When most people think of coconut oil, they merely consider its ability to flavor food. But the truth is that flavoring food only scratches the surface of what coconut oil can do since it’s a useful beauty product, offers healing powers, helps with weight loss and does much, much more. Seeing as how coconut oil has so many all-purpose benefits, it’s worth looking at this product more in-depth.
The Difference between Expelled and Virgin Coconut Oil
There are different types of coconut oil that will provide the desired result you’re looking for. If you don’t want to add a coconut flavor or smell to a recipe, expeller pressed (refined) coconut oil is the perfect choice for you; it can be used for cooking and beauty treatments.
The most common type found in health food stores is virgin (unrefined) coconut oil. You can add the coconut oil to recipes in place of butter and other oils, and you’re also able to use this type of coconut oil as a beauty treatment on both skin and hair. Extra virgin coconut oil is the best oil to have for beauty-related treatments, and can be used in the same way as the other oils mentioned.
The Healing Powers of Coconut Oil
There is little that coconut can’t cure or treat, and it’s a one-of-a-kind oil that has become increasingly popular. Furthermore, coconut oil is great for fighting off various illnesses and can be applied topically or swallowed.
People who suffer from ulcers, urinary tract infections, yeast infections, gum diseases, and throat infections will benefit from taking coconut oil orally because it has anti-bacterial capabilities. You can also use coconut oil to promote a healthy immune system since it’s anti-carcinogenic, which means it prevents the spread of cancer cells.
As if those reasons aren’t enough, coconut oil can kill viruses that cause influenza, among other viruses, with its anti-viral capabilities. This oil is also a great antioxidant, so you can use it to keep free-radicals from damaging your skin.
If you’re looking for an inflammatory suppressant, then look no further: coconut oil is also anti-parasitic and can help your body absorb minerals and vitamins more efficiently. You can feed coconut oil to your animals to help keep fleas off of them, and children can eat small amounts with no discomforting side effects.
Here are just a few health problems that coconut oil will help relieve when it is taken internally:
- Acid reflux and indigestion (consume coconut oil after meals)
- Asthma (even in children)
- Bowel function
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome
- Kidney Stones (helps to dissolve them)
- Migraines (if taken regularly)
How to use Coconut Oil for Health & Beauty Purposes
Coconut oil has been used in various beauty treatments for skin and hair. Taking coconut oil orally can improve the appearance of skin, boost your immune system, and help your hair look shinier. You can also apply it topically to reduce a lot of skin issues, as well as combat dry and damaged hair. Here is a list of ways to use coconut oil to enhance your natural beauty and health of your body.
Decrease Discoloration on Skin
A small amount of coconut oil applied to age spots (liver spots) will help to fade them gradually. It does require dedication and regular use of coconut oil though. If you have bruises, you can use this same method to encourage a speedy healing process while minimizing swelling. You’ll also be glad to learn that coconut oil is great to apply on small burns; it has a natural cooling sensation and helps to alleviate pain.
Soothe Skin Irritations
Skin goes hand-in-hand with coconut oil; they’re best friends because psoriasis, eczema, dermatitis, stretch marks, and sunburn can all be treated using coconut oil. It’s great for damaged skin, and it helps even-out discolorations as well.
Use coconut oil as an aftershave because it won’t clog your pores, yet will alleviate pain associated with razor burn. Rub the oil onto your legs or face before shaving to help nourish and protect from possible cuts or razor burn. Bug bites are itchy and can be painful, but using the oil will soothe the uncomfortable sensation and helps to heal the bite faster. You can also use coconut oil on small cuts and scrapes to both protect from infection and speed up the healing time.
Prevent or Slow Hair Loss
If you’re worried about hair loss, start using coconut oil to keep your cells happy. Apply coconut oil to the areas of your scalp you are most concerned about three times a day. This oil is also great to use as a hair conditioner by applying the coconut oil to the ends of your hair. You can also apply it to your scalp to relieve dandruff and dry scalp.
Tone Down Frizzy Hair
Apply coconut oil to your hair before shampooing since it cuts down on the frizz and promotes shiny hair. It will also help reduce split ends and damage caused by hot hair tools. Make it a hot oil treatment by soaking a towel in hot water, then, with a shower cap on your coconut covered strands, wrap the towel around your head and leave it on for 15 or more minutes.
