Put Da Lime in Da Coconut

So I have this kind of hair: 

http://coolspotters.com

But I would like this kind of hair:

http://www.speedyremedies.com

Soft, shiny hair. Such an elusive beast. According to www.speedyremedies.com, I could do something like rinse my hair with a can of beer at the end of each washing--being sensitive to gluten and wheat, I no longer drink beer, therefore I am so not going to rinse my hair with it and smell like beer for the rest of the day. Plus, I'm not going to be that guy who walks into the store and purchases a single. I can see myself at the register now.

"I'm going to rinse my hair with it! It's supposed to make it shiny. I can't get six because I can't drink them and don't want them at the house, so I decided buying one was the way to go since I only need one to rinse my hair but I didn't want you to think that I was buying just one because I'm a drunk on the street and that's all I can afford, or that I need one to get me home from work or something. So it's for my hair! Do you see how blah my hairs are now? This one beer could save them all!"

--blank stare--

"Right. You didn't ask. Sorry."

Another home shiny-fix recommended by Speedy Remedies is to create a hair mask mixture made of egg and yogurt. Well, I'm allergic to eggs and dairy so that's a no. I doubt putting it on my scalp would cause a reaction, but I don't want it that close to my face. I miss dairy so much, I wouldn't put it past myself to take a lick--even with the raw egg involved. I ate cookie dough by the ton when I was a kid and I never got salmonella.

Sidebar: According to this article, [this one, here], eating raw eggs could decrease my allergicness and only 1 in 30,000 of commercially produced eggs are infected. And since you all buy your shit locally, right?, the chances of your eggs being contaminated is drastically reduced. Healthy chickens, YEAH!

Anyway, back to the issue at hand: my not-so-shiny HAIR!

So, I have this friend/roommate Mike. He has just about the shiniest, longest locks I have ever seen, and he uses the hell out of coconut oil to get them. Every time I go to the store, I pick up a jar of it, heft it in my hand, and think about how much work it must be to make that concoction equate to shiny hair. I always have an excuse not to get it. It's solid in that jar! It's more expensive than gas! There's gotta be a better way!

Well, folks, I found myself at Trader Joe's the other day, with a jar of $5.99 coconut oil in my hand, and finally surrendered to da coconut.

At home, I cornered Mike and demanded his superior shiny hair knowledge, "How do I use this stuff?"

He tells me that he usually uses it once every couple of weeks as a sort of homemade moisturizing mask after washing it and applies it only on the bottom half (avoiding his roots). I want to know how. Don't you heat it up? Apparently not. Mike tells me that I can heat up a tablespoon or so and use it for a hot-oil type treatment before I shower but I don't have to. When he puts it in his hair as a moisturizer, apparently he just rubs it in because it melts right in your hand.

Of course, me being me, I decide that just moisturizing my hair couldn't possibly be enough so I go for the hot oil treatment. Have I ever done this before? Nope. Do I look up online how to do it? Nope. Do I proceed to heat up two tablespoons, rub it all over my dry hair, let it set for 20 minutes, and wash it out? Yup!

I did this yesterday morning. Yesterday mid-morning whilst trying like mad to wash the oil out, I felt like a failure. Yesterday afternoon after drying and brushing, I felt like my hair was still dry and fat. Last night when I brushed it before bed, I felt a change... It got lighter, and a bit shinier. This morning, I brushed it again and I feel like it's on the road to recovery. I'm satisfied with da coconut oil and now I want to do more. *I can have shiny hair!*

Because Crunchy Betty is awesome, I'm going to take her advice on how to move forward in my hot oil hair treatments. Check out her two-part post on how she does things if you're interested in becoming a hot oil hair guru--or if you just want shiny hair.

Crunchy Betty Part 1: Creating
Crunchy Betty Part 2: Indulging