Stupid question about coconut oil

[sarahthegemini]

Bit of background info: I did the stretch test months ago, and discovered that my strands stretched and stretched, didn't spring back, and snapped upon further pulling. I concluded, I needed protein. I introduced a proteiny LI, and after a few weeks, my strands would stretch a reasonable amount, spring back and wouldn't snap. Result! Anyway, I recently tried skipping the LI entirely (out of curiosity more than anything) and have just re-introduced it (as in, for the previous 2 washes)

Right, I have coconut oil on my hair now, enough for my length to start looking a teensy bit piecey, and a bit more on my ends. I re-did the stretch test (on a hair I saw shed) and it stretched a little, didn't spring back, and then snapped when pulled harder. Is this because coconut oil, I thought it increased elasticity? Or because I have only used a proteiny LI for the last 2 washes? My RO has a bit of protein in it.

Any input? TIA!

eta: In regards to my hair despite this strechyness/lack of, my hair is still soft, smooth, slippy and shiny. Could it be the oil has given an inaccurate result?

[Firefox7275]

I don't think anyone can answer that, way too many variables. Coconut oil is beneficial for moderate to higher porosity hair, the studies are on hair that has been soaked overnight to twenty four hours then washed out, whereas your post reads as the oil is still in your hair. Ditto the snap test is not supposed to be done on coated hair AFAIK.

I can say I suspect my hair does not seem to do well when I layer coconut oil over a protein rich leave in. I had stripped feeling hair twice doing that, tho it may have been a coincidence and I don't have a scientific explanation for it. Although many do oil right over leave in conditioner and stylers, that is not what was done in the studies so results will be unpredictable as ingredients may react to the detriment of your hair.

[sarahthegemini]

I don't think anyone can answer that, way too many variables. Coconut oil is beneficial for moderate to higher porosity hair, the studies are on hair that has been soaked overnight to twenty four hours then washed out, whereas your post reads as the oil is still in your hair. Ditto the snap test is not supposed to be done on coated hair AFAIK.

I can say I suspect my hair does not seem to do well when I layer coconut oil over a protein rich leave in. I had stripped feeling hair twice doing that, tho it may have been a coincidence and I don't have a scientific explanation for it. Although many do oil right over leave in conditioner and stylers, that is not what was done in the studies so results will be unpredictable as ingredients may react to the detriment of your hair.

Yes, the oil is still in my hair in preparation for washing tomorrow. Perhaps I should just wait til my hair is washed and conditioned, and not coated in oil, and re-do the stretch test. Do you recommend that I skip the LI to get more accrate results from the stretch test?

Hmm, is oiling with coconut supposed to be done on 'bare' hair then? As in, on hair that doesn't have any LI on whatsoever?

I've thought about doing the baptismal rinse with my Giovanni RO conditioner and eradicating the proteiny LI, maybe coconut oil treatments and a protein heavy LI is too much for my hair.

[~*~Aspen~*~]

Minimal Water to protein stripped hair Minimal processing to Protein stripped or Protein Overload

WIth that said, I've had the same thing letting your hair dry with protein is not a bad idea with patience being the virtue. If you want to nourish your hair take care of it by not putting it to through much.

Another protein option is mayo I did it it works- try to use as little conditioner as possible afterwards or when you wash it out. I wouldn't even use shampoo -K?

[sarahthegemini]

Minimal Water to protein stripped hair Minimal processing to Protein stripped or Protein Overload

WIth that said, I've had the same thing letting your hair dry with protein is not a bad idea with patience being the virtue. If you want to nourish your hair take care of it by not putting it to through much.

Another protein option is mayo I did it it works- try to use as little conditioner as possible afterwards or when you wash it out. I wouldn't even use shampoo -K?

I'm wondering if doing a coconut oil pre-wash and using a protein heavy LI is simply too much for my hair.

Maybe I should clarify, follow up with a protein free RO, and nothing else, and THEN check my hair.

[Firefox7275]

Yes, the oil is still in my hair in preparation for washing tomorrow. Perhaps I should just wait til my hair is washed and conditioned, and not coated in oil, and re-do the stretch test. Do you recommend that I skip the LI to get more accrate results from the stretch test?

Hmm, is oiling with coconut supposed to be done on 'bare' hair then? As in, on hair that doesn't have any LI on whatsoever?

