It’s normal to lose about 50–100 hairs a day. Many people report losing lots of hair, despite being over careful.
Daily practices like washing, brushing and styling can cause damage to your hair and leave it looking frizzy, broken and dry.
To understand why this happens, you would need to know about your hair’s structure.
Hair’s structure
Your hair is made up of three layers:
- The medulla:This is the soft, central part of the hair shaft. Interestingly, thick hair contains large amounts of medulla, while fine hair has almost none.
- The cortex:This is the thickest layer of your hair. It contains lots of fibrous proteins and the pigment that gives your hair its color.
- The cuticle:The cuticle is the tough, protective outer layer of your hair.
What causes hair fall
Frequent washing, styling and colouring your hair can damage the cuticle, rendering it unable to protect the central parts of the hair shaft.
This also causes to lose some of the fibrous proteins that make up your hair’s cortex, making your hair thin, fragile and prone to breakage (1, 2, 3).
Let us evaluate the benefits of using coconut oil on your hair.
Coconut Oil Is The Best Hair Oil
Coconut oil is an extremely versatile health and beauty oil.
It is used for all sorts of things, from cooking and cleaning to moisturising their skin and removing their makeup.
It is often used to help improve the health and condition of hair.
Coconut oil is often said to be the best oil to use on your hair to reduce protein loss and keep it looking healthy.
One study examined the effects of applying coconut, sunflower or mineral oil to hair before or after washing (4).
The researchers measured the amount of protein the hair lost after each of these treatments, to see which oil was best for protecting hair health,
They found that coconut oil was better at preventing protein loss than both the mineral and sunflower oils when applied either before or after the hair wash.
On the other side, the mineral and sunflower oils both did not have this effect and weren’t found to be effective at reducing protein loss from hair.
It’s believed that coconut oil’s chemical structure is responsible for its superior ability to protect hair (5).
Coconut oil is predominantly made up of a medium-chain fatty acid called lauric acid. This gives coconut oil a long, straight structure, which is more easily absorbed deep into the hair shaft.
Other oils contain mostly linoleic acid, which has a much bulkier structure, so it’s not as easily absorbed into the hair.
This means that oils like mineral oil and sunflower oil can coat the hair, but they aren’t absorbed as well into the hair shaft (6).
Coconut Oil May Help in Longer Hair
Every female wants long, sleek and shiny hair.
The day-to-day wear and tear of hair caused by styling, grooming, the weather and pollutants damage it.
This makes growing longer hair difficult, as your hair can become more worn and tired the longer it gets.
Coconut oil helps you grow your hair longer by:
- Moisturising the hair and reducing breakage
- Protecting hair from protein loss and damage when wet
- Protecting your hair from environmental damage like wind, sun and smoke
Other Benefits of Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is believed to have other benefits for your hair. However, many of them haven’t been examined in properly controlled studies.
Popular believed benefits are:
- Lice prevention:One study found that when combined with anise (also known as aniseed; Pimpinella anisum) in a spray, coconut oil was 40% more effective at treating head lice than the chemical permethrin (7).
- Sun protection:UV filters help protect your hair from sun damage. Some studies have found coconut oil to have a sun protection factor of 8, so putting it on your hair could be useful (8, 9, 10).
- Dandruff treatment:Dandruff is caused by an overgrowth of fungus or yeast on the scalp. While no studies have examined coconut oil specifically, it has antimicrobial properties and could be useful for treating dandruff (11, 12).
- Hair loss prevention:Excessive grooming can damage the hair shaft, which in extreme circumstances can cause hair loss. Coconut oil can help keep your hair in good condition and prevent this.
It’s also claimed that consuming coconut oil can be beneficial for hair health due to the nutrients it provides. However, there is little evidence that this is the case (13).
Take Home Summary
Coconut oil is excellent in moisturising your hair. It may be used both before and after the hair wash to help prevent damage and keep your hair looking shiny and healthy.
To get the most out of coconut oil, you’ll need to make it a regular part of your hair care regimen.
