DIY Coconut Oil Hair Masque, Science and Why It's The Perfect Treatment Pre-Bleaching

Every Blog out there has extolled the virtues of coconut oil, we all know that it is cheap, readily available and makes your hair feel soft but do you know why that is? What is it exactly that coconut oil does?

Honey + Coconut Oil Vs Peroxide

The Background

Firstly the molecules in coconut oil are really small, which means that they can penetrate the hair very easily where it can nourish from within. The early science testing that took place in 2012 suggested that the hair can and does absorb up to 20% of it's weight in coconut oil. (Reference: Quantitative measurement of the penetration of coconut oil into human hair using radio-labeled coconut oil. JSCC, 2012, Vol 63.) If heat is applied this uptake can be even greater. So now we know that the hair can absorb the oil, but what does the oil do once it gets there?

DIY Olive Oil, Honey and Lemon Beauty Mask, Plus it's the basis of a scrub, cleanser, toner, cough medecine and pore refiner!

Currently I am loving beauty products that are as natural as possible. And my current holy trinity is Honey, Lemon Juice and Olive Oil. Hot Damn this stuff is good, inexpensive and more versatile than you can imagine.  Go raid your kitchen cupboards right now. 

Cleanser

Okay, lets start with the basics. I use (high quality) extra virgin olive oil straight on a cotton wool pad as an extra moisturising make up remover and cleanser. It easily lifts my make up off and if you have your cotton pad saturated enough (certainly not dripping though) It drags very little, maybe a little more than my new French discovery - Bioderma Crealine H20 Cleansing Solution - but the pay off (besides being in almost everyone's cupboard) is that you perhaps use less swipes with olive oil waterproof mascara, both remove it effectively, but I feel that olive oil is quicker.