Bargain Beauty, Hair, Kitchen Sink Beauty

Coconut oil (remix)

So, I’m sitting here watching “Daredevil,” and, it occurs to me that I am the true daredevil because I am currently giving coconut oil as a hair treatment a second chance. I haven’t washed it out yet, so, to put it in daredevil terms, I’m still waiting to see if my suicycle make it over the metaphorical dog doo stick.  

 

Last time I used coconut oil in my hair, it was a reeeeeal shitshow. I used way too much oil, and I doused every strand from scalp to end. I mean I went TO TOWN with the coconut oil. My head was greasy for days. This time, I used just a few tablespoons of the coconut oil mixed with a couple drops of Rosemary oil, and I only applied it to my scalp. This coconut oil experiment also has a different hypothesis;  I’ve been reading about scalp massage to stimulate hair growth, and, hey, sounds good to me. I’m into oils and massages and sensual things like that. It’s also well documented that I’m very into growing locks so long and luscious that I no longer require tops. I massaged my scalp really well, ran the excess oil on my hands through the length of my hair, twirled it all up in my trusty claw clip, and now, I’m just letting the oil do what it do. Whatever that is. 

We’ll see how things work out when I take a shower. Fool me once, coconut oil! Fool me once. 

UPDATE: I was really scared I was going to end up using dish soap to wash my hair like I had to after the time I used too much oil to remove an ill conceived glue-in quick weave, and no amount of traditional shampoo would degrease me. But, I pulled out the big guns AKA my Pureology clarifying shampoo, and there weren’t any problems washing out the coconut oil. Obviously, I can’t tell yet if this really helps with hair growth, but, at least my scalp doesn’t feel all toight and flaky like it often does after I wash and dry my hair. I’m thinking this Sunday night scalp massage might become part of my weekly beautifying treatment regimen. It felt divine, it smelled good, my hair is soft, my roots aren’t greasy, and my scalp isn’t dry. I made it over the dog doo stick! 

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BODY-ODY-ODY, Kitchen Sink Beauty, Moisturizer, Pinterest

Dispatches From Pinterest: Shaving Your Legs with Baby Oil

I’m always on the hunt for a faster/easier/more efficient way to do everything. That’s how I ended up trying to shave my legs with baby oil gel. Pinterest said to do it. It clogged the hell out of my razor. It turned my shower floor into a living nightmare.* My legs weren’t any smoother than when I use shaving cream. I had to scrub the shower when I was done. That’s more work. NO DEAL.

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Pinterest sent me chasing a lie. Again. I keep at it though. I just can’t help myself.

*My biggest fear used to be smashing my own forehead into the bathroom counter when I flip my hair over while I’m blow drying it. But, then I did that. Now my biggest fear is slipping in the shower to catastrophic result.

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Hair, Kitchen Sink Beauty, Moisturizer

Coconut Oil Hair Mask: The Results Show

I know you’ve all been anxiously waiting to hear the outcome of my coconut oil experiment; and we’ll get to that, but first, let’s take a look back on the road to the finale…

There was that time I followed a random idea that floated through my head and told you guys about it,

“I’ve got coconut oil, a hotel shower cap, very dry ends, a mildly ambitious attitude, and last night’s Project Runway.

I’m going to get to the bottom of this coconut oil as hair mask situation for myself. Plus, this is going to be a good way to force myself into taking a shower.”

Then, I played with my phone, watched television and posted pictures on Facebook:

coconut oil mask

Finally, I left us with the million dollar question….

“Is my hair wet? Is my hair greasy?”

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NOBODY KNEW.

And that about brings us up to speed.

The answer?

I was SO greasy, buddy!

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In a bad way. Not in a Pauly Shore way. Which is a GREAT way.

This just didn’t work out great for me. Some weird stuff did happen though, so I’ll share.

I think the idea to try this out popped into my head because my hair has been through a lot lately. I’ve been swimming a lot, and I have the suspicion that my Suave coconut conditioner is not up to the task of taking care of that sun and chlorine damage. My hair was feeling pretty dry and poofy. My hair is never poofy. But, you could gather it up in a ponytail, and it was like a big clump at the end. GROSS.

At first, I was super stoked about the way the oil was feeling, because it seemed like my hair was really sucking it up. I’d add more, and it would be gone. All in all, I probably used a little over a 1/4 cup of oil in my hair. Is that too much? In retrospect, it seems like a lot. I have a lot of hair though, so maybe it isn’t? I massaged the oil into my scalp, and all down the entire length of my hair, being really generous at the ends. After my head felt saturated, I pulled it up into a shower cap, and waited for about an hour and a half.

As soon as I started trying to wash out the oil in the shower, I knew I had made a mistake. It was pretty readily apparent that my cleansing conditioner was going to struggle with removing the oil. And, whoa, struggle it did. After a little while, there didn’t seem to be any more I could do, so I got out, hoping that meant the oil that was left was there because my hair wanted it. NOPE! The oil that was left was there because I couldn’t wash it. There was a lot of it. Everything from my ears down was slick with oil. It was weird though because it didn’t feel heavy, or even really sticky greasy. You could easily run your fingers through my hair, and it was light. It was greasy though; all piecey and slick. It was strange. I’d never really felt and oiliness like that.

Instead of getting back in the shower, I braided my hair into milkmaid braids and pinned them up. I was still optimistic that, in the end, everything would work out. Now it was like I was having a long term moisture treatment on my hair! How luxurious! I left it like that for about a day, and then I tried again to wash it out.

This time, I used shampoo.

Here’s where another weird thing happened! The second the shampoo went onto my hair, everything tangled up! It was fucking bizarre! It felt like my hair completely flipped from a slick, over greasy, stick straight mess to a rough, tangled, tumbleweed mess. Scrubbing was a nightmare, everything pulled and hurt. Conditioner barely helped. It was a disaster!

And don’t even get me started on the death trap that was my shower floor while all this was happening.

I dried my hair and I was unimpressed. My hair was shinier and softer, but not soft or shiny enough to make it worth all the mess. You can get faster results from a regular deep conditioner.

If you still want to try it, go for it. As usual, your results will vary. Tread very carefully if you have thin or fine hair, and maybe don’t do it if you have somewhere to be in the same day.

So, there you have it. More bullshit that doesn’t work as well as I’d hoped!

 

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Hair, Kitchen Sink Beauty, Moisturizer

Coconut Oil Hair Mask Special Bulletin

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Here I am, post mask, and post shower. Is my hair wet? Is it greasy? NOBODY KNOWS.

Second impression: After all that time trying to rinse the oil out of my hair in the shower, the back of my body is feeling very moisturized.

I might have done this wrong, although, I don’t see how. All our questions will be answered in my next post. Isn’t this thrilling? I put off a trip to Target for this!

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