Home Made Remedy for Falling Hair: Coconut Oil and Castor Oil

I recently made a post mentioning one of my hair troubles: falling hair. The main culprit was rebonding for so many years. Initially, my hair was so thick that I didn't really mind all the hair loss until I noticed that my hair was beginning to thin out. I really freaked out! I didn't want to go bald. I decided to stop having my hair chemically treated, and began to look for a way to grow back my hair.

I did a lot of research, and found out that there are a lot of natural cures to fight hair loss. I guess this wouldn't be as effective for those who really are genetically predetermined to lose hair, ie alopecia areata. However, since my hair loss is due to chemical exposure, I figured that some TLC would help.

I came across tons of blogs about homemade cures and remedies for falling hair, but I decided to try out two ingredients which were readily available to me.

The first ingredient is virgin coconut oil. I bought one made by Prosource from the local drugstore and it was quite cheap. There are so many ways to use virgin coconut oil. It is used topically for hair and skin care, and can also be ingested to improve blood cholesterol levels. It's so convenient to have a bottle around, to rub on very dry skin, remove stubborn makeup, and just pamper your skin before taking a bath.

Virgin coconut oil is very mildly scented, and does not make me break out. It is a definite must have as a beauty staple.

Speaking of Prosource, I also LOVE their Virgin Coconut Oil Soap. I have been using Dove for years, because I have sensitive skin, until I tried out their soap. It is much more gentle than Dove, less scented, but it bubbles up really well and it made my skin sooo soft and supple. I really feel the difference after bathing with this soap. Downside is, it's a bit more expensive and gets used up faster. But it is still so well worth it. You don't even need to put lotion on when you use this soap. That's how good it is.

If these products are not available locally where you are, you can check out their site here.

* Prosource product images taken from http://www.hktdc.com/manufacturers-suppliers/Prosource-Int-l-Inc/en/1X07QK93/)

The other ingredient I used was Castor Oil. I just bought a small bottle from the drug store. It is very cheap, and a small amount goes a long way. Castor oil is known to promote hair growth, and is also popularly used on eyelashes and eyebrows. I dab a little along my lash line and over my eyebrows before I sleep. This stuff is sooo sticky but is odorless, and has not irritated my skin. Like coconut oil, it is also being used in oil cleansing methods. I prefer to just keep it on my hair.

I started using castor oil when I had a "grooming accident" on one eyebrow, and I was desperate to grow it back quickly. I decided to try it on my lashes too. My eyebrow filled in quickly, and I notice that my lashes are fuller now, with new growth on parts that were bare before. I just use my pinky finger for this, but you can use a cotton bud. Some even use washed empty mascara tubes, but I'm just too lazy to wash all that gunk off my used ones.

I mix 3 parts virgin coconut oil and 1 part castor oil in a small atomizer, give it a good shake, and spritz it onto my hair. I use a thin comb to part my hair in small sections, to make sure that stuff gets into the scalp. You don't really need a lot, just enough to cover your scalp. Then I give myself a good scalp massage, wrap my hair up in a bandana, and leave it on overnight. When I wash it off in the morning, my hair feels healthier and invigorated. Downside is, it takes two washes to get all that oil off.

For good measure, I also used hair fall repair shampoos and conditioners by Dove and L'oreal, just to minimize possible hair fall caused by hair care products. To tame my unruly hair, I used Lauat Leave-On Hair Conditioner from Watson's.It contains lauat, gugo and virgin coconut oil, all herbal ingredients which are traditionally known to promote hair growth. They also have a shampoo in this range of products, but since I already had two brands of hair fall repair shampoos, I decided not to try it anymore.

I'd give this product a 4 out of 5 since it did help control my frizzy hair, and didn't weigh it down so much.

I did this VCO + castor oil routine about 2-3 times a week. Within 2 weeks, I noticed that my hair loss was reduced significantly (I would say more than half AT LEAST). I also noticed A LOT of baby hair growing within a month. That's why I decided that it was finally okay for me to go back to the salon and have my hair straightened again, this time with a less harsher method.

I've stopped doing this routine since then but I'm really happy with the results. If you decide to try this, I hope it works out as well for you :-) I think the best thing I did was to stop the chemical rebonding altogether. All this work will be futile if you keep subjecting your hair to what caused it to fall in the first place.

Have you tried other methods to control hair fall? I'd love to hear them :-)

Thanks for reading this!

Hair Troubles: Rebonding versus Keratin Treatment

My hair is my greatest downfall and my biggest source of insecurity. I live in a country where women are known for their long, straight, gorgeous hair. It comes naturally to them like breathing. I walk around the mall and just stare at girls with envy.

