Is Your Hair Coarse and Dull?

When you wash your hair, water soaks into the delicate hair shafts, making them swell -- and that can cause the surface cuticle to lift up like loose roof tiles, giving your hair a coarse, dull look, says nutrition researcher Mary Enig, Ph.D., author of Know Your Fats.

Rx: Coconut Oil

Once each week, massage two tablespoons of warm coconut oil into slightly damp hair, cover with a shower cap, then shampoo out 30 minutes later. Coconut oil is nature’s number one source of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA’s) -- a unique group of fats that leave a microscopically-thin protective coating on the surface of hair strands, stopping water from crowding in and causing harm, according to studies at India’s Mumbai University. Another coconut oil perk: Its healthy fats kick-start healing of damaged cuticles, making hair softer, silkier and more break-resistant within two weeks, adds Enig.