About a year ago at a wedding shower, I received a little party gift along with a bunch of other cosmetic items. The bride’s best friends worked in the beauty industry and hand tons of wonderful goodies. When I got home and went through my gifts, I opened the jar to reveal a pungent scented crème. Having no idea what the product was, as it came with no literature, I looked it up online. I typed in the letters on the lid o-j-o-n, and to my surprise, this Ojon product was supposed to be a miracle worker for hair conditioning and growth.
As I wear my African American hair natural, and seldom use heat products, I used it mostly on my daughter’s hair since we use heat appliances on occasion. She has fine hair with ends that break easily, but it is also very kinky. Before every hair wash, I put Ojon in her hair and wrapped it in plastic and a towel. I was pleased to find the next time I straightened her hair that it came out longer and thicker than I was accustomed to. I was sold. I continued using Ojon in my daughter and my hair until the product was almost gone. I looked into purchasing more, but frankly could not get past the price tag. At $55.00 for a few ounces, even if it lasted 6 months, I could not justify breaking our budget for a tiny jar of hair conditioner.
So I kept researching. I found that there is a product that works very much in the same way as Ojon, but costs a fraction of the price. In addition, this product contains none of the preservatives and chemicals that are added to Ojon. This product is pure, clean, and according to my research, does as good a job. This product is coconut oil. I finally bit the bullet and purchased two large jars 29-ounce jars of coconut oil for half the price of just a few ounces of Ojon.
It so happened that we had completely run out of Ojon by this time and my daughter’s hair was beginning to show problems of trouble due to too much flat iron pressing. I began putting coconut oil in her hair on a daily basis. After two short weeks, there are no visible signs of hair breakage and her hair is smooth where it had begun to feel rough.
My research on coconut oil revealed a lot more than the fact that this natural fat is great for strengthening hair and therefore making it stronger. It also improves the condition of skin and is believed to improve the health when taken internally. I decided to test a few of these theories. What I have found is that using it on my body in the place of lotion has cleared up my eczema and my daughter’s rough elbows. It has also hydrated skin that is chronically dry. In fact, when I had a small dog jump from my arms and scratch me, they did not leave as much as a scratch on my arm where I would have surely lost a bit of skin before. In addition, almost daily use of coconut oil on my body had also left my fingernails very strong and they are growing at an alarming rate. As for the benefits of ingesting coconut oil, all I can tell you is that coconut oil tastes very good in oatmeal.
