Warning on Coconut Oil and Heat!

[x0h_bother]

Don't try this at home.
Last night I couldn't sleep and thought I should flat iron hair for first day of internship (I make bad flat iron decisions when I can't sleep, I have flat iron narcolepsy) and anyways, I had freshly oiled that night before ironing.
I said to myself, "This is probably a bad idea" but something made me think someone said on here it might be good for hair.
I was a guinnea pig...for all of you who want to know what it does, it DESTROYS hair. I did 1/2 of the left side of my head with it before I looked down and saw BIG splits and FRIED ends. (This is not normal for my hair at all.)
(So, I stayed natural today, which was a great decision because the rainy weather was great for waves.)

WARNING! Do not try this if you want to keep your hair.

[Rose J.]

Oh no! I hope your hair recovers quickly. :) Now I know what not to try.

[HintOfMint]

OH. MY.

A thorough S&D should sort you out though. Best of luck, and at least now we all know that coconut oil + flat irons = literal frying.

[christine1989]

Oh how horrible! I hope your hair makes a full and speedy recovery. I have always been curious about flat ironing with oil but after reading this I will never try it.

[x0h_bother]

I did an immediate S&D and DT and i think it helps.

[Aleria]

Oh no, you deep fried your hair! :cheese:
Sorry, couldn't resist. Hope your hair feels better, baby it for a while.

[Flossy]

Oh, you poor thing! I feel a bit sick just thinking about it. It sounds good in theory, like a hot oil treatment!


I make bad flat iron decisions when I can't sleep, I have flat iron narcolepsy

Teehee, those late night decisions are never a good idea, are they?

[CurlAhead]

Oh, you poor thing! I feel a bit sick just thinking about it. It sounds good in theory, like a hot oil treatment!



Teehee, those late night decisions are never a good idea, are they?

Never.. :rolleyes:

[jennyjb]

Oh dear - I hope it recovers soon. Thanks for the warning though. I've just started using oil so that's a good incentive to help me stay away from the flat irons.

[UltraBella]

That is terrible :( So sorry to hear that !
I have oiled my hair with coconut oil and then curled it with a hot curling iron and my hair actually felt really good. Not everyone's hair reacts the same and I am so thankful it didn't cause any damage to mine. I hope yours is back to normal as soon as possible !

[sunrain]

Hmm, that makes sense to me. If you think about cooking, what happens to oil when you add it to a pan? Heating oil to high temperatures (like with a flat iron)... ouch for your poor hair. I suppose the amount of damage would also have to do with how absorbent your hair is, and how much of the oil your hair has absorbed. Glad I have never been inclined to use a flat iron.

[Night_Kitten]

Reading this thread, I remembered that several years ago my mom's hairdresser told her to never heat-stylel her hair if she put oil on it because the heat+oil will fry the hair...
I think it's so with other oils too not just coconut oil...

UltraBella, I'm so glad your hair was'nt damaged, it's so beautifull :)

[squiggyflop]

you arent alone.. i did the same thing before.. i too learned the hard way.. ended up with 90% splits

[Stine]

I am sorry that happened to you!


...but one question came to my mind...
Is there sort of a limit-temperature from which on it starts being a bad idea?
...like maybe it could be maybe helping, if the flat iron was "cold enough"?

Just a thought that came to my mind...what do you think?

[saippuakuplia]

...but one question came to my mind...
Is there sort of a limit-temperature from which on it starts being a bad idea?
...like maybe it could be maybe helping, if the flat iron was "cold enough"?

Just a thought that came to my mind...what do you think?

I usually oil my hair and go to sauna and my hair loves that. I get better results with oils in warm than in room temperature. And after sauna my hair is better if I've used oil than without it. But of course it's not that hot in sauna, something like 100-110 C. So not all heat is bad.

[Cheeks1206]

I usually oil my hair and go to sauna and my hair loves that. I get better results with oils in warm than in room temperature. And after sauna my hair is better if I've used oil than without it. But of course it's not that hot in sauna, something like 100-110 C. So not all heat is bad.

All heat is definitely not bad! Plenty of people use heat caps and blow dryers when they do DTs. As far as what temp would be low enough to not fry your hair, I don't know for sure. Hopefully someone else will know.

[paperwhite]

Ouch! I hope the S&D and deep conditioning helped!

[spidermom]

I blow-dry on warm with coconut oil in my hair, and I think it helps the coconut oil to penetrate. I always end up with good hair when I do that. But I once slathered my hair in coconut oil and left it for 2 very hot summer days, and it made my hair awful through the next two washings. So I agree, olive oil and heat = big X.

