give up! It’s totally worth it. My hair has never been so smooth and stood up to humidity as well as it does now. I grew up in Houston, and I kid you not, it is one of the most humid places on earth at times. I remember back in high school I would wake up at obscene hours just to straighten or curl my hair, just to have it flatten and/or completely frizz up on my walk from my car to my first class. In 10 minutes the humidity would destroy what I had worked sometimes 2 hours to create! I knew to keep a hairband on me at all times because my hair usually wouldn’t last very long I would probably need to pull back the frizzy mess that I had worked so hard to tame that morning. Thinking about it now, I really wish I had known about coconut oil

No, coconut oil is not the cure-all, BUT! whenever we go back to Houston to visit my hair usually survives, and quite well I might add. I think that my poor hair was probably just starving for moisture back then and would absorb any moisture that it could, i.e. the humidity. We currently live in Austin and even on the most humid of days here my hair usually does just fine. It blows my mind when I think about what a struggle I had in high school.

Another great pro that I have noticed since I’ve been using coconut oil for my conditioner and for a smoothing “serum” is that my hair doesn’t get oily as fast as it used to. I’m not sure why this would be. Maybe it’s because my hair has enough oils and moisture in it that it just feels it doesn’t need to produce as much anymore. This may seem gross to you, but I can often go 1- 1 1/2 weeks without washing my hair and it still looks good by the end. I usually just get to the point that I just feel that it needs to be washed and that’s why I end up washing it, not even because it looks like it needs it. Before using the coconut oil in my hair, I would usually go this long between hair washings, but I often used baby powder to cover up the oily look and make my hair stretch a couple days longer, but I honestly can’t remember the last time I even needed to put baby powder in my hair. I just realized this the other day and that blew my mind! My husband loves that I don’t have to use the baby powder now too because he hates the smell of the baby powder. Coconut is much a more pleasant smell.

I use coconut oil in my daughter’s hair as well. She has little ringlets and it helps to tame them. If I ever forget to put a little coconut oil in her hair, her hair becomes a super big frizz ball. It also works great as the de-tangler in her hair. After her bath I usually put a little in her hair, again starting at the ends and working my way up to the roots. Then using a comb, I brush out her hair and usually mess it up a little with my fingers to give her curls a little bounce, and voila, her hair is ready to go! I have been asked by multiple moms of little girls what I put in my daughter’s hair.

I also wanted to let you know that yes, I have tried using baking soda mixed with water for my shampoo, but decided that it wasn’t for me. I found that the first day after washing my hair it was a weird texture that I hated doing anything with. My hair also smelled funky. It never really smelled clean, and I hated that. So that’s my few thoughts about using baking soda for shampoo.

Good luck with your coconut oil adventures. Hope it’s as good to you as it has been to me!

Kristin