My hair sucks. It really does. I was born with curly, unruly hair. It's absolutely schizophrenic. Even if I treat it with care, wash it with the best shampoo and conditioner, nourish it with oil and hair serums, it still is just plain ugly. So I end up just tying it all in a tight bun.

When rebonding was first introduced, I was ecstatic. I've been having my hair rebonded for more than 10 years now. My only blessing, hair-wise, is that my hair strands are fine so that it looks gorgeous and natural when rebonded. However, I've been noticing a lot of hair fall since my last session so that I panicked and stopped having my hair treated altogether. Again, I was stuck with no other option but the tight bun.

Since then, I've been trying to be kinder to my hair and give it time to recover. I changed my hair care routine, rubbing a mixture of coconut oil with castor oil in it to encourage hair regrowth and stop further hair fall. I changed by shampoo and conditioner to the Dove Hair Fall Rescue range. I was quite satisfied with the results, since I noted lesser hair fall when I washed my hair and more baby hair growing. Downside was, this routine made my hair more poofy, especially as the regrowth started to get longer.

Now that I had healthier hair, and due to the insistent demands of my boyfriend, I decided to find another way to straighten my hair. I mean, geez, it's been more than a decade, we must have something out there other than rebonding. I read about Steambonding using L'oreal Kerastase products but unfortunately, the only real difference it has from the old school rebonding is the steam iron. This means that they use almost the same chemicals, which I really want to stay away from. Another disadvantage is that it costs more than rebonding. Results wise, I'm not sure how it's any different from the original type of rebonding. I'm willing to wager that steambonding won't be such a big hit. But it's been out in the market for only a couple of months, so we'll just have to wait and see.

I must admit that I am no expert in hair care, or styling, aside from the rebonding which I've gone through a gazillion times. I decided to consult with someone who was, and that's when I learned about nuNaat keratin treatment. I asked if there was something in the market that wasn't as chemical based as rebonding, and she told me to try out this range of products.

I decided to do a bit of research and found their site very helpful.

Ultra Keratin Touch Kit

                                           from http://www.nunaat.com/productline/ultra-keratin-touch/

According to this site, the benefits of nuNAAT Ultra Keratin Touch are the following:

• Smoothens frizz, curls and waves
• Reduces volume
• Great for all hair types
• Exclusive Green Keratin formula seals in nutrients, and retains flexibility and shine
• Lasts up to 30 days
• Compatible with chemically-processed hair
• Formaldehyde and sodium chloride free

It seems like natural and organic products are slowly but surely making a strong footing in the market, whether it be in the food or cosmetics industry. After years and years of chemical rebonding, it's time to go natural for me :-) The only question is, will it be enough to straighten my stubbornly frizzy hair?

I went to Profiles Salon in Katipunan, where nuNAAT is available. Upon evaluating my hair, I was told that I needed something more than the keratin treatment to straighten it. My heart sank and I was really disappointed, but since I was already there, and my mind was so set on having my hair done, I asked what my options were. They were very helpful and emphatic and listened to my concerns, and told me that what they could do was apply a chemical (huhu) used for relaxing hair (Schwarzkopf, I think), just for a couple of minutes, and then they can use the nuNAAT keratin treatment. This works well since the the keratin also minimizes the damage caused by the chemicals used.

I was hesitant at first, but I just decided to bite the bullet and trust them. The stylist took extra care not to apply too closely to my scalp and then let the treatment sit for a couple of minutes. After rinsing the stuff off, they went on to do the keratin treatment, which was so much faster compared to rebonding. I used to sit 8 hours to have my hair straightened. This took less than 3 hours!

The treatment smelled pleasant compared to the rebonding chemicals, a bit like coconut oil. Another upside that I learned was that you can color your hair after the keratin treatment, which was not an option after rebonding since it already puts your hair under so much stress.

The results were surprisingly good, but keep in mind that they also used the chemical relaxer on my hair. In terms of straightness and smoothness, rebonding does a much better job. In terms of shine, my hair seems to be shinier now than after any rebonding session. One problem that I've always had with rebonding was that
my hair always fell flat and limp, so that later on I needed volume rebonding if I wanted shorter than shoulder length hair. Now my hair has retained some volume which gives keratin treatment major plus points.

Downside to keratin treatment? Fine print says it lasts 30 days. My stylist says to expect my hair to be okay for the next 3 months, provided I use these:

NuNAAT Deep Moisturizing Shampoo and Conditioner

Won't be able to try these out until 2 more days (just like rebonding), but they smell really nice and it's supposed to protect chemically treated hair so I'm a bit psyched about them.

I will make an update on how it all goes, and how my hair looks like after a couple of days. 

Thanks for reading this! :-)