I suppose that title is a bit presumptuous, but this stuff is certainly my newest obsession.
First, some back story – before moving to Wyoming, my skin care was incredibly simple in that it was non-existent. I could use any body wash, dry shave, zero moisturizer. I never washed my face, even after wearing makeup (gross, I know) because my skin fared best with zero intervention. Aside from whatever water naturally splashed on it in the shower, zero facial skin care meant clear skin 99% of the time. Wins all around, right?
Now we’re in Wyoming and my skin hates me. It’s very (very very very) dry here and at this altitude you burn easily. My face quickly became rough and dry and red. I found a product to solve that and will surely post about it later. One topic at a time here, kids! Calm yourselves.
So my face skin sucked, but it was relatively easy to deal with. My legs however – dear god. My previously simple to manage legs became painfully dry. Sometimes they itched so much it was hard to sleep. Beyond that, I developed these red scaly spots on my… like… inner calf? Imagine the inside of your knee, then go down about 4″. There. It’s terrible. I started WebMD’ing and self-diagnosing adult onset psoriasis, bed bugs, mites, allergies, and who knows what else.
Enter, coconut oil.
This stuff has changed my life.
I wish I could tell you where I got the idea, but I honestly don’t remember. I do know that coconut oil is everywhere these days, especially since every other person I meet is eating Paleo. Coconut oil seems to be the Paleo super food, they’re all using it constantly. With my legs crying out for relief every moment of every day, I started exploring more natural solutions. I moved from my beloved Mandarin Pomegranate body wash with bursting beads of super hydration to fragrance-free baby shampoo. I dumped the dryer sheets that Mister is so fond of. I tried anything Aveeno, totally swayed by their marketing tactics. I trashed every lotion and started exploring oils – argan, tea tree, black currant, almond, grape seed. Hell, I was prepared to yank my olive oil from the kitchen and try it out as well. Somewhere there, while looking for a cheap add on item for my Amazon order I grabbed an $8 jar of coconut oil. Best purchase ever.
So how do I use it?
Coconut oil is solid at 76° meaning it will start to melt from the heat of your hands. If you just need the tiniest bit, you can swirl your fingers on the solid lump until it melts then apply wherever necessary. Since I don’t need a tiny bit, I leave my coconut oil in the shower. If you take a long, very hot shower, the ambient temperature will start to melt the oil. I take semi-short not very hot showers, so when I’m done with my other shower happenings, I hold the jar (closed, lid on, if I needed to clarify that) directly under the shower head to melt it up.
See the melty bit?
I turn off the water then, without drying at all, apply the liquefied oil to my legs, arms, torso, hands, elbows, soooo… pretty much everywhere. If I know I’m wearing my hair up – a common occurrence for me as I work in an ATV shop – I’ll run a bit through the ends of my hair. If I plan to dry/style my hair, I skip the oil. I have thin curly hair and coconut oil makes it greasy. You may think the oil would be good for curls, but if I’m planning to let them air dry I find that it weights my curls down far too much. If I shower at night and plan to shower again in the morning, sometimes I’ll load my hair up with oil then twist it up in a bun and sleep on it. When I wash it out the next day, my hair is the bessssssssssst evarrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
Not only does my skin feel more hydrated on a daily basis, the flaky, scaly red spots on my legs started to disappear. My elbows, which have been annoyingly dark my entire life are now looking semi-normal. Let’s discuss this for a moment, since I’m already in the middle of TMI confessions. My elbows have always been dark. They’re not really “ashy” or dry or rough, they just look sort of bruised, I guess? WTF is this shit? It’s not a condition, I’ve spoken with plenty of doctors. It’s nothing gross or dirty, they’re just darker than my very very pale skin. Whatever, coconut oil saved them and, at the rate it’s going, it’ll probably start to balance my checkbook soon too.
Tips!
- My coconut oil is 100% pure, cold pressed, virgin, food grade, and organic. I honestly can’t say if it needs to be exactly this, but when you can get 15 oz for less than $8, why not?
- Within reason (don’t be stupid and use half the jar just to prove me wrong) I operate under the theory that more is more and use a lot every day. Let’s say it’s a quarter worth for each leg, then another for arms and elbows, then again for torso and such.
- Buy something in a plastic jar. If you’re like me, you’ll leave it in the shower and handle it with wet and/or oily hands. My jar has slipped out of my hands more than once so I’m thankful for the plastic.
- While tempting to go for the super large value size, realize you need to pick this thing up. If it’s huge, wet, and slippery (that’s what she said), you’re more likely to drop it on your toes.
- Buy coconut oil, change your life!
I’m not a medical professional so this is just personal advice. If you mess up applying it to your legs, I fear for you and wonder how you get through the day. Also, obv this isn’t sponsored. No one reads my blog, son. I don’t have companies a callin’ ready to pay me money for this shit. If they did, they’d probably tell me to stop swearing so much.
This post is also part of my attempt Blog Every Day in May, but I was already working on it, planning to tell you anyway
Day 22, Wednesday: Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. (a pet peeve, a current event, a controversial topic, something your husband or roommate or neighbor or boss does that really ticks you off) – Note: I’m negative enough in my day-to-day without setting out to actually rant about something, so I decided to PREACH ABOUT SOMETHING. Coconut oil is effing awesome! Do it up!
{ 0 comments }
