We were best buddies after my BC. It was always there for me when I needed it with no complaints.
And then one day, we quarreled and our love was gone.
It all broke down to one thing: I could handle its smell anymore.
I’m talking about coconut oil! I don’t know what it is about me, but every blue moon I get “funny” about certain smells. After a few months of using coconut oil, I suddenly couldn’t stand to even be near the open jar. I ended up giving my half full container away just to get the stuff out of my house.
Skip forward almost a year and I’m in the GNC staring at a tub of coconut oil. I can’t recall exactly why I decided to give another go, but I bought it. It’s like we never quarreled! The smell was suddenly faint and wasn’t making me nauseous. I’m glad coconut oil cleaned up its act.
Coconut oil is supposed to penetrate the hair shaft, as I’ve seen mentioned many place lately. However, just applying coconut oil (for MY hair) does not yield enough moisture for me. If use it, it has to be with something else. But sealing with it always results in wonderfully soft and moisturized hair (well, as soft as my hair gets). Solid at room temperature, it melts in your hands and right on to your hair. I enjoy it because it’s nice and light.
People always seem confused about what kind of coconut oil to buy. I know I was. I went to the Kroger and found coconut oil right next to the vegetable oil. I greedily grabbed it off the shelf and cradled it my arms until I got home. I opened it and said “Huh?”
It was yellow for one thing and it had no scent. I looked on the back of it and saw directions on using it to cook popcorn. What I bought was not unrefined virgin coconut oil.
Here are the different types:
RBD (refined, bleached, deodorized). This is made from dried coconut called copra. Copra is dirty, brown, and stinky. So it has to be bleached, purified and deodorized with high heat. In the process, the oil is damaged and sometimes a bit of lye is added to extend shelf life. Chemical processed may also be used to extract the oil from the copra. Most coconut oil on the market is made this way. It’s much cheaper.
Virgin. Made from fresh coconut instead of copra. The oil is extracted using mechanical means. Some heat may be used, but no chemical additives, bleaching, or deodorizing. The properties of virgin coconut oil has not been altered.
Premium Virgin. Higher quality than virgin. It’s produced under strict control and made from only very mature coconuts.
Extra Virgin. Higher quality than premium. It’s made either by DME (direct micro expelling) or in a centrifuge. No heat, deodorizing, or refining is necessary at all with these processes. The higher the quality, the higher the price and health benefits.
Personally if I can find virgin oil, I’m ok with that. As I said above, it can be found at GNC and in most health foods stores.
Here are some other interesting facts about coconut oil:
In a study done by the Journal of Cosmetic Science, coconut oil was compared to sunflower and mineral oil. These two were chosen because they are widely used in commercial hair oils. Coconut oil was the only one found to decrease protein loss before and after washing in damaged and undamaged hair.
Coconut oil is better to use on babies than baby oil. Not only is it easy to absorb by the skin, but it also helps the absorption of fat soluble vitamins. The fat found in unrefined virgin coconut oil is similar to the fat found in breast milk. Coconut oil may also helps diaper rash.
Using coconut oil in cooking is said to help improve skin and hair from the inside out
High quality coconut oil has the longest shelf life compared to any other oil, lasting up to three years in some cases.
Sources:
Coconut Cures: Preventing and Treating Common Health Problems with Coconut by Bruce Fife
Coconut Oil: Discover the Key to Vibrant Health by Siegfried Gursche
Hi kcurly,
i wanted to ask a question but didn’t know where to ask it on the blog. I see you’ve started doing an ask kcurly type of thing and thought it would be perfect to ask you. (I got your email from the giveaway). How do you store all natural products, such as products by karen’s body beautiful hair milk and butter? (I have almost 6 milks and 3 butters, I’m a big kbb fan). I recently purchased a huge order, because it makes more economical sense to buy in bulk. I also know that natural products tend to have a shorter shelf life, than other products, and being the worrier i am, i’m now worried about whether my products will grow mold before I’m able to use them. Right now I still have my extra’s in the box they came in stored in a cool closet. But I’m not sure how to store my products. Do I put them in a drawer, where every time I open them they’ll be hit by light? will keeping them stored in the box which is dark cause them to grow mold faster?
I’m newly natural and new to the natural products scene. Some storage tips will be greaty appreciate.
Paula
Hey Paula! Thanks for the great question.
