Last year, when my neighbor Janet told me that she uses coconut oil and lemon to reverse gray hair, I smugly laughed it off. You see, even though I’m from New York City, I’ve lived in Panama for over two decades. People here use home remedies for almost every kind of condition; some work, and some seem more like superstition than science. Lemon and coconut oil for gray hair? Yeah, right.

But a few weeks ago, I noticed that gray hairs were appearing in my dark brown hair too fast for me to pluck them out one by one. I remembered Janet’s suggestion of using lemon juice and coconut oil to get rid of gray hair. In my desperation, it suddenly seemed like a winning combination.

Coconut Oil and Lemon for Gray Hair

So, I asked her about it again, this time with a bit of humility: “Is it true? Can coconut oil and lemon reverse gray hair for real?”  “Absolutamente, si!” she said, grinning ear to ear.

Even after all these years of living in Central America, I’m still skeptical. I wasn’t 100% convinced this method would work, so I checked the Internet for more information about combining lemon juice and coconut oil to reverse gray hair. There were a few mentions, most of them explaining the following:

Some Interesting Points

• Coconut oil is chock-full of healthy fatty acids and antibacterial components, and therefore it’s a wonderful hair conditioner.
• A fresh lemon contains 5%-8% citric acid, which accelerates hair lightening when used under UV rays (the sun).
• Fresh lemon juice also contains vitamins B and C as well as phosphorous and phytonutrients, which nourish the hair and prevent gray.

I couldn’t find any definitive conclusions on whether coconut oil and lemons reverse gray hair. If I wanted to see if it really worked, I’d have to test it out for myself.

Going Shopping for Coconut Oil and Lemons

So, I masked up and headed down to our local farmers’ market to purchase the coconut oil and lemons. I decided to take advantage of the visit to ask my #1 fruit vendor, Juan Carlos, if he’d ever heard about coconut oil and lemon for reversing gray hair. He exclaimed, “Si! My wife uses it all the time!” I felt more enthusiastic than ever to go home and try it out.