I've thought about doing the baptismal rinse with my Giovanni RO conditioner and eradicating the proteiny LI, but I'm unsure as to whether I should make another change just yet although it might be best for me. I figured, if my hair is stretching very little, perhaps that's due to too much protein + coconut oil and as I plan to continue the pre-wash oilings, it might be safer for my hair to quit the proteiny LI and stick with my RO and the baptismal rinse. Hmmmmm.

Plenty of people use penetrating oils right over products. Nothing seals so the fatty acids should penetrate fine. If it works for you go for it. However the research was on clean hair IIRC, and shampoo'd after with a sulphate. Deviation from this may affect penetration or adherence. We just don't know, it's unpredictable.

I generally oil over a simple/ basic leave in with no styler, and co-wash out, knowing that I *may* not be getting the best results but thinking practically. It's quite possible the sulphate shampoo aids penetration but my skin and hair HATE sulphates.

Ask Wendy/ Sciencey Hairblog about the stretch test, she knows much more than I do.

[sarahthegemini]

Plenty of people use penetrating oils right over products. Nothing seals so the fatty acids should penetrate fine. If it works for you go for it. However the research was on clean hair IIRC, and shampoo'd after with a sulphate. Deviation from this may affect penetration or adherence. We just don't know, it's unpredictable.

I generally oil over a simple/ basic leave in with no styler, and co-wash out, knowing that I *may* not be getting the best results but thinking practically. It's quite possible the sulphate shampoo aids penetration but my skin and hair HATE sulphates.

Ask Wendy/ Sciencey Hairblog about the stretch test, she knows much more than I do.

Thank you for your input :)

I do suspect that the coconut oil treatments in addition to a protein rich LI are too much for my hair, I didn't consider that before I introduced the oilings. My hair is fine and moderately (to highly) porous but it isn't massively damaged. I will clarify tomorrow and not follow up with any conditioner, and re-assess.

[sarahthegemini]

I couldn't wait til tomorrow, I'm notoriously impatient! As I didn't want to mess up my 'stretching washes schedule' I didn't bother washing my scalp, I just clarified my length (scalp didn't need clarifying anyway) I haven't used any conditioner. I will wait for it to dry, and re-do the test. If my hair snaps and barely stretches, then I'll quit protein cold turkey, and deep condition with a protein free condish, if my hair is back to normal, I'll continue using my ordinary conditioner (which has a little protein in it) and just put my proteiny LI away for the time being. Tomorrow is my scehduled wash, so I'll co-wash as normal and condition then.

[sarahthegemini]

My hair isn't quite dry yet, but it feels just as soft, smooth and slippy as when I co-wash and use a rich RO. How weird? It also looks very shiny. My hair usually varies between looking a little shiny and OMG magnificent shine (with no obvious reasons for why) It is however much stringier looking.

[night owl]

My hair is always stringy-looking when I use coconut oil, too, even just a little. I love it on my skin, but I'm not sure I'll keep using it for my hair (even now that I've got rid of the buildup I had from shampoo bars).

[sarahthegemini]

Okay I'm even more baffled. I did the test on 3 seperate strands. The first one stretched (and didn't spring back) about a centimetre or two, then snapped. The second one stretched (and didn't spring back) a small amount (possibly a CM?) then snapped. The third one didn't appear to stretch at all. This leads me to believe that I was over-proteined (what with coconut oil, a RO with a little protein and a protein heavy LI) Now my Q is, do I skip the protein LI but continue with my RO (hydrolyzed soy protein is the 9th ingredient) OR do I quit all proteins? I fear that w/o any protein, I would get overconditioned very quickly.

It's confusing because aside from this stretching issue, my hair is in great condition (it's soft, smooth, slippy and shiny)

[heidi w.]

What is LI? Can someone answer that please, as I do not know what that means.
heidi w.

[sarahthegemini]

What is LI? Can someone answer that please, as I do not know what that means.
heidi w.

Sorry, LI is shorthand for leave-in conditioner.

[bibijay]

I use coconut oil on dry hair as a pre wash treatment, leaving it on either all day or overnight. I follow with a sulphate free shampoo and cone free protein condish, then a tiny teaspoon of moisturising cone free conditioner followed by a drop of coney serum and hair oil to de tangle. It works for my fine, very damaged hair, and leaves it not weighed down but bouncy, shiny and full. Daughter tried it and it was very different for her, she had to shampoo twice to get the oil out and it left it stringy. So different hair means different results from coconut!