Soothe Diaper Rash
For babies with sore bottoms, coconut oil is an organic way of relieving the pain and discomfort, and this method is compatible with cloth diapers. For babies with a dry scalp, rub coconut oil on the scalp to moisturize the dry skin. When you’re between feedings, your nipples can become dry, so put coconut oil on a cotton ball or cotton round and leave it on your nipples between feedings.
Moisturizing Lip Balm
Coconut oil is a great natural moisturizer for skin all over your body. Your lips become dry and chapped, so using coconut oil as a moisturizing lip balm helps to soothe your lips and prevents other issues with them. Put some coconut oil in a small container to keep in your purse; even if you don’t use it every day, you’ll have it with you in case of emergencies.
Antiperspirant
It may be surprising to learn that coconut oil is a great deodorant, and the power of it increases with the help of cornstarch and baking soda. This is a great all-natural deodorant to try for sensitive skin.
Brown Sugar and Coconut Exfoliate
Using coconut oil as a moisturizer is not big secret, but it can also be used as an aid to exfoliate your skin. Combine coconut oil with brown sugar for an effective body scrub and exfoliate. Sea salt can also be used, but isn’t as gentle as sugar.
Heal Skin around Eyes
To take care of puffy eyes, under-eye bags and wrinkles, dab coconut oil below your eyes as you would with an eye cream. It’s also gentle enough to apply to the eyelids before bed. Applying coconut oil to your skin will help strengthen connective tissue in your skin, which prevents wrinkles from forming and reduces the appearance of wrinkles that you already have.
Face Wash
Coconut oil is an all-around beauty miracle product because it not only acts as a moisturizer and exfoliate, but it can also be used as a face wash too. Mix together a half teaspoon of coconut oil with a half teaspoon of olive oil or castor oil, and use this instead of other face washes to wash your face. It’s best used on those with dry skin, but it is healthy for all skin types. Rinse the oils off of your face after letting it sit for a minute or two; pat your face dry and continue with the rest of your routine.
Tame Frizz, Promote Curls
A little goes a long way, but you can also use coconut oil as a curl booster in your curly or wavy hair. Get a small amount and melt the oil in by rubbing it between your hands. Scrunch your hair to de-frizz your curls and add shine (stay away from your roots); this works for all hair types.
Makeup Remover
The best makeup remover is one that requires little-to-no rubbing at all, breaks up oils in the makeup, and leaves your skin feeling hydrated, rather than bone dry. Interestingly enough, coconut oil can do all of these things. Hold a cotton ball with coconut oil over your eyes for a few seconds before swiping the product off of your lids and lashes. Then continue using the oil to remove the makeup from the rest of your face.
Nourishing Massage Oil
Coconut oil proves to be great massage oil because it nourishes skin while allowing your hands to move around easily. A lot of massage oils sold today have no nourishing benefits to them, and tend to be sticky; however, coconut oil feels, tastes and smells great, and gives your skin a boost of nourishing moisture to boot.
Tame Oily Skin
Although there are a lot of skeptics surrounding the use of coconut oil on oily and acne-prone skin, it’s truly nothing to worry about. Use a pea-sized dollop of coconut oil as a foundation makeup primer because this is said to reduce oily appearances.
Mild Sun Block
Coconut oil even has small amounts of SPF, which makes it great to use if you’re going to be outdoors for a short while – although it is still suggested that you use a sunscreen lotion with an SPF of no less than 15. Coconut oil applied to your hair before leaving the house in the summer can help protect your hair from the sun’s damaging rays.
Heal Tattoos
Body art is becoming more and more popular, and not too many people know that coconut oil is a great moisturizing tattoo healer. It will lessen the chances of infection, and moisturize your tattoo to a speedy healing process.
Make Toothpaste
If you’re out of your favorite toothpaste, you can mix baking soda and coconut oil to create one from scratch. Put the mixture on your brush and you’ll have clean teeth in no time at all.
Prevent Nosebleeds
Changes in weather can create nosebleeds, but using a Q-tip to apply coconut oil to coat the inside of your nostrils helps prevent them from happening.