I think keeping your products in a dry, cool place with adequate ventilation is more important than the light and dark factor. A lot of natural products come in jars anyway, that wouldn’t be hit by light until you open it. The only time I’ve noticed mold growth is when I’ve allowed water to get inside the container. See this post for more information on that horror.
I’ve also learned that shower condensation can cause growth if the jar is not properly closed and sitting in the room. So tightly close all containers just to be safe. Too much sunlight is also supposed to be harmful to natural products, though I don’t really know why.
Also, taking note of the shelf life is imperative. Most natural hair care lines have a shelf life listed on the website somewhere. For KBB, here is what the site has to say about the shelf life:
The shelf life varies. But since our products are not preserved with chemicals, they’re best used within 6-9 months of purchase.
Another one of my favorites, Hairveda, has this posted on their site:
All of HairVeda’s Butters/Frosting & Oils have a 1 year shelf life from the date you receive your items. No preservatives are used.
Some more European based products have a jar symbol that should be found somewhere on the back of the container. Whatever number is inside the jar, should represent the months of shelf life the product has after opening. If you have some Giovanni products, you can see this symbol on the back to see what I mean:
This is only a requirement with products that are being sold in a country that belongs to the European Union. . This shelf life estimate does not take into consideration how the product is stored beforehand however.
Some other safeguards to take when handling your products are to use a utensil or clean, completely dry hands when scooping it out. You may also choose to refrigerate it if you are really worried about it. I’ve also heard of people adding natural preservatives such as grapeseed extract and vitamin E to help, but I’ve yet to do this. Here is an article on natural preservatives.
Another problem I’ve had with KBB once it reaches the shelf life is that the scent starts to fade. The products work just as well, I just don’t have as much of that yummy smell anymore.
I hope that helps, and maybe others can share their tips and experiences.
I had this hanging around in my pantry from when I did a caramel treatment last. I’d just shampoo’d after swimming and (of course) my hair was incredibly dry. I really needed to oil rinse and this was the perfect opportunity to try out the red palm oil.
Like coconut oil, it’s solid at room temperature because it’s high in saturated fat. Here are some other interesting facts about red palm oil:
It is indeed reddish in color from high amounts of beta carotene
Can be stored at room temperature, due to high amount of Vitamin E
If boiled, the red color disappears
Widely used as a cooking oil in West Africa
Excluding the US, palm oil is one of the most widely used cooking oils
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I really like coconut oil for oil rinsing as well, though the smell started getting to me about a year ago. This reminds me of coconut oil but heavier. It is an extremely heavy oil. I would not use it without rinsing (that is me personally as I am not a big oil person).
The first time I used this was after shampooing, I applied this and left it on for about 15-20 minutes while I did a few things around the house. I applied way too much that first time, but still liked it. I used it again, just leaving it in while I shaved my legs etc in the shower. Here are my initial impressions:
It left my hair feeling amazing. Oil rinsing usually leaves my hair feeling great, but this was probably one of the best oil rinses I’ve ever had.The residual amounts from my first use made my detangling much easier.
It’s really hard to rinse out, so go easy on application. So after glopping it on in huge amounts, as I am prone to doing with all things hair related, I could not rinse it out properly. Can you say frustrated? Despite my almost black hair, I could still see faint traces of orange/red in my hair. I finally just rinsed one more time and then gave up, applying my deep conditioner. My hair remained overly oily but still incredibly soft and hydrated.
The second time (when I did not go crazy with the stuff) was much easier to rinse out, though it still hangs on to my hair. I used hot water to rinse, which I did not do the first time.
This stuff stains like a mother! I will not use this oil out of the shower again. The t-shirt I was wearing the first time I used it will now be a rag because of all of the orange-ish spots on it. I also, because of my heavy handedness, stained my satin pillowcase and one of my scrub tops (my twists were brushing against it) after failing to completely rinse it out. My Denman also suffered a casualty.
Of course when DH saw the pillowcase he had to start singing “Soul Glo” much to my mortification.
Always good for a chuckle, right? Anyway…
Red palm oil is often readily available. You only want to get the virgin oil. I found it easily at my local whole foods grocery, but fear not. There are plenty of places online to buy it. When doing a search on pebble.com, I found a couple of listings.
I was greeted with this awhile back when I opened up a container of deep conditioner:
Yes, ladies, that is mold.
