Virgin coconut oil for hair: what it is, what it does, how we blend it
Virgin coconut oil is the one oil that lab studies found gets inside the hair fibre rather than sitting on it: a rich, saturated oil that turns solid below 76 F and smells like the coconut it came from.
| Role | Base oil |
|---|---|
| Weight | 3 of 4, medium-rich |
| Chosen for | Strength, moisture |
| On the label | Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil |
| In our blends | Wash Day 26.2% |
| Builder limit | Up to 85% of a hair blend |
What it is
Pressed from fresh coconut flesh, the oil is about 45 to 50% lauric acid, a small, straight-chain saturated fatty acid, with myristic and palmitic acids behind it. That small straight shape is the reason two lab studies (Ruetsch and colleagues, 2001; Rele and Mohile, 2003) found coconut oil penetrating the hair shaft while mineral oil did not. We say 'was found to penetrate' and stop there. It is saturated, so it keeps for years, and it firms up below about 24 C.
How it feels on hair
Weight 3 of 4, medium-rich. Liquid, it is slippery and glossy with a clear coconut scent; cooled, it clouds and can set in the bottle, which a minute between warm hands undoes. On lengths it gives a soft, sealed feel; on fine hair it is a lot.
Who reaches for it
Type 3C to 4C curls and coils, thick or dry strands, and pre-wash oiling, where the oil goes on dry hair for half an hour before shampoo. It is the second base in Wash Day at 26.2%.
Where it sits in our blends
Wash Day carries virgin coconut at 26.2% (with Olive 52.3%, Jamaican Black Castor 8.4%, Avocado 6.3%, and more). The blends with a product page can be bought as they are; every one of them can be opened in the builder and changed oil by oil.
How to compose with it
Virgin coconut can take up to 85% of a hair blend as a base. Wash Day pairs it with olive at one part to two and adds Jamaican black castor, avocado and baobab. Keep it to the second base if you use the oil in a cold bathroom; the olive or jojoba in front of it keeps the bottle pourable.
Good to know: Clouds and firms below 76 F (24 C). Warm the bottle in your hands; nothing is wrong with it.
Compose with virgin coconut Find your formula
Weighed to the gram and blended to order in New Jersey, with the recipe printed on the label. For external use only; patch test before first use. Every oil, with its INCI name, is in the oil library.