Milk or Cream Anyone?

Not so long ago I had half a can of coconut milk left over and no recipe to use it in so I did what any normal person would do: I decided to tip it on my hair. I massaged it in as best as I could, covered with a plastic bag and towel and left it on for half an hour or so. I then washed as usual. Nothing too complicated for someone who tends to make things far more complicated than they need to be.


For the next week DH repeatedly commented on how soft and shiny my hair looked. Now, I don't get a lot of compliments at my age, and especially not hair compliments. Unless, "How do you manage to hide all that hair in a bun?" from a colleague counts. (Actually it does for me, having lost a lot of volume in the last decade supposedly due to low ferritin levels - but obviously not due to aging at all you understand.)

And, of course, there have been the other hair comments such as "Nana, why don't you dye your hair yellow?" (I think I'd prefer blue but somehow can't see DH agreeing.)

Anyway, back to the reason for this post. After so many compliments from DH, and observing personally how smooth and silky my hair felt, I repeated the experiment. Again and again. And always with the same result. The only cons to this method were: (1) it tended to be a little messy (although not as messy as some other experiments I've conducted); and, (2) my hair for the next day or two was so slippery that it refused to stay up in a bun.

Which brings us to today's experiment. With a night out planned with DH's work, of course it seemed the perfect time to experiment. Not! I did console myself with the thought that if it didn't turn out that: (1) I would have time for a quick scalp wash before going out; (2) that I knew the restaurant and that it tended to be on the dark side as far as lighting goes so I could hide in a corner; and, (3) no one would likely pay that much attention to me anyway. Since I look ridiculous in hats, that wasn't an option, but perhaps if I'd been desperate enough …

Anyway, I had, in error, bought a can of coconut cream. I had used some of it to tone down the spiciness of the chili pumpkin soup I made earlier in the week, but there was still more than half a can left. From what I had read online (and we all know you can trust everything that you read online!), coconut cream is no good for this experiment. It contains more of the fat and is therefore harder to wash out.

I tried it anyway.


I made several discoveries: firstly, it is far easier to massage into hair because it's thicker; secondly, it is less drippy; and, thirdly, I had enough to massage into my face and it felt divine! I left it on my hair for two hours while I went about cleaning my house. Aware that it is supposedly harder to wash out, when it came time to wash my hair, I rinsed well first, applied a thick liquid conditioner of choice to the length, then shampooed the scalp twice with a shampoo bar intended for oily hair. After I finished, my hair still felt a little "rough" (I don't know how else to describe it) so I followed up with a very, very weak vinegar rinse.

The first think I noticed when I dried my fringe was how soft it looked. It was only yesterday that I thought my hair looked like steel wool, so to see softness again was very pleasing.

I'm now sitting here waiting for the rest of my hair to dry. So far it feels soft, and if it dries anything like my fringe, I think it's going to be super shiny as well. I'm pretty positive that I'm not going to need that quick scalp wash before going out. In fact, I might need sunglasses to guard against the glare!

It's looking hopeful but of course I won't know until it's fully dry … and that will be a few hours yet.

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