Natural Heat Protectants

Hello Saints!

Below you will find a list of natural oils both refined and unrefined smoking points. The spoke points is the highest tempurature as to when the oil will start to break down and began smoking or burning. The oils in this list are great for use when we use heat on our hair or in the kitchen. On our hair they're in protecting our strands from heat damage. Although, some of the temptures are rather high before beginning to smoke, I would not recommend using excesively high heat on your hair. I personally use grapeseed oil and it truly does protect my strands as well as leave an awesome shine. I plan on using avocado oil too in the very near future. Please feel free to leave questions and comments. Be blessed all!

Smoke point

The smoke point generally refers to the temperature at which a cooking fat or oil begins to break down to glycerol and free fatty acids, and produce bluish smoke. The glycerol is then further broken down to acrolein which is a component of the smoke. It is the presence of the acrolein that causes the smoke to be extremely irritating to the eyes and throat. The smoke point also marks the beginning of both flavor and nutritional degradation. Therefore, it is a key consideration when selecting a fat for frying, with the smoke point of the specific oil dictating its maximum usable temperature and therefore its possible applications. For instance, since deep frying is a very high temperature process, it requires a fat with a high smoke point.

The smoke point for an oil varies widely depending on origin and refinement. The smoke point of an oil does tend to increase as free fatty acid content decreases and degree of refinement increases. Heating oil produces free fatty acid and as heating time increases, more free fatty acids are produced, thereby decreasing smoke point. It is one reason not to use the same oil to deep fry more than twice.  Intermittent frying has remarkably greater effect on oil deterioration than continuous frying.

Considerably above the temperature of the smoke point is the flash point, the point at which the vapors from the oil can first ignite when mixed with air.

The following table presents smoke points of various oils:

Oil	Quality	Temperature
Almond oil		420°F	216°C
Avocado oil		520°F	271°C
Butter		250–300°F	121–149°C
Canola oil	High Oleic	475°F	246°C
Canola oil	Refined	400°F	204°C
Canola oil	Expeller Press	375-450°F	190-232°C
Castor oil	Refined	392°F	200°C
Coconut oil	Extra Virgin (Unrefined)	350°F	177°C
Coconut oil	Refined	450°F	232°C
Corn oil	Unrefined	352°F	178°C
Corn oil	Refined	450°F	232°C
Cottonseed oil		420°F	216°C
Flax seed oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
Ghee (Indian Clarified Butter)		485°F	252°C
Grapeseed oil		420°F	216°C
Hazelnut oil		430°F	221°C
Hemp oil		330°F	165°C
Lard		370°F	188°C
Macadamia oil		413°F	210°C
Mustard oil		489°F	254°C
Olive oil	Extra light	468°F	242°C
Olive oil	Pomace	460°F	238°C
Olive oil	Virgin	391°F	199°C
Olive oil	Extra virgin	375°F	191°C
Olive oil, high quality (low acidity)	Extra virgin	405°F	207°C
Palm oil	Difractionated	455°F	235°C
Peanut oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
Peanut oil	Refined	450°F	232°C
Rice bran oil		490°F	254°C
Safflower oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
Safflower oil	Semirefined	320°F	160°C
Safflower oil	Refined	510°F	266°C
Sesame oil	Unrefined	350°F	177°C
Sesame oil	Semirefined	450°F	232°C
Soybean oil	Semirefined	350°F	177°C
Soybean oil	Refined	460°F	238°C
Soybean oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
Sunflower oil	Semirefined	450°F	232°C
Sunflower oil	Refined	440°F	227°C
Sunflower oil	Unrefined	225°F	107°C
Sunflower oil, high oleic	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
Tea seed oil		485°F	252°C
Vegetable shortening		360°F	182°C
Walnut oil	Unrefined	320°F	160°C
Walnut oil	Semirefined	400°F	204°C

Courtsey of: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia