Coconut milk!

[Fractalsofhair]

I tried washing my hair with just coconut milk diluted with a bit of water on my length today! It's drying and it feels wonderfully soft and not greasy at all(I did use some Doc Bronner's soap on the scalp, no ACV rinse). I had a really bad breakage day today, about 1/4 of my non virgin hair is left at the ends... :( The back still looks pretty good, but the front near my face looks pretty thin(well still thicker than most girl's hair, but thin for me!), and I felt bad, but hopefully this will help it! Cheaper than my conditioner and shampoo also... I did have to apply conditioner to the ends, but only the size of a nickel, not my normal palmful!

[ratgirldjh]

How did it work?
I've tried this myself - and found that a day or so later my hair was greasy - but after I washed again with my poo bar my hair was great!
djh

[Fractalsofhair]

It works well. What I do is I put it in my hair in the shower, a CWC with it, with my regular conditioner at the end. This being said, I have amazingly dry hair that breaks off. I've had fewer horrid hair days, but I still have frizz and such. I would say most people do have to wash out with shampoo or something, similar to oiling. I do oil my hair and it's still rather dry, but I'd been able to reduce the amount of oil I use. I also wash my hair daily, generally with Alaffia soap based shampoo, in Shea and honey, which works well. I do find I have to wash my length, but I do that normally as well. My hair is only about shoulder length or so, that's probably why I wash it. I wouldn't call this an amazing holy grail product, but it's definitely helping my hair. The only risk I've heard with it would be protein buildup, but I have bleached my hair in the past and heat styled, so my hair probably needs protein!

[ratgirldjh]

I'm glad it's working so good for you. I'm going to try adding a can of coconut milk into my henna next time and see if it will help with the dryness issue and still color my hair...

[Fractalsofhair]

Cool, let me know how it goes! A can is a lot and there's a lot of liquid with it that I just pour out. Your hair is only a little bit longer than mine, so you might only need a 1/2-1/4 can. My scalp I think produces an extremely little amount of sebum(I've gone without washing(SO, or well, the lazy sick version of it XD) for weeks and my hair at the top STILL looked dry and in need of conditioner, but it smells odd after a day without washing so I wash daily, and my scalp needs the conditioner daily...), so do adjust that. The only thing that might happen with henna is that I know coconut oil is supposed to reduce the damage from bleach, but I doubt it should cause any change with henna. It's worth a try though! Good luck!

[wackyredtangles]

I'm glad it's working so good for you. I'm going to try adding a can of coconut milk into my henna next time and see if it will help with the dryness issue and still color my hair...

I've used coconut milk with my henna mix and it worked great. I was trying to keep the color from getting too dark, and counteract the whole loss of volume thing. Worked on both counts.

I've used coconut cream as a deep treatment, and mixed it with honey as a lightening agent, but never as a shampoo.

[Fractalsofhair]

It is a little rich to use everyday for shampoo(Or oil/water only?). It works wonders as a conditioner though, in combination with my other products. I think I could easily do WO with it on the weekends at least. I did use soap on the scalp when I've used it pretty much alone, and I have fairly short hair, so the soap can run down. My hairs only at my shoulders, which probably removes some of the oil.

[ratgirldjh]

It is a little rich to use everyday for shampoo(Or oil/water only?). It works wonders as a conditioner though, in combination with my other products. I think I could easily do WO with it on the weekends at least. I did use soap on the scalp when I've used it pretty much alone, and I have fairly short hair, so the soap can run down. My hairs only at my shoulders, which probably removes some of the oil.

I always fall back into WO when my hair or my nose becomes tired of everything.
After a few months of WO my hair looks good for a while with weekly or less soap or poo bar washes and ACV rinses.

[Fractalsofhair]

My biggest concern is that my scalp would smell, since that's the whole reason I wash daily. It's also VERY dry, so when I do the lazy SO method (Just not washing or anything, no preening), it gets dry and VERY angry at me. I would love to reduce the amount of times I have to wash though!

[theshadowpuppet]

I've used coconut milk with my henna mix and it worked great. I was trying to keep the color from getting too dark, and counteract the whole loss of volume thing. Worked on both counts.

I've used coconut cream as a deep treatment, and mixed it with honey as a lightening agent, but never as a shampoo.
Loss of volume from using henna? do you mean you experience more shedding after?

[kwaniesiam]

I just used coconut milk as a deep treatment soak, it seems way too moisturizing and heavy to use as a cleanser for my fine hair, but I definitely like it as an occasional thing.

[HotRag]

You who soak in coconut milk, do you ever do it after shampooing, just rinse with water?

I wonder if the light version can be used after shampooing without leaving hair to greasy.

