Coconut oil to prevent damage from peroxide/bleach

Just a quick update on my coconut oil experience.

I have been leaving my hair damp and putting warm virgin coconut oil through it, everyday for 3 days and sleeping with it on before I knew I was going to bleach it again.

I wanted to go back blonde a couple of month ago, and I started off from jet black hair that had been colored for a couple of years with nice and easy.

I used I think it was 3 boxes of jo baz, hair stripper, 1 a week, then Scott Cornwall color b4, and 1 hair stripper, and since 3 lots of garnier truly blonde pre lightener. My hair before I started with coconut oil was getting very dry but no breakages. I was at the stage of the whitish roots, wild orange half way round my head. So I did another pre lightener last night and I was scared about leaving it on any longer than 45 minutes. I'm glad to report the condition overall is very good.

When I was washing my hair I could feel that kind of squeaky feel at the roots where I had only put the bleach on to for about 10 minutes, I washed the lot off with a moisturizing shampoo, and then put on tresseme deep conditioner left it for 30 minutes with a towel, then rinsed and my hair felt very good after whats its been through.

I still have these stubborn sides of gingerish color that wont seem to go, so I don't think the ash blonde I bought as an overall color will do anything. I will wait a few weeks and coconut treat then try again!

I also put the coco oil through it again before bed and today it feels very good.

why do we put ourselves through all this coloring  !!! I wonder 

Whew, going through all these pages took forever, but I learned alot! It's weird that in L.A the Trader Joe's stores there were stocked to the gills with virgin coconut oil and I would buy it for my DOG to rub into her dry paws and as a treat. I never thought about using it for my hair!

I have no idea if there is a health food equivalent to find this stuff here in Finland, but I have a day before my hair appointment to go looking. I did have a question though, and I'm 80% sure it hasn't been asked yet: once I've bleached and colored my hair with semi perm hair dye, can I use the coconut treatment again, or will that mess up my color?

Some people have reported that it strips colour. I've not really found that myself though. Having said that, I don't use it all that much.

Hi everyone! I have a doubt: I found a page where they sell coconut oil at a low price and it seems like the only place I can order it from where I live that won't be super expensive. Anyway, in that page they mention the solid state at 20º, but the product says it's refined. Will it work for bleaching and hair care purposes or does it have to be unrefined? I don't want to attempt bleaching at home without at least having the coconut oil to back me up D:

Hi everyone! I have a doubt: I found a page where they sell coconut oil at a low price and it seems like the only place I can order it from where I live that won't be super expensive. Anyway, in that page they mention the solid state at 20º, but the product says it's refined. Will it work for bleaching and hair care purposes or does it have to be unrefined? I don't want to attempt bleaching at home without at least having the coconut oil to back me up D:

T
Have you tried the supermarkets on the cooking oil sections?

Yes I have, but my city seems to just not care about coconut oil. In nature related shops they sell it SO expensive and they don't always have it. And it also comes in ridiculously small quantities so, yeah D:

I love this method, never bleach without it, Total god send to a bleach addict lol x

Just read this thread in its entirety (having previously skimmed the first few pages) and theodora: you are a saint. I think we all owe you a drink.

I've always used coconut oil on my hair, either as a treatment or just a tiny bit on the ends instead of serum, so I'm kicking myself for not knowing this sooner. Especially as I cast my mind back to all those straight 40 vol bleaches I've done in my time XD

My hair's been soaking in Superdrug coconut oil (the stuff I usually use) since last night, but I'll definitely get some better stuff. I've put in an order for some argan oil with a friend of mine who sources and sells really high quality, organic oils cheaply - if anyone in London would like her details let me know.

I'm going to do a 30 vol bleach bath later, the first time I've bleached my whole head since I was a teenager, so wish me luck. My hair's reeeaaaally resistant so it will take me a few weeks/months to get it light enough for the blue I desire, so I might try different oils and combinations of oils and report back.

Honestly, you should really only use coconut oil prior to bleaching.

The main reason it helps is it contains lauric acid, which binds to the proteins in the hair.  There aren't many other oils that contain lauric acid, and I'm pretty sure those that do have smaller quantities of it than coconut oil, so coconut oil is really the best oil to use prior to bleaching.

Just wanted to pop that in so you didn't try to bleach with olive oil on your hair and then end up with dried out/weak hair after!

Thank you for this!

I luckily found this thread before I needed to bleach bath my hair to get some stubborn Special Effects Blue Velvet out and do my roots.

Found some coconut oil in a local health store. Using the instructions I popped it on, left it for about 3 hours. Did a bleach bath and have re-dyed. My hair feels great!

This is the second time I have used bleach on my hair and I shall be using coconut oil from now on to bleach and telling everyone I know about it  ;D

Sorry for posting in an old thread, but just checking...

Does coconut oil prevent damage from peroxide only, or is it just the bleach/peroxide combination?

I might be using a demi or even a permanent colour and just wondered if it's worth the time to sit in oil first. 🙂

Thanks!

this is a fantastic thread! thank you so much for the information!  My hair is feeling very dry, (gonna have to get a trim) will definitely be doing this process before bleaching!

I'm not 100%, but I think it's good to use before bleach and before using permanent colors, but not demis. With demis that require peroxide of less than 10 vol, I personally would be leary of using coconut oil beforehand, since those types don't lift at all, they deposit only. So I would be afraid that the coconut oil may interfere with the dye uptake. Demis like that are so gentle though, I have never noticed any damage added by using them, even on hair that has just been bleached with 30 vol, because they don't lift the cuticle. I have never tried it though before using a demi with a peroxide under 10 vol, so I could be wrong, but that is what I would assume.

I have used it before permanent color though with 20 vol and it did not interfere with the dye uptake at all. I haven't used it with 10 vol though, with a permanent or a demi. So maybe someone else has some experience using it beforehand with 10 vol and dye and could give better advice than I am able to with that.

Thanks Katie! I tried a test strand with the demi and it didn't seem to do much, I think I toned really well with semis to a pearlish tone, so I saw no real tonal changes, but it's still not right, so I'm going to lift it a bit more with a blonde permanent then use the frosty brands in a couple weeks I think. So regardless, I'll put in an hour prior with oil just for safe measure, and especially now hearing it won't affect dye uptake.

🙂

Sounds good! Like I said, I've used it with permanent with 20, and with bleach of course, but I've neverused it prior to using anything weaker than that - like a demi or a permanent with 10 vol, so I can't say for sure if it would affect the dye uptake with those.

I do hope you end up lifting it and toning it to how you want it to be! I know you've done a lot of digging, preparing, treating and testing trying to get it just right. I know you'll get there! 🙂 You're already very close!