In recent years coconut oil has been used as a natural hair treatment for Afro textured hair types. Coconut oil is an excellent choice for a pre-treatment before the hair is shampooed, as well as an excellent sealant on dry hair types. Many black women suffer from hair porosity issues as a result of styling choices. Coconut oil’s ability to prevent protein loss and reduce hair porosity makes it a valuable oil for those who chemically relax, regularly heat straighten, or permanently colour their hair.
Afro Textured hair is more susceptible to damage and high porosity problems, and tends to take in more water during the washing process. This causes the hair to swell considerably more than other hair types when wet. The hair must then shrink back to normal size during drying, but the cuticle can fray, split or crack as this happens. Damage may be especially pronounced when the hair cuticle is contracting from a state of intense swelling as in porous hair. Coconut oil helps reduce this water uptake and swelling by binding to the proteins and keeping excess water out. This results in fewer traumas to the hair fibre as it naturally contracts to dry.
Coconut oil is a unique hair oil, this versatile low molecular weight oil is able to leverage its traditional oil status to seal the hair, but complements this sealing capacity with a strong affinity for hair proteins not found in other hair oils. Coconut oil benefits Afro Textured hair in two important ways:
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Coconut oil’s hydrophobic oil characteristics allow it to inhibit the penetration of water from the surrounding air and environment.
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Coconut oil is able to bind to the natural protein structure of the hair, this helps the hair retain its natural moisture content and reinforces the hair fibre, making it stronger.
Organic Coconut oil is also an excellent massage oil for the skin, it acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin.
This oil is clear to light yellow in colour and it may solidify in colder temperatures. Simply place bottle in warm tap water to liquefy.
