This Deep-Conditioning Hair Mask Recipe Is Good Enough To Eat

Running a comb through your hair and hearing it crackle can be a painful experience. Maybe you just experienced a bad bleach job, or one too many at-home hair colors, or you’re a little flatiron-happy. But it’s a sad truth—styling your hair every day to make it look perfect could actually be destroying it.

Heat and chemical treatments can cause your hair to break and ends to split. These fractured follicles are a sign that your tresses are dehydrated and weak. As tempting as it can be to split these hairs, don’t! You’ll be sabotaging your dream of growing a long and luscious mane—and you may just end up looking like a walking plasma globe.

What your hair really needs is an extra moisturizing, strengthening boost. You can repair your hair with just two edible ingredients that may already be in your kitchen. Avocado boasts vitamin E (which can repair damage to the scalp and follicles), and vitamin B (which promotes hair growth). Coconut oil restores essential protein to damaged hair. This simple combo is just as powerful as an expensive salon deep conditioner.

Ready for the recipe? It couldn’t be simpler:

Mash up one avocado and mix in one tablespoon of melted coconut oil (double this recipe if you’ve got extra long locks). Yep, that’s it! Apply the mask directly onto your hair from roots to tips, and leave it on for two hours while you do your laundry or binge watch Real Housewives. Rinse it out, shampoo and condition as usual, and let your hair air dry. Though your hair will likely be noticeably softer and shinier after the first try, apply this mask once a week to see a serious boost in shine and strength.

Bonus tip: Save some avocado and coconut oil for your toast, and reap the nutritional benefits from the inside out, too!

Illustration by Karley Koenig