Why doesn't coconut oil work for my hair?

**Fresco** · January 27th, 2015, 04:59 AM

I heard so many great things about coconut oil, I'd really want to use it a lot more. The thing is, when I use it, it makes my hair crunchy and dry.

I used coconut oil before shampooing my hair and it made it crunchy.. I used a coconut oil conditioner (inecto) for a few weeks and it made my hair double crusty

So what am I doing wrong here?

**Stiria** · January 27th, 2015, 06:08 AM

Welcome to LHC!

Coconut oil is great for many people, but not for everyone. Coconut oil helps prevent protein loss so if your hair is sensitive to protein, that may be why your hair feels crunchy. Save your coconut oil for cooking or your skin, and try another oil for your hair.

**chen bao jun** · January 27th, 2015, 06:18 AM

Some people's hair doesn't like it. I use it only occasionally as it can make me crunchy, too. Try sweet almond, grapeseed, argan maybe, or if your hair can take heavy oils, avocado is a good one. I use olive for pretreatment before a wash and Jamaican black castor mixed with burdock root daily but I have dry curly coarse hair that soaks up oil.

Many people have good luck with baby oil or mineral oil, there are threads on that.

**Islandgrrl** · January 27th, 2015, 06:45 AM

Coconut oil can make my hair crunchy feeling, too.

You are not doing anything wrong. Coconut oil doesn't work for everyone? My preference is for a drop or two of jojoba on the rare occasion that I need it. Other than that, I don't really use oil anymore.

**Doreen** · January 27th, 2015, 07:16 AM

Coconut oil specifically out of other oils is able to penetrate the shaft of the hair, while other oils merely sit on top of it (and there's nothing wrong with that). Your hair may already be moisturized enough in the shaft without the oil, which is why adding the oil on top of it all makes it crunchy... at least that's my understanding of it... Keep on experimenting with different things to find what does work for you! I find that coconut oil works best when my hair is very, very dry as opposed to just moderately dry.

**arr** · January 27th, 2015, 07:36 AM

Or possibly you are using too much of it? Try using the tiniest bit rubbed between your palms so that there is the slightest sheen of oil on your hands, then work it through your hair. Remember, less is more. Some people do this on dry hair but I have better success using coconut oil on damp hair after washing.

**Anje** · January 27th, 2015, 07:48 AM

Coconut oil is funny stuff. Some hair loves it, some doesn't. Bizarrely, mine didn't like it when I first joined here, but it thinks it's pretty cool now -- I'm thinking different hair health must have somehow played a role? (Not necessarily that healthy hair likes it and unhealthy doesn't, either. Plenty of healthy hair hates the stuff, and I've seen tons of folks with horrible damage who think it's the bee's knees.)

I had better luck with olive oil, with the caveat that it's REALLY easy to add too much and end up with greasy piecey hair with olive oil and straightish hair, more so than coconut. (I suspect this is a function of viscosity?) I also do better applying oils to wet or damp hair, or at least hair that's been washed fairly recently so its moisture content is fairly high. Oil on hair that's been subject to 2 days of forced-air heat in winter while worn loose just takes my hair from dry to dry and oily.

**door72067** · January 27th, 2015, 08:02 AM

I can't go near anything coconut...my hair reacts like yours, horrible, crunchy, dry, etc

I do nicely with argan oil or plain old baby oil (aka: mineral oil)

**bumblebums** · January 27th, 2015, 08:22 AM

Of all the hair oils, coconut is also more likely to be solid at "room temperature". If your usual environs stay at 60F or thereabouts, that could contribute to the crunchiness. It might work better in the summer.

Coconut oil works okay as a moisturizer on hands and shins, but I wouldn't put it on your face or any other areas prone to acne--it's quite comedogenic.