Coconut Oil for Permed Hair | Is It Good? How To Apply?
Ladies with permed hair are often concerned about how to protect their hair and manage its health. With the damaging effects of chemicals involved in the perm process, permed hair is often prone to shedding, breakage, and split ends.
Therefore, is it a no-brainer that we’ll be looking for the most natural way to protect permed hair from damage using natural ingredients.
Coconut oil is one of such natural oils that offer health and repairing benefits for hair. But the big question is: Is coconut oil good for permed hair? Does it offer the same benefits as it does to natural hair? Let’s find out.
Is Coconut Oil Good for Permed Hair?
Yes! Coconut oil is great for permed hair. It can repair damaged hair, nourish the scalp, and smooth frizzing and dry hair.
It contains a large number of fatty acids, vitamin E, and other components that protect the hair and deliver nutrients to the scalp.
Pure coconut oil offers a lot of nutrients and benefits to permed hair. It helps the hair retain the natural proteins in its follicles.
It also supplies the oil that might have been dried out by chemicals during the perm procedure. Coconut oil can also treat scalp conditions and improve your hair growth rate.
Several benefits are associated with using coconut oil for permed hair. They include the following:
1. Repairs hair damage
Coconut oil can repair the damage done to permed hair because it is rich in antioxidants that can fight free radicals that damage your hair follicles and cause your hair to thin out.
When free radicals run amok in your hair, they cause your hair to weaken, age prematurely and even break.
Coconut oil can also prevent harsh chemicals from several products from penetrating your hair shaft.
2. Improves Hair Strength
Perming your hair often weakens the hair over time and makes it dry and brittle. This is where coconut oil comes in. It helps restore moisture and hydration to your hair and reduces the risk of breakage caused by these chemicals.
Perms are known to weaken your hair strands over time owing to stress from heat, chemicals, and curling rollers. Coconut oil can be a healer and strengthener.
3. Restores Shine to Hair
Many people find their hair losing shine and vibrancy because of excessive exposure to chemicals when getting perms, but coconut oil can solve that. It can penetrate your hair and deliver the vibrancy and shine your hair needs in just a few drops.
4. Nourishes root of permed hair
It is important to nourish your hair roots after getting a perm to reduce the after-effects of the procedure.
One of the best ways to protect your hair is to strengthen the roots, and oil massages are great for this. Coconut oil offers deep root nourishment to your permed hair and ensures that the root is healthy, and by extension, the strands.
5. Conditions hair Strands
While oil massage works on your roots coconut oil also helps to condition your hair strands. Light oil like coconut oil works best for conditioning permed hair, because other oils like castor oil can flatten your curls.
Coconut oil will calm your static oil without tampering with the curls or relaxing them.
How To Use Coconut Oil on Permed Hair?
Now that we know coconut oil is good for permed hair, the next question to answer is how we can use it for the best results.
Should I simply apply the oil to my hair, add it to my hair cream, or leave the oil overnight?
There are several ways to use coconut oil for permed hair. The method you choose can depend on the condition of your hair, how much time you have, or what you simply opt for.
1. Using coconut oil as a leave-in conditioner
Leave-in-conditioners, oils, and serums are mandatory for permed hair because they form a protective layer by sticking to the hair’s outer layers and protecting it against damage, especially during the perm procedure.
Use a moderate amount of coconut oil to avoid making the hair greasy while delivering moisture.
2. Use coconut oil as a hot oil treatment
Your permed hair needs hot oil treatments for extra protection and moisture, especially if it is dry or damaged.
When using coconut oil as hot oil treatment, you can use it alone or mix it with other healthy oils like olive.
Heat the oil in a microwave or place the oil bottle in a bowl of warm water. Apply the hot oil to your hair and scalp, and massage it into your hair and scalp for a few minutes. After that, cover your head with a conditioning cap for an average of 30 minutes.
3. Using coconut oil as a deep conditioner
When you get a perm, the outer cuticle of your hair takes a hit by the chemicals involved in the process. Your hair strand also loses moisture, and if you don’t replenish the moisture, your hair becomes frizzy and could get entangled in a knot.
To avoid this, you need to provide deep nourishment to your scalp and hair. This is where coconut oil comes in to nourish the scalp of permed hair, reduce dryness and prevent knots.
