There was a time when everyone worth their avocado toast thought of coconut oil as the modern world’s coping mechanism: the ultimate feel-good fast-track to glowing skin, a healthy gut, hydrated hair, whiter teeth and stronger nails. What couldn’t coconut oil do?
Then, well outside the #fitspo realm, there were whispers about coconut oil’s saturated fat content (hint: it’s high) and the condiment-turned-21st-century-wonder-product started to lose some of its lustre. This latest news could well be the final nail in the superfood coffin, at least as far as coconut oil’s purported benefits as a hydrating hair mask go.
“Hair oils – and especially coconut oil – tend to seep into every tiny hole in your hair shaft and disguise the real problem to act as a quick-fix,” Ross Charles, owner of Ross Charles Hairdressing, tells Glamour. “When hair needs moisture, it is thirsty and needs a drink [but] oil and water don’t mix.”
“Oil actually repels water and either pushes it out of the hair of stops it from getting into the hair,” he adds.
We’ll be retiring that jar in our bathroom cupboard to the kitchen pantry, stat.
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