Coconut Oil Hair Mask (or Trying A Simple DIY Beauty Trick)

I bought a jar of coconut oil at Trader Joes a while ago. I’ve been using it on my skin as a moisturizer and to help heal little cuts that I get (it seems to help with scars). But I had been seeing online about using it as a hair mask, so I figured I’d give it a try.

It’s really simple. All you need is some coconut oil, a hair clip if your hair is long, and a shower cap.

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My hair was dirty when I did this. I only wash my hair 2 or 3 times a week (helps keep my red hair from fading), but I made sure that my hair was brushed through and free of any tangles.

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Please ignore my greasy roots (and how badly my roots need to be dyed!). Coconut oil melts at a very low temperature (about 76 degrees and it was warmer than that in my house this particular day) so the coconut oil in the jar was actually pretty liquified when I used it.

I poured some oil into my hands and started to saturate my hair starting at the ends. I used most of it on the ends but I did put a little on my roots as well. I didn’t measure how much I used, but it was probably about 2 tablespoons.

After getting the oil in my hair (and making myself smell like a coconut cookie), I clipped my hair back into a bun and covered it with a shower cap.

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I read online on several sites that you should heat up your hair while the oil is in it. Many sites recommend using a blowdryer for this. But I’m lazy so I figured by covering my hair with the shower cap it would get warm in there and be good enough.

I left it in for about 30 minutes before I went to wash my hair. Since my hair is thin, I washed my hair twice to make sure that I got all of the oil out of it. Just a warning, washing the oil out of your hair will make the floor of your shower slippery. Be careful! Even though I have an anti-slip bathmat in my tub, I still was slipping.

I dried and styled my hair as usual and this is what I looked like when I was done.

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It wasn’t bad, but my hair didn’t feel clean. It felt more like the day after I shampoo. The curls held a lot more than they normally do when my hair is clean. And I felt like my hair was a little flat as well.

The next day, my hair looked much better.

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It was nice and shiny and felt a lot smoother than it usually does. And after washing it another time, it still felt really good.

I’m probably going to keep using this basic hair mask but only do it once a month or so. And I’m not going to expect my hair to look fabulous on the day I do it. But I think that it helped to make my hair seem healthier and shinier (and maybe a bit less frizzy). And since I’ve got a giant thing of coconut oil (and using it on my skin barely uses any of it), I might as well keep doing it!

If you have any other DIY hair masks I’d love to hear about them!

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