Shea butter vs coconut oil?

[hototogisu]

I recently stumbled across the homemade whipped shea phenomenon, and I'm intrigued. I use a coconut oil/almond oil mix to oil my lengths, and I've just started to use castor oil on my scalp to try and encourage my hair to thicken, but I'm intrigued and want to try shea. I'm starting to wonder if another oil might be better for my hair - my lengths and ends are feeling quite crunchy, though my scalp is thriving with regular deep oiling.

So what's the deal with shea? Is it good for hair? What kinds of hair types benefit from shea? Should I have a go at whipped shea?

[Anje]

Personally, I find shea butter to be rather sticky on my hair, though there are folks who like it on their ends. I like olive or non-roasted sesame oils, though everyone has their own preferences.

[jacqueline101]

I would say try a little size or have a girl make over and borrow theirs and see how your hair likes it. I used to do that when I was in school.

[Cassie 123]

Shea has a lot of components that don't penetrate the hair at all, so it wouldn't make a good replacement for coconut oil. Also, I agree with Anje - I find it sticky on my hair. But lots of good conditioners use it as an ingredient, so I suppose it must do something worthwhile, even if only on the surface of the hair.

ETA: Fox's Shea Butter Conditioning Cream (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=4586) is a popular LHC recipe using shea and coconut.

[Delila]

My hair seems to prefer shea butter to coconut oil, but as others have said, that kind of thing varies by person/hair type, etc.

My hair does quite well with the Fekkai shea butter shampoos and conditioners, but I do also like a bit of shea on my length.

(I'm currently using other stuff, but shea's still on my radar)

[bbvt]

I tried shea butter with coconut oil once as a pre-wash. My hair came out a little waxy after I washed it out and I hate the smell of shea butter... blech. D=

I think it's better for moisturizing the skin but I wouldn't know since I hated the smell so much I didn't want it anywhere near me.

[Snowball]

Coconut oil alone is too light for my hair. I mix a little bit of shea with coconut oil and use tiny amounts of it as a leave in after I've washed my hair. It makes my hair supersoft and very slippery, almost too slippery.

It works better than a coconut oil - olive oil mixture for me.

[Baby]

Oh! I just did a homemade whipped sheabutter the other day. I came across this http://blackhair.about.com/od/products/ss/howtowhipsheabutter.htm and I tried it.

My recipie was 50g of sheabutter, unrefined. ~15g of coconutoil, with the coconut smell and ~15g of honey(it got a little sticky in the hair because of it, but it was lovely on the skin, it made the oils less sticky on the skin) some drops of vanilla and ylang ylang EO

My hair usually do not like coconut, in this it was OK but not ideal for my hairtype, fine/medium hair straight and sort of silky. It tends to get dry and I like shea and castor oil of the ones I have tried. I have tried coconut and olive but they made my hair crunchy and, I would not say dry but I got that feeling. Shea and castor in my hair makes it smooth and soft.

I think you have to try and decide for yourself what your hair likes.

[hototogisu]

Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll give it a try as a pre-shampoo oil, particularly as I'm starting to suspect my almond-coconut mix might not be doing the trick for my lengths. I'm really loving castor oil on my scalp, so I think I'll try shea, coconut, castor oil, glycerin and honey (my hair LOVES humectants).

[alyaziaaah]

If you hair feels crunchy you might want to clarify it, build up on hair and then coconutoil on top makes crunchyness! Or you need more moisture and cut the protein.
Coconutoil penetrates the hair only if you don't have any build up. Almond oil killed my hair, didn't do anything but build up crunchy hardness on my tips as it didn't penetrate my hair at all.
Currently I am trying a bit of sheabutter with a drop of coconutoil on my damaged ends for slip. It works ok, also I put it on my crown for flyaways, but you have to be careful, a bit too much and you end up all waxy!

[LoveMyLongHair]

All hair is truly unique....

That being said....Coconut oil becomes very greasy in my hair.......like even the tiniest amount makes my hair an oil slick, though I do still use it for my hair health

Shea butter, yes, it does feel tacky or sticky in my hair initially..........HOWEVER.....my hair drinks it in and becomes the softest hair you could imagine......I do have blonde, color treated hair, and you would never know it by the health of it.

This I attribute to Shea....CO washing.....oils, NO heat.....updos....and eating well.

[hototogisu]

Lovemylonghair - WE HAVE THE SAME HAIR! I colour my hair a strawberry blondeish copper with nasty chemicals. I allow myself to have one hair vice and treat it really, really carefully otherwise.

Do you use straight shea or a mix?

[archel]

My body loves shea, but it makes my hair a waxy greasy awful mess.

[jasper]

I like Shea butter on my hair. Used in moderration, doesn't seem heavy or many my hair lank the way otheroild have.

[LoveMyLongHair]

Lovemylonghair - WE HAVE THE SAME HAIR! I colour my hair a strawberry blondeish copper with nasty chemicals. I allow myself to have one hair vice and treat it really, really carefully otherwise.

Do you use straight shea or a mix?

Hey girl !!! :heart:

I use a straight shea mix, I order mine from Amazon........it is pure, unrefined and still has the smoky scent, which I am not wild about........BUT, I absolutely LOVE what it does for my hair and skin! I have my son using it now, too.

I ordered five pounds.........I could have ordered one pound, but the five pounds was only a few dollars more, literally, so.........I jumped in and am so glad that I did.

NOW................a little FYI..........;) IF you have doggies..........mine LOVE it.....as in to eat......So I have to keep it diligently put away as it has a laxative type of effect..........'nuff said ! lol........plus I don't think it should be ingested.

I have the rest stored in a gallon baggie in a cool dark place, I keep my 'using' butter in a plastic tub with a lid and tucked carefully away.

I use it on my face, my skin, my hair.....it's AWESOME !! If you want to know the seller on Amazon, I"m glad to share, as I was and am VERY happy with their butter. Just message me, as I dont' think :confused:..but am not sure, if I can post it here.....

Hugs !!

[Amber_Maiden]

Personally I couldn't use shea or coconut oil in my hair. Shea made it sticks/crunchy and so did the coconut oil...

[PixxieStix]

I just got my first bit of shea butter last week to try out, and was happy enough with it to purchase 5 pounds of the organic, unrefined stuff on eBay. I've been making whipped body butter with it and my skin just loooooves it, and I use a little of the pure stuff on my face at night after washing and applying my acne medication, and in the morning my face looks and feels amazing! I did one deep conditioning tx with it on my hair, and while it was a b**** to wash out, it left my hair feeling very silky and soft, so I'll be using the whipped butter as a conditioning tx this weekend to see how my hair reacts to it mixed with other oils. But yeah, loving shea and coconut oil both. Especially mixed. :D