Monoi oil: The hair, nail and skincare miracle you've never heard of

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- There's a natural hair and skin ingredient that island beauties have been using for decades -- now, you can get in on the secret, too!

"Monoi oil was born in French Polynesia Tahiti," explained Natural Resources Salon owner Tamika Fletcher. "It's a base of coconut oil, but actually, it's blended with Tahitian Tihari flowers, and that's where the oil comes from. It's special because the oil has been manufactured the same way for over 1,000 years."
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According to Fletcher, 20 percent of pure monoi is packaged and retailed in the bottle for use, but the rest is sold to companies like Earth's Nectar, NARS, Bare Minerals and companies that use the ingredient in their products.

She added that monoi oil is a wonder ingredient for a woman's beauty regiment with several applications -- add it to damp or dry hair, apply it to your body and face for glowing skin, use it as a post-sun body treatment or even add it to a bath or use it as a massage oil.

You can also make your own monoi beauty products at home:

• Cut several gardenia flowers from the stem (The closest flower in the U.S. to the Tahitian Tahiri flower is the gardenia)
• Rinse the flowers and put them on a paper towel to dry
• When the flowers are dry, add them to a mason jar and pour pure coconut oil over the them
• Set the jar in the window three to four hours a day every day for a month
• By the end of month, you'll have beautiful, finished monoi oil

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• Mix the following ingredients:
  • 1 cup of yogurt
  • 1/4 cup of coconut milk
  • 2 tablespoons of monoi oil
• Apply the mixture to damp hair
• Leave it on for 15 minutes
• Rinse it with lukewarm water

• Fill a container with equal parts brown sugar, white sugar and monoi oil
• Mix all ingredients together and use in the bath or shower

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