Brooding On

Coconut Oil Hair Treatment

Okay.  I would like to begin this post by reminding you that I do sometimes have good ideas.  Right?

I wanted to establish that because part of the way I employed this hair treatment was NOT a good idea.  I freely admit it.
While I was "washing" my hair using baking soda, I noticed that my ends got overly dry.  To combat this, I decided to try a homemade hair treatment that I read about in Mother Earth Living.

To make it, as I did, you'll need  . . .
2 Tbs. coconut oil
2 Tbs. honey
1 large egg yolk

If oil is solid, warm it over low heat until melted.  Then, whisk in the honey.  Once combined, whisk in the yolk. 

It will look like egg, but, thankfully, it smells more like the honey.
Apply it to dry hair, massaging well into your ends.  I ran a pick through my hair at this point to be sure that I had the goo evenly distributed.  The directions I had said to cover with a shower cap for "as long as you can."  If you can stand it, you may even sleep in the shower cap (be sure to cover your pillowcase with a towel in case of leakage).  To help the oils penetrate, you could apply some heat.  Maybe forgo the shower cap (it might melt) and use a thin towel instead as you sit under a hair dryer with a diffuser. 

It's at this point in the process that I had the bad idea.   I still needed to fit in my run for the day.  Little Boy was about to go down for a nap.  Hey!  I could borrow Girl 1's Turbie Twist (see below), wrap my gooey hair up, run on the treadmill, and thus generate the heat needed to really activate the oils and help them penetrate.

Click on photo to visit the product page on Amazon.com

So, I ran 3 miles or so on the treadmill with my hair covered in oil, honey, and egg.  (As I'm typing this, I'm wondering what in world would make me think this was a good idea.)  What smelled like honey as I put it on my hair, started to smell more like scrambled egg around mile 2.  Thankfully, the Twist absorbed most of the sweat and hair run-off, so that I didn't have any yellow smears on my sweat towel during the run.  That probably would have sent me over the edge. 

And, no, I will not show you any photos of myself running with a Turbie Twist on my head.  You'll just have to use your imagination.

Okay, enough about my bad idea. 

Once you can stand it no longer (or just need to move on with life), jump in the shower and rinse out the goo.  Then, wash as usual. 

Despite the cooking egg aroma surrounding my afternoon run, I think the hair treatment did a great job.  It left my hair surprisingly soft, and I definitely plan to use it again (maybe on a cross-training day).