[Vrushali]

Coconut milk is immensely moisturizing for hair but it also tends to get hair a little greasy. I think its great as a weekly or monthly treatment and will have to be followed with a poo bar or shampoo to get it out. I am not a CO person so I don't know how well that will work. Hope this helps :)

[HotRag]

Coconut milk is immensely moisturizing for hair but it also tends to get hair a little greasy. I think its great as a weekly or monthly treatment and will have to be followed with a poo bar or shampoo to get it out. I am not a CO person so I don't know how well that will work. Hope this helps :)
That's what I did, but maybe I should take the fatter one if I am going to shampooing it out.
I think it got a bit dry as I had not soaked. (I have a very mild SLS-free shampoo that is like pre diluted.)

I guess I can try to soak a little light version at ends and rinse out, as a test. Just a day before wash, if it gets ugly :D
I can soak my hair in 4 % fat yogurt, after wash, and just rinse out.

[Heidi_234]

It never left my hair greasy, but then again, my hair is in constant need of more moisture. =/

[HotRag]

It never left my hair greasy, but then again, my hair is in constant need of more moisture. =/
You did just rinse it then? With water, no shampoo, herb or CO cleaning?
Do you use regular or low fat coconut milk?

My hair also loves moisture.

Coconut milk sure smells better than yogurt that is just rinsed out with water ^_^ (strange is that first 2-3 times, yogurt did NOT smell after...).

[Heidi_234]

You did just rinse it then? With water, no shampoo, herb or CO cleaning?
Do you use regular or low fat coconut milk?

My hair also loves moisture.

Coconut milk sure smells better than yogurt that is just rinsed out with water ^_^ (strange is that first 2-3 times, yogurt did NOT smell after...).
Ahh... I don't remember how I rinsed it out. I think one time was with conditioner, and another with water, and when I rinsed with just water wasn't enough conditioning for me. But don't take my word for it, I really can't remember for certain.
There are not that many coconut milk brands in here, and most of them are concentrated coconut milk and water, I prefer real coconut milk, so it limits my choice.

[Firefly]

I just used coconut milk as a deep treatment soak, it seems way too moisturizing and heavy to use as a cleanser for my fine hair, but I definitely like it as an occasional thing.

This is me, too. I love using coconut milk (with honey) but only for an occasional mermaid soak. :cloud9:

[HotRag]

I have tried twice now.

First time I soaked quickly in low fat coconut milk and rinsed.
Wonderfully conditioned.

Today I soaked just as last time, but in full fat coconut milk with same label.
Feels like this cleaned my hair lengths like regular conditioner.

Isn't that strange?

I could also feel it on my hands, they were not as oily from full fat milk as they were from the low fat.

No use as an after wash conditioner if it cleans :S

But I will buy low fat again and try. Also will check if the emulsifier differ.

[kwaniesiam]

Has anyone mixed it in to an SMT? I tried it on DBF's hair, but his hair is 3a/3b/C/ii and really dry. Almost in need of constant moisture, so it felt nice after though nowhere near the silky softness I'm used to with my hair. I'm afraid to try it since I might have to shampoo it out, which defeats the purpose of a deep moisture treatment.

[HotRag]

I haven't SMT:ed it.

And I can update, with, today, day after my wash, hair looks oily/greasy on the lengths that was clean and felt a bit dry yesterday.
Also a bit sticky feeling (very little, but more than from oil alone).

Wonder why I got this, and how the oil could be "hidden" yesterday.

My hair do not like coconut oil very much, so maybe coconut milk isn't for me.

[Elettaria]

Has anyone tried mixing up coconut milk with a powdered herb for a mud treatment? I fancy trying it with liquorice, but I want to try liquorice with water alone first so that I can get a good idea of what it does. Liquorice plus coconut would probably smell absolutely edible. Coconut milk plus cassia, perhaps, especially for those who find cassia to be drying? Or amla? Would there be any reason why it shouldn't blend well with various powdered herbs? I've made face masks with amla, finely dessicated/powdered coconut, water and molasses before, and can report that it smells like mince pies and was about right for my skin (amla alone is too drying), although the powdered coconut swelled up and was a nuisance in that context.

[SweetLady]

Has anyone tried mixing up coconut milk with a powdered herb for a mud treatment? I fancy trying it with liquorice, but I want to try liquorice with water alone first so that I can get a good idea of what it does. Liquorice plus coconut would probably smell absolutely edible. Coconut milk plus cassia, perhaps, especially for those who find cassia to be drying? Or amla? Would there be any reason why it shouldn't blend well with various powdered herbs? I've made face masks with amla, finely dessicated/powdered coconut, water and molasses before, and can report that it smells like mince pies and was about right for my skin (amla alone is too drying), although the powdered coconut swelled up and was a nuisance in that context.

I've used coconut milk in my amla pastes and it has been really nice for my hair. My hair is drier and definitely needs more moisture. I have used the left over paste as a mask as well. I just add a little rose petal powder to it. It leaves my skin feeling fresh and toned.

Also, I noticed that I absolutely have to have organic coconut milk as I've bought cans in emergency and they smelled like soup or oil. I stick to the organic brand sold at Whole Foods. No soup smell and its thicker as well. It works best for me.