This product is one of the many natural products that I have, but this has never happened to me. I do have to admit that the more products I get the longer they tend to sit without being used (obviously). I’m really glad for this No Buy Challenge as I could see that a lot of my products were on the edge of their shelf life (see the benefits and downsides to buying natural products here).
Here are a few of the suggestions I received on Curltalk to avoid having this happen again:
Keep products refrigerated (Can’t do this, I would need to have a separate fridge for food! LOL!)
Do not let water get into the container
Write the date on it when it arrives
Add Vitamin E to the container or a natural preservative
Empty the product out into another container when ready to use so that you don’t dip wet fingers directly into container
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These are all helpful tips which I never really considered. I am positive that water getting into my container was the problem so I’ve taken steps to correct that. If anyone has any other tips, please post them to the comment section and I will add them to the list.
Look how rich and creamy this stuff is. I first heard about this over at Texture Playground. She is always doing great things with butters and such. If you haven’t checked her out, what are you waiting for?
The smell is very light, and doenst really smell like an avocado, but it definitly does not have any fragrance added. It’s super moisturizing and thick. If I put this on my ends at night before bed, I am gauranteed softness in the morning. I love spreading it over both my hair and skin. You can order this, along with other butters and ingredients from Texas Naturals (in face Texture Playground has a deal with them for a discount).
This was very good, because I was going through some serious withdrawals. I’m talking about going to do groceries and suddenly ending up in the haircare aisle without remembering how I got there!
Bunning was fun and I think I will be doing more of it, but I missed my twists! I decided to try and do them as fast as I could right before bed a few days ago. I was able to do these in about an hour and a half which is very good for me. However, in my rush I did several thing that I’d rather not repeat.
First I made them way too big for my liking. Second, in an effort to make sure they would be nice and smooth I used a lot more product that usual. A lot more=some big greasy twists.
Oh well, they served their purpose. I’m going to try swimming in them tomorrow and just decide from there what to do.
Workout related stuff:
Twists fit very well under a bike helmet. Trying to get a fro under one is a barrel of fun.
Here is what I’m using some of my PJ money on instead of products:
My new baby!
Other PJs out there who are trying to cut back, what are you using your money for?
How did I forget that I wanted to do buns so badly? I’ve been wearing my hair out for days now and it really needed a break. I haven’t been swimming yet this week so I was trying to think of the best style that could be done in the least amount of time. I [...]
Awhile back I mentioned that I was going to try the Aveda Paddle Brush. A lot of kinky/curly headed folks love this brush and I wanted to see why.
Now I have fallen in love! Yes, I do love the Aveda Paddle Brush for styling. I will still continue my love affair with the Denman brush [...]
So I’ve said that I’m not a big oil person, but I do have some oil favorites. Grapeseed oil is one of the only oils that I will use direcly on my hair and not wash out. Here’s a little history on grapeseed oil:
Although I do tend to stray occasionally, I like to use handmade products with natural ingredients. They seem to be better for my hair in the long run and they can do amazing things compared to products you find at Wal-Mart. However, there are pros and cons about handmade products that I’d like to point [...]
So I finally took the plunge and tried some bentonite clay. I sent my friend to the store to buy it for me (thanks again health foods store!) and she couldn’t find it at first because it was under the name Redmond Clay. I found out why when it arrived with a brochure. Directly quoted:
Millions [...]
Instead of relaxers ever 6-8 weeks, this is what fills my time during that period
No I’m not dying my hair green (though it’s a good color on me, don’t you think?) I’m using a treatment called Cassia Obavata, also called “neutral henna” or “senna” in many circles.
Here are a few facts about Cassia:
I received this email from a reader named Robin the other day:
I’m really enjoying your website. I see that you used to use Abba Nourishing. I still have an old bottle that I use for my daughter’s hair, and I just found out that Abba has renamed and repackaged it with the same [...]
Here’s proof you don’t necessarily need expensive products to get good styling results. The above picture is the current twist out I’m sporting. I was missing my shea butter, so I did some twists last week using:
final rinse that is made from diluted water and Apple Cider Vinegar
can remove buildup
provides sheen (or shine) to hair
increases manageability
smooths the hair
I have experienced all of the above when doing an ACV rinse and do it about once a month at least. Your hair won’t be a different head of hair, [...]
Thanks for reading! Remember that our hair is a gift and that it can blossom and grow if we take good care of it. If you have questions, want to share your story, or just want to say hi, please email me at kcurly@newlynatural.com
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I think that last picture says it all.
Workout related stuff:
