Have Your Say: Castor Oil or Coconut Oil? Pick One.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

I don't know what it is, but my hair is literally addicted to/loves/adores/craves Castor Oil!!

I've tried both Coconut Oil & Castor Oil as a sealant, scalp oil, prepoo etc. and my hair ALWAYS responds better with Castor Oil. Am I the only one?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing Coconut Oil....I still like it and use it every wash day in my conditioners, however, Castor oil is the #1 oil that I leave on my hair (as a sealant and scalp oil) making it extremely soft. For some reason, if I use Coconut oil the same way I would use Castor oil, I end up with hard/crunchy hair.

I'm curious to know what you prefer out of these oils. Please let me know :-)




Sunshyne

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27 comments

  1. My hair hates coconut oil. I love Castor Oil and JBCO. My hair also loves Argan Oil (I get it cheap from Sally's Beauty Supply). I use Coconut Water on my hair, the coconut milk and oil just doesn't work for me.

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  2. Hi Sunshyne,

    My hair is so much softer with the castor oil. I use JBCO and love the way it makes my hair feel. Right now I am part of the EVCO challenge and the coconut oil makes my hair real shiny, but I think my hair loves JBCO more.

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  3. I like both depending on where I am in my stretch. It seems like at the beginning of my stretch. Up to about 6 week post relaxer, Coconut oil seems to do the trick but now that I am close to 10 week post, the Castor oil seems to work better for me. Because it is a heavier oil, my hair seems to respond better now that I have thicker new growth and the need for extra moisture is more apparent.

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  4. My hair responds well to both castor oil and coconut oil. When i'm stretching the jbco is god send for my new growth, so i picked castor oil. I don't seal with it though.

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  5. girl ! same thing here ! ! i always end up with hard/crunchy hair when using coconut oil, my hair is in love with castor oil, specially my scalp ! When i seal w/ castor oil, the next day my hair is like butter ! !
    Nunaavane

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  6. I had to stop the coconut oil challenge because it made my hair so hard and crunchy! I like coconut oil for my body, but not for my hair as a sealant or pre poo. I'll have to try castor oil and see how that works.

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  7. I love both as I use coconut oil to rub over my hair and ends for this oil penetrates the hair shaft making it a great moisterizer. I use the castor oil on my scalp and front n back edges where there is thinning for it's therapeutic benefits. So both oils serve a wonderful purpose.

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  8. I like both but whenever my hair is extra dry I prefer castor or olive oil. Sometimes castor can be too thick. Coconut can't handle my dry days so I use it when I need a touch up of moisture.

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  9. JBCO stops my itchy scalp however I love me some coconut oil! I use it for everything now, (hair and body) never get the hard/crunchy feel to my hair tho, but I still gotta have a few bottles of JBCO at all times lol

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  10. I feel the same way about Avocado oil! However, I have yet to try Castor oil, it may be my new oil of love:-D

    Coconut oil can make the hair hard, especially in the sun. I think it may be the amount of "lethicin" that is in it.

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  11. My hair behaves the same way with coconut oil. Especially if I use it as a sealant. It will be hard and crunchy. But coconut oil works well on my hair as a prepoo or a deep conditioner as long as it is mixed in with something else. So hands down, my choice would be castor oil as my all purpose hair oil if I had to pick.

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  12. I just have 5 words...

    UNREFINED EXTRA VIRGIN COCONUT OIL

    tis all!

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  13. I prefer coconut. Castor Oil irritates my scalp for some reason--I've even tried diluting it by mixing it with other oils and it still made my scalp itch like crazy:( It was also way too thick to use as a sealant on my super-fine 3c/4a hair. I love EVCO b/c it's light and doesn't weigh my hair down!

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  14. between the two, I'd have to vote for castor oil. Besides, it doesn't solidify during the winter. However, i discovered cocoa butter (100% pure) and my hair loves it. Unfortunately, it seems to get solid.

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  15. I love castor oil for scalp but as a dc I perfer coconut oil and as a sealant I perfer EVOO....

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  16. I never use one without the other. I mix my JBCO in with my EVCO. I guess I have the best of both worlds. However, with all of our support and the economy being the way it is if Sam's does not offer us another discount then I'm going to use a less expensive castor oil. The shipping costs are hurting my bank acct.

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  17. Castor oil! Coconut oil suffocates my hair blocking out all moisture. It feels like hay and tangles with madness when I use products with a high portion of coconut oil. The same is true for cocoa butter. No thank you at all!! I can find much better uses for coconut oil than for my hair.

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  18. I love both oils I have discovered my hair appears to grow faster with coconut oil on my scalp daily. Don't forget coconut oil protects the hair from losing protein. I too have discovered that coconut oil does not make my hair feel soft. But I was so delighted to find that when applied regularly, for me my hair actually grew a half inch in much less than a month. With the castor oil the growth is a little bit slower. So I made my own combination of castor oil, coconut oil, olive oil, 1 capsule of 100,000 iu heat units of cayenne, 1000 mg of msm Nature's Way emptied from the capsule. 1 biotin capsule 5000 mcg not 5000 mg as some misquote. I used to sell herbs and vitamins for a living. All capsules should be emptied and the powders heated for 25 seconds or more in microwave to dissolve them in the oils in a safe glass container. Also heat acv from the health food store in the oil mixture as well. Now add your saw palmetto extract a few drops, your tea tree oil a few drops. And shake immensely well. You can leave out the saw palmetto if you wish it blocks the absorption of DHT on the scalp. DHT is commonly found on the scalps of men and women as we age, it causes thinning of the hair among other things. This mixture I call a hair serum and my new growth feels very soft and looks wavy. I now get compliments on how healthy my hair looks and feel, not so much as length. I have truly been inspired by Sunshyne, Tracee and others and I need desperately to contribute some money to these sites to help this info to continue to be free. My oil is not patented or copied. You may try it at your own risk and understanding of natural and essential oils. I don't advocate or sell this but I have worked for health food stores as well and I had to have background knowledge on certain products. But this did not give me the wisdom to know how to care for my growing hair which was constantly breaking. You young women on these hair sites gave me that knowledge and wisdom.
    Sincerely

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  19. Just wanted to share, if you have issues with "crunchiness" after using coconut oil, you may be using too much. Coconut oil seems to have some protein-like properties, not that it contains protein because it does not, it can just behave like protein. So much like protein when too much is applied -->crunchy hair. Castor oil and JBCO can probably be used more amply because they do not have the same properties as coconut oil. Try reducing the amount of coconut oil used, and you should see all of the benefits with none of the side effects.

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  20. I have started using castor oil more, but I still use coconut oil. I like a little coconut oil on my hair when it's wet before I rollerset- it feels like my hair just drinks it up! Castor oil keeps my hair so soft and moist, so I seal my ends with it in the mornings.

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  21. I prefer coconut oil. But, I do place castor oil on my nape, edges, and ends. Otherwise, my hair is extremely sticky. Therefore, I do not place castor oil on dry hair.

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  22. I use BOTH! i apply my moisturizer (NTM) then seal with a little jbco then i apply very little coconut oil. with this method, i find my hair super super soft and tangle freeeee. the thickness of the castor oil, with the slipness of the coconut oil is The Perfect Combo!

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  23. I use both oil. I like the castor oil for my scalp, i seal with it often also. Once a week (wednesdays) i like to put some CO on my scalp. I must say that the coconut oil is less sticky and is great to seal, leaves my hair softer. For my deep conditioning i usually add some coconut oil to my conditionner and mixtures.

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  24. the only time cocnut oil ever made my hair hard and crunchy is when i used too much but if i use just a lil bit it leaves it helthy shiny soft and manageable.

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  25. I have experienced the exact same thing regarding coconut oil making the hair hard. I have come to the conclusion that if you use it excessively on the hair adding too much on the hair, or use it as a pre-poo wash and do not completely wash the coconut oil out of the hair, it could solidify at room to cool temperatures causing the hair to become hard. Pure, unrefined organic coconut oil is at its solid state at comfortable room temperature and easily heated when rubbed in the palms of your hand. Therefore, if there is excess coconut oil on the hair, it is possible for it to solidify causing the hair to become hard and eventually break. At colder temperatures (winter and fall months) the oil is even harder. For instance, I store my organic unrefined coconut oil in the fridge. It is a very hard solid. Just remember to be sure to wash the hair of excess coconut oil. The goal is to apply heat that's greater than the melting point of the oil in order to rinse the excess (76 degrees-found on container) then follow with your shampoo. You can easily reach this temperature with warm/hot water in the shower or at the sink. In addition, if you use excess coconut oil as a pre-poo conditioner, please follow it with a shampoo to remove excess after warm/hot rinse. It may be possible that the water will not remove excess coconut completely since water-n-oil doesn't mix. The shampoo wash contains sufactants that bind to the oil in order to remove from the hair. This is just my observation based on the information provided. Be carefull and observant of your hair. I hope this help. Moreover, I am pleased with the results gained from the pre-poo condition with coconut oil. I will continue to use it.

    Mary L. Washington
    Hampton, VA
    Student

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  26. Castor oil started really working for me once I passed the 7-inch mark...but I only used it in a spritz with water; it was still too heavy for me to use straight. However, I've recently BC'd again (because I missed short hair, lol) and now I'm back to using just unrefined coconut oil as a sealant on damp hair. I have 4b/4c hair that's thick but fine.

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  27. cocounut oil is thinner than caster oil. so it will easily move down to your face and make your face oily and ugly. At the same time it completly moves down after few hours and your hair becomes dry. But Caster oil is highly viscous. it keeps your hair shiny and healthy for 24 hours and never move down to you face due to its high viscosity. Because of its viscosity it will lock down within you hair and scalp and keep nourishes your hair and scalp. So its better to prefer Caster oil especially if your skin is oily skin.

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