First time owner of coconut oil :D advice/tips please

[cendyrellaaa]

Yesterday I bought my very first jar of extra virgin coconut oil and I haven't used it yet since yesterday I bought it after I had taken a shower. I'm very excited to try it because most of the opinions/reviews I read about it are positive. So I think I know how to use it as an oiling treatment which would be to apply it all over my hair and scalp (optional right?) Then leave it in for a while, the longer the better and then wash it out with shampoo. I plan to do that next week since I won't have time to do it tomorrow and I wasn't supposed to wash my hair today but yesterday I seemed to have not correctly washed out olive oil from my hair (I was experimenting something) and my hair was so oily after it dried since the olive oil was almost still completely in it but I decided to just wait til today to full wash again.

So I have mostly straight hair and I think of it as medium thickness, I'm something like 1b/m/ii waist length although I'm still trying to be completely sure of my hair type and I was wondering how anybody else with that hair type or close to it or even different uses it. At the moment my hair is damp and I'm wondering if people prefer to put a little in damp hair or into dry hair?

I think you can tell I'm very anxious to use it hehe :D I know the best thing would be to just try out different ways for myself and see what I like best but I'm just curious as to others techniques and also any extra advice you'd like to add :) my hair is more on the damaged side (broken hair/split ends and frizz mostly from new hair/mechanical damage) also I'm not sure how to know if I have dry hair but I think I have that too.

[gthlvrmx]

Apply oil on damp hair if you want to retain that moisture longer in your hair. Apply oil on dry hair if you already have the moisture you desire in your hair and don't want it to get oversaturated by excess moisture in the humid air or go dry by losing too much moisture.

Experiment and see what works for your hair, even if it's a a coconut oil overnight treatment. One tip, many people find the cheapie suave naturals conditioners and vo5 conditioners to get oil out better than shampoo does. You just have to lather really well and leave it in for 5 minutes or more.

[cendyrellaaa]

Wow thanks for the suave tip! :D and so what I'm understanding is if I have dry hair I should apply it to damp hair and if I have more well moisturized hair then apply it to dry hair. That actually makes good sense, thank you :)

[spidermom]

I like it as a pre-wash treatment. Use a very small amount at first. I'd wash my scalp area with diluted shampoo, rinse, then apply conditioner over the oil (length only, never scalp) and allow it to marinate while I did other things (washing, shaving, etc). Then I'd rinse/massage out the conditioner. It always removed enough of the oil that I could still feel the benefit, but my hair didn't look oily.

Now that my hair is short, I use coconut oil only occasionally.

[gthlvrmx]

Wow thanks for the suave tip! :D and so what I'm understanding is if I have dry hair I should apply it to damp hair and if I have more well moisturized hair then apply it to dry hair. That actually makes good sense, thank you :)

Yes, and remember a little goes a long way. Less is more with oil. If the coconut oil is in it's solid state, just scrape some off with your fingernail and use that much on your hair if you're using it as a leave in after washing your hair. If you feel you need to use more, scrape off a tiny bit more. If it's in a liquid state, try 2-3 drops at first.

[lapushka]

Keep an eye on the shedding. Some people can't tolerate oils well on the scalp. So if you are intending on using it on the scalp, beware of more shedding. If you shed more, then that is a clear sign you cannot use it on your scalp! :flower:

[Ondine11]

I use a little on my dry ends daily (the last 1-2" of hair) & it has really made a difference. I can go much longer between dustings, I don't lose length from breakage, & there's significantly less tangling. Please remember to share the ways you use it, & the results you get!

[cendyrellaaa]

Hey everyone so I decided to test first on dry hair, first to see if the previous olive oil washed out completely and it did but because of that I didn't want to risk having oily dry hair again so yep I let my hair completely dry and split my hair in half and used the tiniest bit on each side and it left my hair so so soft :D it feels fluffy but not poofy at the same time and I love the feeling. I think I'll be trying this way a few more days then try it on damp hair and then eventually try it as an oiling treatment and also a prewash as spidermom suggested to see how I'll finally decide to use it

P.S. I don't know how to bolden usernames, if somebody could help me with that please

[cendyrellaaa]

I like it as a pre-wash treatment. Use a very small amount at first. I'd wash my scalp area with diluted shampoo, rinse, then apply conditioner over the oil (length only, never scalp) and allow it to marinate while I did other things (washing, shaving, etc). Then I'd rinse/massage out the conditioner. It always removed enough of the oil that I could still feel the benefit, but my hair didn't look oily.

Now that my hair is short, I use coconut oil only occasionally.

That's something I would like to try too :) I'd like to tell you that as an unregistered I would sometimes see your comments and it feels nice to finally be able to talk to you :D

[cendyrellaaa]

Yes, and remember a little goes a long way. Less is more with oil. If the coconut oil is in it's solid state, just scrape some off with your fingernail and use that much on your hair if you're using it as a leave in after washing your hair. If you feel you need to use more, scrape off a tiny bit more. If it's in a liquid state, try 2-3 drops at first.

Yes I have the solid one and that actually sounds easier than trying to scoop it out with my finger which is what I just did and had a difficult time doing :P thanks

[cendyrellaaa]

Keep an eye on the shedding. Some people can't tolerate oils well on the scalp. So if you are intending on using it on the scalp, beware of more shedding. If you shed more, then that is a clear sign you cannot use it on your scalp! :flower:

Thanks for the heads-up, I had been shedding a lot lately (postpartum) but it seems to be calming down now so I will be watching out for that ;)

[cendyrellaaa]

I use a little on my dry ends daily (the last 1-2" of hair) & it has really made a difference. I can go much longer between dustings, I don't lose length from breakage, & there's significantly less tangling. Please remember to share the ways you use it, & the results you get!

I have a lot of work to do on my ends (well my hair overall really) and I'd really like to use coconut oil daily to see if it will help improve my hair better. I like your idea as for it helping you go longer without dustings, I'm currently trying to get rid of the last of my dyed ends so I still have some trimming to do but by the time I get rid of them I want my new ends to be as healthy and smooth as possible. As for right now I just put a little bit throughout all my lengths (not scalp) and I felt instant softness and could run my fingers all the way down without them getting stuck in tangles at the end :)