Hey Folks,

I'm wondering about unrefined vs. refined oils, and hoping you ladies can help me out...  

(1) Shea butter, I understand, is best used unrefined.
As for other unrefined vs. refined OILS, though, for consumption, I understand there are less nutrients, color, and scent.
-- I don't care about loss of nutrients, since I prefer to swallow them in a multi anyway
-- color doesn't matter
-- viscosity does... the higher the better.

Is there any other loss to consider?
Is there really a noticeable difference in their effect on hair-- whether they're refined/unrefined?

(2) Hydrogenated oils... Do they absorb better/worse/same as the liquefied version? Anybody have a personal preference? (e.g. with coconut oil that is solid, vs. fractionated coconut as in Tiare)

Thanks,
Anais

Yes... I dropped this topic after doing mounds of research but failed to come back and share what I learned! You've summed it up very nicely, and I wanted to add something: Liquefied oils not only absorb better, they have a lower chance of clogging pores. Monoi is made with a very high quality fractionated coconut that they claim does not clog pores, while coconut76 or coconut92 does. and I just lurrrve the smell of Monoi's gardenias! And liquid oils have smaller molecules in general, so they seem likelier to absorb into the cuticle. (although I'm not saying "penetrate the hair shaft"... an unlikely case for any oil)

You're right-- Refined oils are always missing color and therefore nutrient. But I seriously doubt anything externally-applied can do much for the hair or skin. That's what I was wondering about... when I don't need externally-applied nutrients, is anything else about the oil important? Musings, musings... more rsch to be done.

Hi again,
I know this is not a real recent question but I stumbled across something of interest.

I've ordered some fractionated/liquid coconut oil to try.
On another thread, Rua said that the coconut oil was so light on her hair--well, I think her hair is fine, like mine, so I asked her which kind she uses:bingo! she uses the liquid coconut oil.  Upon reading further, I read that the fractionated coconut oil is one of the lightest oils available.  I kinda fell off the wagon and ordered some.
But it was not very expensive where I bought it.

HTH,
strawberryfine

Anais,
I salute you in your resolve!  I am going to try not to buy any more hair stuff until my birthday in January.  

I will update you on how well the fractionated coconut oil works for me.

I've got to go back to the monoi.com website and check on their fractionated oils.  I got some monoi tiare oil some time back and though it was liquid when I got it, it has solidified.  The instructions say to warm the bottle in water to re-liquify.  Mmm? Puzzlements, puzzlements ???
strawberryfine

Hey, where is that highlighter thingy (no profanity there) just didn't know what to call it!lol
[color=Yellow][/color]just testing-Well, THAT didn't work! glow=red,2,300] [/glow]

Oh, I hope that the coconut oil works for you! I'd feel terrible if it didn't and I had convinced you that it would!  LOL

Be sure and let us know how you get on with it. I've had success with it...and I truly hope that you do too.

Hi Strawberryfine,


Here : You put the tags around the text you want to be yellow. like it says "[g low=yellow,2,300] [ /glow]" right? (I put in the spaces on purpose so that the tag is visible) Just put your text between the tags, between the "]" and the"[".

And you can change the color obviously, and the changing the numbers will make the glow longer or wider or whatever.. the first one (the 2) is the extent of the glow (I think). and the 300 is the length of the glow (again, not sure)

let's see:






Heeeey It doesn't work! It usually does!! argghh I love this function it's my favorite!

Anais