[irishlady]

oh my! Thanks for the warning, since I too get weird ideas about my hair sometimes...

[Dreams_in_Pink]

Ha! I also resort to flat irons when i should be sleeping or doing something else! I'm glad i have clip-in extensions so i ruin them instead of my own hair :)

[jazdonnelly]

your hair is beautiful in that picture. I'm jealous of your natural waves.
I hope your hair recovers soon!

[x0h_bother]

Ha! I also resort to flat irons when i should be sleeping or doing something else! I'm glad i have clip-in extensions so i ruin them instead of my own hair :)
Yay I'm not the only one!

your hair is beautiful in that picture. I'm jealous of your natural waves.
I hope your hair recovers soon!
Thank you :blossom: I just checked the left side today and since I stopped flat ironing, the area of damage is small and I continued to S&D where I found any damage. Should be better for the most part, although probably rougher than normal.

[cubedcoley]

I think you are VERY brave to share this with all the rest of the community so nobody else makes this decision! I am a newbie and have added coconut oil to my daily routine. I recently put away all heat items, but they are stored neatly in case I change my mind! So, I am so glad you felt compelled to share this with me so I will no NOT TO DO THAT!! :) hope you heal quickly!!!:D

[MandyBeth]

Heat should be under 350, 300 is best. Coconut oil fries at 375 degrees. Throw out the heat, worship the oil.

[jackie75]

I did the same thing around the time I first joined here. I would use jojoba oil, and flat ironed my overly bleached, chemically dyed hair. Yep, I was a deep-fryer too! :o

My hair was so destroyed I had to get a chin length bob. I threw out my flat iron....although I loved having such straight hair.

Live and learn, huh? :)

[MandyBeth]

Ok, just got done getting everything sorted out so I can post my FSIL's info and how it ties into mine....

As from before. Coconut oil fries at 375* or higher. I've found the more pure, the higher the temp may need to be for perfect frying. What that means is that anything UNDER 375* will allow oil IN the food, or in this case hair. The higher you get, the less oil in and the more crispy the food/hair. But at 375* no oil (or a scant amount) gets in.

For any heat styling, the maximum should be 350*. Per my 4b type FSIL, she doesn't use ANYTHING over 300*.

FSIL has 4b M/C hair. Given the fact her brother, my DF, has the same hair, I'm fairly comfortable in saying it's potentially a problem to deal with. DF wears his hair in locs that are now at 7 years of growth about BSL. FSIL chemically relaxes her hair and gets it cut to APL every 6 weeks. Then flat irons as needed. Now, given as her family can grow waist length hair as her mom did have that, this is shorter than her term, but it's also the length that she can keep looking nice with the damage.

Now, given as FSIL is about as much of a geek as I am, she took the infa-red temperature measuring tool from her kitchen and checked her well made, high quality flat iron. At the lowest end from what the setting is "supposed" to be and internet reports, she found it runs a good 50* hotter. The upper range runs 175* over. She does check her iron every week and gets the same results. She tested a cheap drugstore model and had WAY more variations.

So she straightens her hair at 290* as needed. Now, she also uses a mix of coconut oil and shea butter. Always. Every day. At 290* with oil and butter on her hair, those both go into her hair better. She doesn't have fried crispy ends. When she's done my 1b F hair, she keeps it on the lowest setting and tries to do as little as possible because my hair isn't going to put up with the heat as well as hers. I've actually thought my hair was better AFTER the flat iron because the oil got in my hair more vs sitting on it.

Thus. It's the flat iron that's the problem. It's probably over the 375* temp to fry with if it really is doing that. BUT, you shouldn't use anything over 350* flat out. It's not the coconut oil that's at fault. It's the flat iron and that's a well known and well documented problem for growing out your hair and keeping it healthy. Throw out the flat iron, or check the real heat from it and never use it over 350*.

[kwaniesiam]

Just a note of warning, most flat irons that do not have a temperature control setting, either dial or digital, usually heat up to 425*F as a standard. If you do flat iron always make sure you get a higher end one that has temperature control. Mandybeth, great post. I was going to mention the same thing about the smoke point of coconut oil when heat is applied.

[MandyBeth]

Smoke point on coconut oil is around 6 or 700 degrees. It's rather heat stable. Which is why it's a good frying oil if it's at 375 or above. Now at 375 it's going to do harm, but the heat is the problem.