A (silly?) wintry question about coconut oil.....

[shikara]

Okay, I might regret asking this but here goes.......if you use coconut oil as a leave in, wont it react (ie. solidify and turn that whitish color) in cold climes?

[Yasmine91]

Nope, I use it as a leave in and it leave no clumps. It isn't oily, and your hair will feel like silk after.
Enjoy :)

[rocket_surgeon]

It will if it gets cold enough. It has to get below 25 degrees Celcius in your hair, though, which means the air temperature has to be pretty cold. It'll be a little better if you mix it with an oil with a lower freezing temperature (the majority component of castor oil freezes at 5.5 degrees and the major component in camellia and olive oils freezes at 13.5 degrees).

[Amazinggrace]

Wow, I was planning to buy some coconut oil on my next trip to the grocery store. I may need to wait for the spring thaw first. We reach negative temps. on a almost daily basis. Thank you for the advice.

[DarkSky]

Yes as long as it's mixed with another oil, coconut oil should work just fine under cold temperatures. A 50/50 olive oil and coconut oil mixture is my goto leave-in moisture treatment for my hair even when the temps are below zero.

[DarkSky]

It will if it gets cold enough. It has to get below 25 degrees Celcius in your hair, though, which means the air temperature has to be pretty cold. It'll be a little better if you mix it with an oil with a lower freezing temperature (the majority component of castor oil freezes at 5.5 degrees and the major component in camellia and olive oils freezes at 13.5 degrees).

THanks rocket surgeon! Those are great details to know!!

[Viscountess]

I use coconut oil during the winter and have never had any problems. The trick is not to use too much and apply it to damp hair. Naturally during winter, you won't go outside with damp hair!

Keep a light touch with the coconut oil and you should be fine!

[coffinhert]

I used to live somewhere where it was routinely -20F to -45F in the winter and if I went outside with soaking wet hair yeah it would freeze, but only while I was outside and only the ends that were below my chin and away from my head. Anyway it melts as soon as you get inside. If you're outside and it's cold enough to freeze your hair I reckon you should be wearing a hat or hood anyway. Seems to me like if the oil solidifies it's not a huge problem, it will just melt again when you go inside. And oil on hair is very spread out, so unless you have a super heavy oiling I don't think it would be as noticeable as soaking wet hair freezing.

[Panth]

Okay, I might regret asking this but here goes.......if you use coconut oil as a leave in, wont it react (ie. solidify and turn that whitish color) in cold climes?

Yes, but how badly depends on how much you use. I've used a heavy (very heavy!) leave-in coating on the tassel of my plait, left the plait unbunned and went walking outside. It was only around the 0* C mark, but I was wondering for a while why my plait tassel had the sticky, pliable texture of putty. Colder weather and it would probably have gone completely stiff.

However, I do oil shampoo but I doubt that oil is going to cause any problems as it is such a small amount compared to the amount of hair.

[Charlotte:)]

Coconut oil almost always solidifies in my hair regardless of the time of year. That's why I only use it as a pre-wash treatment as opposed to a post-wash treatment. I use very little, and it doesn't really turn white, but it makes my hair stiff and tangly after a bit (kind of like hair gel).

[jojo]

Ive never had it happen to me, though I tend to use mustard oil in winter and mainly EVOO in summer but I have heard of it happening to others.