Coconut Oil: 3 Lady Solitaire: 1

After much research, I have been convinced that coconut oil is the bees knees of bona fide, hippy no-poo. Coconut oil has been used for hair care for centuries. As well as being a moisturiser - go figure, it is an oil after all - it is also supposed to darken hair, prevent grey hairs and cure dandruff and hair loss.

The coconut is actually pretty fascinating. It is, apparently, the only thing you can eat exclusively without becoming malnourished or dehydrated. Coconut water, which has become a new 'energy drink' of sorts, is so similar to human blood plasma it has been used for blood transfusions. Coconut milk also has medium-chain fatty acids, similar to what is found in human breastmilk. Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway. I have spent a lot of time waging war experimenting with coconut oil. There are two problems - one, coconut oil is really, really, really oily. Which may sound like a stupid thing to say about oil, but I've used argan oil and olive oil in the past and neither have been this problematic. It's solid, so it's also harder to handle - it kind of has to be melted, first. Secondly, I don't use shampoo, and coconut oil is basically bulletproof. Washing it out with anything short of bleach seemed, for a little while, a bit of a joke.

EXPERIMENT ONE:

Coat dry hair with masses of coconut oil. Attempt to wash out with green tea acid rinse.

Result: FAIL. Was a slimeball for days and days. Took several no-poos and the gratituous use of baking soda to get rid.

But once most of it was gone, my hair was Ah-May-Zing. So I tried again.

EXPERIMENT TWO:

Mix 1 teaspoon of coconut oil with no-poo (I happened to use the sugar shampoo that day).

Result: FAIL. Took three washes to get it all out.

EXPERIMENT THREE:

Mix TINY PATHETIC SMIDGEN OF COCONUT OIL with MASSES OF APPLESAUCE.

Result: Somewhat fail. I didn't melt the coconut oil, so I ended up with mostly nice hair with a couple of bits that were oiler than Saudi Arabia.

EXPERIMENT FOUR: (yes I'm that stubborn.)

Brew tea. Melt honey and coconut oil in tea. Add rice water. Hope for the best.

Result: FINALLY! SUCCESS!!!!!!!!

Worth it? Yes. Am I crazy? Probably.