Cocoa butter is a versatile product and can be used for many different purposes. From providing skin care benefits to giving you amazing hair care results, cocoa butter has many surprising benefits.
It is edible and used in a variety of products, including chocolate, lotions, cosmetics, and other toiletries and pharmaceuticals. Its natural antioxidants mean that it has a long shelf life and will usually last from 3-5 years.
Cocoa Butter for Hair
There is no shortage of hair products that contain cocoa butter as an ingredient. Yet some things are best utilized and enjoyed in their natural, unadulterated state, and cocoa butter is certainly one of them.
Why use a commercially produced shampoo, conditioner, or other hair treatment product when natural cocoa butter benefits are so much better? Plus, it has no additional chemicals or additives!
Here are 5 surprising benefits of using cocoa butter for your hair:
- Hair Loss Prevention: Applying melted cocoa butter to your scalp and hair helps strengthens the roots and nourishes them, resulting in less hair fall and damage.
- Natural Conditioner: Cocoa butter has moisturizing properties which make it the perfect natural conditioner for soft, tangle-free, and manageable hair.
- Strengthen & Protect Hair: Cocoa butter not only strengthens your locks but also protects them from dust and sun radiations. It removes frizziness, dullness, and chlorinated water residue from your scalp as well as adding volume to it.
- Add Volume To Hair: In addition to strengthening your hair, using cocoa butter increases its thickness too making them look more voluminous.
- Promotes Hair Growth: As cocoa butter contains fatty acids that help nourish the scalp, applying it before taking shower helps in promoting faster growth of healthier-looking locks naturally.
#1. Hair Loss Prevention
Cocoa butter, when applied in its melted form to the scalp and hair, works wonders in preventing hair loss. It achieves this by strengthening the hair roots and providing essential nourishment. The natural fats present in cocoa butter penetrate deep into the hair shaft, fortifying it against breakage and damage. This results in a significant reduction in hair fall, leaving you with stronger, healthier hair.
#2. Cocoa Butter as a Pre-Poo or Deep Conditioning Treatment Mask
Cocoa butter can treat damaged hair. If your hair is getting damaged and dried out from frequent shampooing, treat it with a nourishing dose of cocoa butter applied directly to the ends and shaft.
If your cocoa butter has solidified in the cooler temperatures, scoop out a couple of tablespoons and place them in a small dipping dish (like the kind you use for soy sauce). Heat it with a blowdryer until it melts to a buttery consistency.
Dip a few fingers into the dish of melted cocoa butter and rub it into the palms of your hands. Apply it to your hair, paying special attention to the dry and brittle ends. Saturate the hair with the cocoa butter, making sure that all the strands are coated until no more can be absorbed.
Leave it in for a couple of hours or overnight while you sleep. The next morning, wash your hair thoroughly with shampoo and conditioner and style as usual. You’ll immediately feel the difference.
#3. Strengthen & Protect Hair
Beyond strengthening your hair, cocoa butter offers protection from environmental factors such as dust, sun radiation, and pollution. Its natural antioxidants and nutrients act as a barrier, shielding your hair from the harmful effects of these elements.
Additionally, cocoa butter eliminates frizziness, dullness, and residue from chlorinated water, resulting in a healthier scalp and more voluminous hair.
#4. Add Volume To Hair
Cocoa butter not only strengthens your hair, but it also enhances its thickness, giving your locks a more voluminous appearance. By deeply moisturizing and nourishing the hair shaft, cocoa butter promotes elasticity and resilience. This results in hair that is not only strong but also looks fuller, thicker, and more vibrant.
#5. Promotes Hair Growth
Cocoa butter is rich in fatty acids that are essential for nourishing the scalp and promoting healthy hair growth. When applied to the scalp before showering, these fatty acids penetrate the skin, providing vital nutrients that stimulate hair follicles and encourage the growth of healthier, stronger locks. The consistent use of cocoa butter as a pre-shower treatment can lead to faster hair growth and an overall improvement in hair quality.
#6. Fight the Frizz with Cocoa Butter
Apply a light touch of cocoa butter in sections of your hair that are prone to the frizzies. You can use a spray bottle to spritz it on in its liquid state, or if it’s still solid, warm some up in the palms of your hands, and put it on with your fingertips to help calm down the flyaways.
#7. Using Cocoa Butter as a Color Hair Gloss
Hair gloss is a semi-permanent color enhancer that contains natural proteins. The proteins allow the gloss to act as a glaze over each hair strand, filling in the holes of highly porous hair shafts and contributing an unmistakable shiny surface to your tresses.
Cocoa butter is a fantastic option as a hair gloss because it can be mixed with other natural colorants such as cocoa powder, food coloring, and henna. When you add these elements to the cocoa butter, you can create a DIY hair gloss in a customized shade that enhances and brightens your current hair color.
If you want to use cocoa butter as a gloss, be sure not to put so much in your hair that it looks greasy. Apply it as you would a pomade, using your fingertips to gently massage a small amount on the surface of your hair.
#8. Cocoa Butter to Control Dandruff
Dandruff is an annoying and embarrassing condition brought on by scalp skin that’s too dry or oily, causing the dead skin to flake and peel off. One of the ways to combat dandruff is by recalibrating the balance of oil on the scalp.
Rubbing cocoa butter into the scalp’s skin stimulates the production of natural oils in and around your hair follicles, which lubricates the irritated and inflamed skin.
Cocoa butter also acts as a natural antifungal and antibacterial humectant, reducing the itchy discomfort that causes you to scratch your head. Less scratching means less irritation, which also leads to less flaky skin.
Don’t be overly concerned about using cocoa butter for hair anywhere on the length of the strands. While it’s true that in its liquid form, it acts like an oil, it’s relatively light and absorbs quickly into the hair shaft if you don’t saturate your hair (as you do in a pre-poo or a hair mask). Because of its light viscosity, it’s also a good option for fine-textured dry hair, especially if you avoid applying it too close to the roots and scalp area.
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