Common Mistakes Made With Coconut Oil

Adding more coconut oil into your diet or using on your skin or hair is a wonderful way to benefit from it, but there are also some mistakes people tend to make. Make sure if you decide to use more coconut oil on a daily basis, you do not make these common mistakes.

Allowing Mold to Grow

It is normal to have multiple jars of coconut oil in your home and use it often. The problem with this is that each jar might take a while to use completely, which means a lot of humidity and wet hands going into the jar consistently over time can lead to mildew and even mold. You definitely don’t want to be using coconut oil that has started to grow mold on it. A good way to prevent this is by either keeping just one jar in your home and using it up before buying another one, or just making sure your hands are always dry when using it. If you use it on wet hair or after a shower, be careful about scooping it from the jar and dry your hands first.

Using it on Color-Treated Hair

This is a common mistake mostly because there aren’t enough warning out there. You need to be really careful about using too much coconut oil on color-treated hair, as it might cause the color to fade prematurely. This doesn’t mean that you can never use it on your dyed hair, but that you need to be more careful. You should only use it about once a week or so, and a smaller amount than others would use. You also might not want to leave it in your hair for as long. Test a small section underneath your hair first to make sure it doesn’t cause a major change in your hair color.

Letting it Get Too Close to Your Eyes

You need to be really careful when you are putting the coconut oil near your eyes, particularly if you are using it as a carrier oil with essential oils. Many people like to apply coconut oil to their face as a moisturizer or combine it with essential oils into a headache balm to rub on the forehead. This works great, but be really careful not to get it in your eyes. Coconut oil will burn, but essential oils can cause even more serious problems.