Coconut Oil for Perfect Colored Hair – Step by Step Guide

College days are often fun when one is care-free and is ready to experiment with the new trends, be it with hair or clothes. And I was no exception. I couldn’t really afford colored hair bundles being a broke college student. So, after long arguments with myself, I decided to throw caution to the wind and color my hair.

But when I finished coloring my hair; I realized that something wasn’t right. My hair just wasn’t looking that great at all.

If you want to skip my experience and get straight to the step by step guide, you can do that HERE

I mean, it was looking nice from far away and all – the color was noticeably different; but it just wasn’t looking healthy and didn’t have that shine when you got closer like I thought that it would. It just wasn’t looking ”WOW”, you know?

Shampoo and Conditioner on the Advice of my Hair Stylist

After a few days, in spite of doing everything that my hair stylist asked me to do, my hair started looking completely opposite of what I wanted it to look. After a few weeks, it was getting even worse.

I shampooed and conditioned my hair regularly as per the instructions of my hair stylist, but still, my hair looked worn out, unkempt, and gave me a dry-damaged look that still fills me with dread when I think about it!

I didn’t know what to do, so I spoke to my friends who had colored their hair earlier and asked them for tips, hoping that their experience could help me.

But nothing they said made any difference to the condition of my hair. It was similar advice to my hair stylist – just different brands of shampoo or conditioner.

The Answer Was Closer to Home

I finally realized that the main reason why coloring my hair was not looking great was that my hair itself was not being treated right – I hadn’t properly looked after it, beat it up and was expecting my hair to just nourish itself.

What I put my hair through was completely unhealthy and I had done nothing to counter that or keep it well nourished.

Still searching for a solution, I finally decided to listen to my elder sister (who listens to their sister, right? lol), who all this while kept insisting that my hair was just dry and needed some oil.

She gave me the recommendation of coconut oil which I rolled my eyes at.

You know how our families are when we’re younger, right?

• Did you trip and hurt yourself? Coconut oil will fix that
• Did our TV just explode? Put some coconut oil on it and it’ll be ok
• Did you just catch an incurable disease? Coconut oil!
• Your colored hair looking dry and damaged? COCONUT OIL!

Every family has that product from the old wives tales which fixes everything. Anyway, I was running out of options so I had nothing to lose at this point. I tried the coconut oil in my hair.

My Experience Using Coconut Oil in my Hair

Having tried all the other options (which didn’t yield the desired result), I decided to use a coconut based hair oil.

After oiling my hair regularly for about 2 weeks, I noticed some drastic improvements in the condition of my hair.

As you can imagine, it was an unbelievable but joyful moment for me. Well, apart from the fact I had to admit to my sister that she was right, which is always hard ha!

My hair condition was improving slowly. The only variable I changed over those few weeks was the addition of coconut oil to treat my hair, so I knew without a doubt it was the oil that was improving my hair.

I was hooked – I’ve started using it on a regular basis, even when my hair isn’t colored, just to maintain the health of my hair and it has really helped me.

My hair now looks better than it ever did – even before I oiled it.

If only I listened to my sister a little earlier, (I hope she’s not reading this!) but anyway, its better late than never.

How to Treat your Hair With Coconut Oil Before Coloring It

I didn’t give up on coloring my hair. I think we all know it’s not great for our hair health but if we can find a balance between hair health and having nice colored hair, us ladies will never say no to that! Am I right?

Here’s a method I used the next time I colored my hair, which looked absolutely fantastic and had everyone at a party I went to the following night completely raving about it!

So, before you start – this process is done before you go to bed and left overnight. This is so your hair has the time to absorb all of the coconut oil and take effect.

The point of the coconut oil process is to help protect the hair and scalp from any chemical damage caused by the peroxide or any other harmful ingredients in hair dyes. This treatment will help your head build up the protective natural oils on your scalp.

Here are the steps to follow so that your dyed hair looks great and remains healthy:

Night Before Dying Hair

• Wash your hair thoroughly and remove all dirt – a clean head of hair is essential before doing this.
• Starting from the roots to the tips, start to apply coconut oil to your hair (make sure the oil is fully liquid – rub your hands together until it liquifies if it’s still solid)
• Cover your head with a shower cap or special plastic hair cap overnight. This cap will keep the coconut oil on your hair, which will allow your head and hair to absorb it. It also stops the oil spilling out and making a mess.

Day of Coloring Your Hair

• Go through your usual hair dye process (IMPORTANT: keep the oil on your hair during this process!)
• Wash the dye out, wash your hair, condition and then style your hair as normal.

The difference this treatment will make to your hair, like it did mine, is amazing. The difference to my colored hair was night and day, all because it was healthy and well nourished.

Coconut oil or coconut based hair oil really does work wonders. Give it a go and let me know how you get on.