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View Full Version : Are saunas good opportunities for a heated deep conditioning treatment?



r00ski
November 10th, 2013, 01:55 AM
Would putting coconut oil or perhaps a conditioning mask into my dry hair and putting it up in a towel be a good idea?

I love saunas and just joined up with one maybe 4 blocks away from my house, so bring em on :cool: but admittedly my hair is veeery fine and veers onto the dry side so I'm afraid my 4 x weekly sauna bakes will damage it. In thinking of how to minimize the damage I thought of seizing the opportunity.

….Or would dousing it in coconut oil and then exposing it to such heat cook my hair? :steam

morrigan*
November 10th, 2013, 02:08 AM
We have sauna at home and i always do deep treatment when use it, if i don't my hair became reallly weird, much like straw. If you put only conditioner in it it would help. That way you can even do conditioner only washing. Heat won't cook your hair, it would help to absorb deep treatment better, and condition of your hair will likely to improve. My advice is to at least wet your hair before going in sauna, i went once with dry hair and well, never again :mad:

Ocelan
November 10th, 2013, 02:43 AM
Yes saunas are good for deep treatments and also just for having conditioner in your hair for the duration of the sauna if you don't feel like doing a deep treatment every time. I go to the sauna once or twice a week and that's pretty much the only time I wash my hair if it isn't for a special occasion. We have a sauna at home. I CO wash and I feel4 the sauna makes it better. A CO wash doesn't seem to wash my hair as well if I'm just doing it when I shower. I always wet my hair before going to the sauna and then apply conditioner or put some diluted conditioner straight in dry hair. I use a SMT as a deep treatment in the sauna the same way as I do with my CO wash but I try to leave it in for longer. They sell these sauna honey treatments atleast here in Finland, for skin and hair so even beauty product makers know that sauna is a good way to relax and treat yourself.

It isn't necessarily really bad for your hair if you go to the sauna with dry hair once or twice every now and then, but I would imagine in the long run it would be. The heat in saunas is usually a humid kind of heat so that makes it less bad than the dry kind that comes for example from hair driers. Anyway, I like wetting my hair when I sauna as my scalp sweats and I want to wash it off anyway.

florenonite
November 10th, 2013, 04:02 AM
Well, it won't cook your hair. Oils don't attract heat. My understanding is that wee use them for cooking because they help the heat spread more evenly over the food, and oiling before applying heat to hair can actually protect the hair for that same reason. That being said, if it's a wet sauna oiling it will impede the moisture from the air from getting into your hair, so that may or may not be a problem.

Naiadryade
November 10th, 2013, 10:49 AM
I sauna about once a week, sometimes less, and I do try and use them for deep treatments. Certainly the heat is lifting your cuticle anyway--may as well have it slathered with stuff you want to penetrate! If you go into a dry sauna with dry hair, chances are moisture will escape from your hair and it won't be the best thing for it--so at the very least your hair should be wet, if not oiled and/or covered in conditioner or a deep treatment, if you're in a dry sauna.

The oil will not cook your hair--saunas don't actually get hot enough for that--but heavily oiled hair WILL get hot to the touch. Not enough to burn you, but enough to be uncomfortable in my experience, and moreso than watery treatments. So you may want to bun your hair to avoid the hot oily hair brushing your shoulders.

Happy pampering and purging!

r00ski
November 10th, 2013, 08:54 PM
ahh thanks Naiadryade-- just what I needed to know. The sauna I was referring to was indeed a dry one. Well, off to pamper! :run:

Naiadryade
November 11th, 2013, 01:22 AM
No problem, r00ski! Hope you are enjoying your hot time. :meditate:

I just had a nice long sauna. Washed with clay/egg (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=110609), then did a modified SMT. Mmmm! :sun:

Siiri
November 11th, 2013, 08:26 AM
If it's a dry sauna, I'd do a coconut oil treatment. Humectants may not work well while you are in the (dry) sauna, but you could use them afterwards. If your not doing a treatment, wet your hair and skin, which can dry out too, before you go in, and put a towel on your hair.

prettyinpink
November 11th, 2013, 08:37 AM
I'm not sure about conditioning, but I spent about 30 minutes in a sauna and the next day there was tons of shedding

Ocelan
November 11th, 2013, 09:15 AM
I'm not sure about conditioning, but I spent about 30 minutes in a sauna and the next day there was tons of shedding

Was there less shedding than usual the next few days after that? I always get heaviest shedding when I've washed (which I generally do with sauna) but then it calms down and hardly even shed at all for a few days after. I believe it's the scalp massage I give mylself when COing and perhaps the heat aswell that makes the hairs that are about to shed soon shen then. I shed a lot after every wash, no matter if I sauna or not though. It might be that some people's scalps just don't like sauna.

Ocelan
November 11th, 2013, 09:17 AM
I'm not sure about conditioning, but I spent about 30 minutes in a sauna and the next day there was tons of shedding

Was there less shedding than usual the next few days after that? I always get heaviest shedding when I've washed (which I generally do with sauna) but then it calms down and hardly even shed at all for a few days after. I believe it's the scalp massage I give mylself when COing and perhaps the heat aswell that makes the hairs that are about to shed soon shen then. I shed a lot after every wash, no matter if I sauna or not though. It might be that some people's scalps just don't like sauna.

prettyinpink
November 11th, 2013, 10:34 AM
I can't remember if there was less shedding the following days. My hair was dry when I was in the sauna, that probably wasnt any good. It could just be my weird hair :p

r00ski
November 11th, 2013, 07:57 PM
So I've begun saunaing again.. yay! After I finish a workout I wet my hair, then put coconut oil in it, then sauna, then come out, then lightly rinse (so there's still oil in my hair) and just keep it up until my next wash, or next sauna (in which i repeat the same process) whichever comes first.. so far so good! :pray: