Monsoon Hair Care: All The Reasons Why You Should Try Coconut-Based Hair Oil During Rainy Season

Overcast skies, the dewy petrichor (smell of wet earth) of the post-rain evening, coupled with piping hot tea, and roasted corn - makes for a perfect rainy day. But a bad hair day can ruin blow the excitement into bits and pieces. Fortunately, with little effort, you can tame hair problems and even reduce hair fall during the monsoons. So, let's understand what rain can do to your hair and how to deal with it.

Impact of monsoon on hair-

• Increased atmospheric humidity and wetting hair in the monsoon showers can cause stickiness, greasiness, and frizziness in your hair and dandruff on the scalp.
• Exposure to chemical harm your hair health.
• Fungus thrives in moist conditions and results in sticky, itchy dandruff. Untreated dandruff over a period of time tends to lead to scalp irritation and chronic hair loss. It is most important to identify and treat it early.

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Coconut oil is commonly used for head massage. Let's understand how it can help solve your monsoon-related hair issues.

Hair fall is a common problem faced by many during monsoon
Photo Credit: iStock

Preventing protein Loss

Coconut-based hair oil helps reduce protein loss from the hair shaft. According to Healthline, one study examined the effects of applying coconut, sunflower, or mineral based oil to the hair before or after washing to see which oil was best for protecting hair health. Researchers measured the amount of protein lost from the hair after each of these treatments. They found that coconut-based hair oil was better at preventing protein loss than both the mineral and sunflower based oils when applied either before or after the hair was washed.

Also read: Hair Care Tips: Nourish Your Hair And Scalp With This Easy DIY Coconut Oil And See The Difference

Preserving the cuticle by deep penetration and an internal umbrella coating

Whenever the cuticles break or when your hair is severely damaged, the porosity of your hair goes up, leading to several small pores or holes developing in your hair. Because of this, water keeps getting in and out of the hair. When water gets out of hair, it carries some part of the structural hair protein, and hence your hair starts becoming weak. More the protein loss, the weaker is the hair. Coconut-based hair oil helps form a thin coat on the surface of hair that helps align the cuticles and prevent them from chipping off. The unique property of coconut-based hair oil to penetrate ten layers deep ensures that there is protective covering around the protein layers within the hair. This helps reduce protein loss and maintains the strength of your hair.

Coconut oil can help prevent monsoon-related hair problems
Photo Credit: iStock

Strengthening the weakest link

Wet hair gets damaged easily because your hair always tends to break at its weakest link, which is sharpened when using coconut-based hair oil. The miracle ingredient fortifies the weakest link in hair by up to 10X. However, hair is not uniformly thick across its length, its thickness varies as well. Also, it is seen that on pulling the hair, it will break at its weakest point - generally where it is thinnest. Thus, non-uniformity in thickness is the reason for hair breakage. This non-uniformity is caused by various damaging factors like chemicals, surfactants, combing, heating, rainwater, humidity, straightening etc. Coconut-based hair oil application makes hair more uniform across its length, and thus, improves the weakest link. Research done on Indian hair with 20 cycles of coconut-based hair oil application has confirmed the strengthening of the weakest link by up to ten times.

Also read: Is Coconut Oil Good For Your Skin? Know Benefits And The Right Method To Use It

Protecting the scalp

Apart from its nourishing and protective action on the hair shaft, coconut-based hair oil also protects the scalp, thanks to its incredible ingredient, lauric acid. Lauric acid has antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory properties that keep the scalp free from dandruff, dermatitis, and fungal infections in the damp monsoons.

Also read: Expert Advice: Weight Loss Isn't The Only One; Coconut Oil Is A Powerhouse Of Health Benefits

For best result you can apply coconut oil twice a week for healthy hair.

(Dr. Aparna Santhanam (MD, DNB) is a dermatologist, hair and wellness expert. She is also an author and Podcaster working in the field of beauty, health, and wellness for over 20 years)

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