Coconut oil is the best option because it won’t loosen your perms like other heavy oils.
Massage organic coconut oil onto your scalp, leave it overnight, and wash it the next morning for a deep conditioning effect.
For a more potent effect, especially in the case of stopping graying of hair often caused by perms, you can use coconut oil alongside sage and curry leaves on your hair.
Soak dried sage and curry leave in organic oil for 15 days to allow the leaves infuse properly. If you can’t wait that long, you can heat the coconut oil alongside fresh or dried sage and curry leaves for about 10 minutes on low heat for the leave extracts to seep in.
A third option is to purchase curry and sage essential oils and add a few drops to your coconut oil.
You can use this rich oil once a week and you’ll notice relief from tangles, dryness, and white flakes in a few applications.
4. Using coconut oil as a sealant
You can use coconut oil as a sealant when you moisturize your permed hair between washes. You can apply coconut oil at night just before bed and enjoy soft, shiny, and moisturized hair by morning.
5. Use coconut oil as a detangler
You can detangle your permed hair using coconut oil. Simply melt the coconut oil, section your hair, apply it, and detangle your hair slowly using your fingers.
6. Using coconut oil as a protectant
Due to its penetrative nature, coconut oil can fill up the hair shaft and protect other harmful liquids and substances from getting in.
You can apply coconut oil to protect your hair from chemicals, hair dye, and chlorine water when going swimming.
Precautions When Using Coconut Oil
We have said a lot of wonderful things about coconut oil for permed hair, but we must also tread cautiously when using coconut oil.
First, avoid applying excessive amounts of coconut oil to your hair, because like everything else, it can be harmful if it is too much.
Too much coconut oil can affect your hair strength and structure and make it prone to breakage, which is what we’re trying to protect it from.
Excess coconut oil can also block your pores and cause folliculitis, which is an inflammation of your follicles that makes your scalp red and inflamed. Long-term folliculitis can negatively affect your hair growth cycle, cause hair thinning and hair loss.
Also, leaving coconut oil on your hair for too long can make your hair greasy, weigh it down, and cause itching or other discomforts.
So what are we saying?
It is best to use coconut oil for permed hair in moderation if you want to enjoy the amazing results it delivers without getting into trouble.
Don’t overuse it or leave it in your for days and you’re safe to enjoy healthy permed hair.
What Type of Coconut Oil Is Perfect for Permed Hair?
Now that we’ve made it thus far and discovered the benefits of coconut oil for permed hair and how to use it, the next thing is to find out what type of coconut oil is best for permed hair, or whether you can use any kind of coconut oil for your permed hair.
When you shop for coconut oil to manage your permed hair, the only kind of coconut oil you should buy is unrefined virgin extra virgin coconut oil.
Look for descriptive terms like extra virgin coconut oil or virgin organic coconut oil, which implies that the oil is pure and free of added ingredients. Extra virgin oils are also free of side effects.
Extra virgin oils are cold-pressed, unlike some other coconut oils that are processed through heat. They are also packaged naturally and free of extra processing, thereby retaining all their healthy properties and benefits.
When it comes to choosing coconut oil for your permed hair, the method of extracting the oil is the major difference between virgin coconut oil and other regular coconut oils.
While regular coconut oil gets extracted from dried coconut meat, virgin oil is extracted from fresh coconut milk.
So, here’s what you should look out for when shopping for the best coconut oil for your permed hair:
- Virgin coconut oil
- Unrefined coconut oil
- Extra virgin coconut oil
- Organic coconut oil
- Sulfates-free
- Parabens-free
- Silicone-free
Now that we’ve gotten these points right, let’s get into recommending the best brands of coconut oil products for your hair.
Recommended coconut oil for permed hair:
Final words:
We have been able to establish several facts in this post. First, coconut oil is great for permed hair. Also, natural or organic coconut oil is the best option for permed hair.
And finally, it is crucial to avoid overusing coconut oil and leaving it in your hair for too long to avoid detrimental effects to your hair.
Coconut oil can help you manage your permed hair, and unlike other heavy oils, it won’t tamper with your curls, but leave your hair beautiful and healthy!