Reasons to Eat Coconut Oil
There are plenty of reasons to apply coconut oil to your skin and hair topically, but the benefits of eating coconut oil are abundant too! Eating coconut oil regularly will help boost immunity among other things. Here is a list of ways coconut oil will help you. And note that you can add coconut oil to various foods or just eat it out of the jar. Before feeding coconut oil to children under 12, it’s best to consult their physician – although a lot of mothers who make their own baby food add small amounts of coconut oil to their food for the added nutrition.
Tips for Cooking with Coconut Oil
Coconut oil can be a great substitute for margarine and butter; just replace the amount of butter or margarine your recipe calls for with coconut oil. If you’re used to using butter, lard, Crisco, or Pam to grease your pans, you can try using coconut oil in its solid form to make your recipe a little healthier.
Also use coconut oil to sauté vegetables, add it to smoothies, put it on baked potatoes, or add it to almond butter or other nut butters to make them creamier.
Mothers who Breastfeed
For mothers who are breastfeeding, eating three tablespoons of coconut oil a day will enhance the nutrients in the breast milk.
Healthy Bones and Teeth
Coconut oil can help your body absorb magnesium, calcium, amino acids, and other vitamins and minerals, which are very beneficial to your bones and teeth. The absorption of essential nutrients will also help your digestion, and coconut oil has saturated fats which keeps indigestion, irritable bowel syndrome, and other digestion-related issues in check.
Helps with Weight Loss
When you eat coconut oil, you will see an increase of energy because it triggers your metabolism, betters your thyroid function, and increases your endurance. Coconut oil also helps to maintain cravings while increasing your metabolic rate.
Using Coconut Oil with Animals
As with humans, animals will benefit from eating coconut oil too, and most of the benefits we have with using coconut oil also apply to your animals. It’s best to ask your veterinarian on how much coconut oil you should give your pets; the basic formula for figuring out the dosage for your animals is to give them one-fourth of a teaspoon for every 10 pounds their bodyweight.
Feeding Coconut Oil to Animals
Feed your animals coconut oil by adding it to their food, water, or just giving it to them directly from a spoon to help maintain healthy digestive tract, relieve arthritis and ligament pain, and reduce hairballs and coughing.
You’ll be happy to know that coconut oil helps heal your pet’s dry skin, flea bites, eczema, itchy skin, cuts, and stings when applied topically. Applying coconut oil topically will disinfect cuts, bites, and other wounds that occur. Coconut oil is also used for the prevention and control in animal diabetes, weight loss, brain energy and reducing odors.
Other Clever uses for Coconut Oil
The use of coconut oil for your health and beauty are abundant, but there are other reasons to keep coconut oil on hand. Use coconut oil to remove chewing gum from your hair by massaging the oil onto the gum stuck in your hair; this saturates the gum and hair around it. Leave the oil on your hair for half of an hour, and then use your fingers to roll the gum out of your hair.
Remove Glue and Make Soap
For arts and crafts, coconut oil and baking soda comes in handy to remove leftover residue on jars and bottles from labels and tape. Mix together equal parts oil to baking soda, apply the paste to the sticky area, leave on for a minute or two, and then scrub off with a ball of foil, scrub brush, or toothbrush. If you enjoy making homemade soap, try using coconut oil as a fat in the soap!
Polish Furniture and Kitchen Utensils
Polish and clean wood furniture and leather items with coconut oil; mix coconut oil with a small amount of lemon to polish and clean wood furniture, cabinets and shelves. But before using the mixture on your items, test it on a small area to be sure you like the results of using the mixture.
When you’re polishing leather, just using coconut oil will due. You can also use coconut oil and lemon to cleanse and polish wood cutting boards, spoons, and bowls in your kitchen. If you happen to have a bronze statue, then you can use coconut oil to keep the statue shiny and deepen the bronze color.
Insect Repellent
If you’re prone to attracting insects and suffer from itchy bites, use coconut oil and peppermint oil extract to massage onto the exposed skin. This mixture will keep insects away more effectively than store-bought repellants with fewer chemicals.
With so many uses for coconut oil, there is no reason why you shouldn’t be using it! Don’t forget to share “Health Benefits of Coconut Oil & Beauty Uses” article with your friends!
Health Benefits of Coconut Oil & Beauty Uses is a post from: Health Care and Beauty Blog
