You may not be aware of this, but your shampoo is quite likely to contain coconut oil, at least in smaller amounts. Of late, people came to understand how important the oils are for hair nourishment. Otherwise, in the last three decades or so, using oil on hair was viewed as a sign of backwardness, or at least, the majority believed so, particularly in India.
You go out with oil in your hair and you are a laughing stock among your friends and girls. The oil, that gave your hair a sticky and heavy look, was almost a culprit those days. People were mad for those wind-blown fluffy light hair, resulting from indiscriminate use of those oil-less, caustic based shampoos. But very soon, those who oiled their hair continued doing so, while the other lot, had no hair left to shampoo. The excessive use of shampoo had resulted in drying up and breaking away of hair and total devastation of the nourishment of the scalp.
Here is when oils began to make their way into the shampoos and manufacturers began using Coconut Oil in shampoo (learning a lesson from that natural jet black and strong hair on the heads of people living in coastal areas of India & neighbouring countries, who had crossed their seventies and have been using coconut oil on their hair since their childhood). Using coconut oil in shampoo showed marvelous results and soon it was topping the favourites.
Let us see what changes it brought to the ordinary shampoo which brought about this revolution.
- Hair Nourishment: You all know how beneficial the medium chain fatty acids like Capric Acid, Caprylic Acid and Myristic Acid present in Coconut Oil, are for skin & hair. When coconut oil is mixed in shampoo, these nutrients nourish the scalp and make the hair root and follicles healthy.
- Anti Ageing: The components discussed above are good anti oxidants and thus prevent untimely whitening and falling of hair.
- Moisture Retention: Coconut oil is an efficient moisture retainer and does not let the scalp dry out. This prevents breakage of hair.
- Vitamin-E: The contribution of this component towards skin and hair is well known. This keeps your scalp and hair root healthy and vitalizes hair.
- The Oily Factor: Detergent or soap based Shampoos leave your hair dry, rough, hard and bleached. That is why sometimes you find your comb does not go smoothly through your hair after you shampooed them. The oil (here, saturated fats) in shampoo counters this effect. It keeps it smooth and shiny.
- The Fragrance: Coconut Oil adds a sweet and refreshing scent to the shampoos. It is a bonus.
Finally, if you are not getting a reliable shampoo which contains coconut oil, you can very well mix some coconut oil in shampoo of your choice (preferably, an organic or herbal shampoo) and enjoy the results.
This article is contributed by Aparup Mukherjee.
Sources of Information:
- Reports of Coconut Development Board of India,
- Reports of KERAFED.
- Text books of various courses of agriculture.
- Various other reports on internet.
