About 9 months ago I discovered coconut oil and it's been a true romance. I know everyone talks about it, and the subject has been beaten to death, but I feel like it's not fair for me to talk about my favourite things on my blog and not mention coconut oil. I get through a tub every couple of weeks, and I use it for everything (literally *figuratively* everything).
When I first decided to try coconut oil, it was borderline impossible for me to get hold of. In the end I had to buy it online (from CultBeauty if I remember correctly), and it cost me £9. Crazy money. Luckily for me though, supermarkets picked up on the popularity and I can now pick up a tub of 100% pure and organic coconut oil from Asda for just £2. Phew. So I can totally justify buying 5 tubs at a time, right? Right.
Now it's time for me to list all my favourite uses for coconut oil. This could get lengthy.
1. Hair mask. This is the number one use that makes the beauty world rave about coconut oil. Every fortnight I scoop out a big handful of coconut oil and rub it into my hair, focusing on the length and ends. Some people like to melt the coconut oil beforehand but I always like to go for the lazy route and I find that rubbing the coconut oil into my hair with my hands not only melts it, but also allows me to give myself a lovely head massage. Oil masks have been used in hair for years, but here's the sciencey bit: the particles in most oils are not small enough to penetrate the hair, however the teeny tiny particles in coconut oil get right in there and literally nourish the hair from the inside out. I tend to leave the oil in my hair for a couple of hours, wrapped up in a towel to keep it warm, but when I've really got time to play with, I'll leave it over night and wake up with the softest hair known to man. The only negative is that coconut oil is a nightmare to wash out. I recommend using a good clarifying shampoo and shampooing three times to ensure every last bit of oil is out. There's nothing worse than drying your hair to find it even greasier than when you started.
2. Body butter. Okay this one's self-explanatory, but when I get out the bath, I love to use this on my damp skin. I regularly get people complimenting me on how soft my arms are and it leaves me smelling gorgeously coconutty for hours. It also makes a wonderful hand and foot treatment.
3. Makeup remover. I was always wary of using coconut oil on my face because people have said that it breaks them out, however one day I ran out of my regular cleanser and a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do! I've been using it as the first cleanse in my skincare routine ever since. I like to use this as my first cleanse, to remove my makeup. It melts the makeup away, doesn't irritate my skin, and even better, doesn't irritate my eyes. I don't know when I'll learn to close my eyes properly when I'm rubbing away at my eye makeup. I tend to use Soap & Glory Peaches and Clean for my second cleanse, and my skin has never been better. I can finally say I'm acne free for the first time in over a year and it is 100% down to this dream combination.
4. Cuticle oil. I feel like cuticle oil is one of those things that I probably should buy because my nails are a state, but who can justify spending a tenner on an oil. For your cuticles of all things. It's absolute madness and I refuse to do it. Seeing as coconut oil was so good for everything else, I decided to start rubbing a tiny amount into my nail beds every day and my nails are transformed. My cuticles are softer and my nails are shiner and growing so much stronger. Score.
5. Teeth whitening. Right, now here me out here. There's a new craze going round called 'oil pulling'. Basically, you swish an oil around your mouth for twenty minutes and it supposedly leads to whiter and cleaner teeth. I don't know about you, but when it comes to putting pure oil in my mouth, coconut seems like the least disgusting choice out of the lot. I've tried it a few times and I personally can't comment on the teeth whitening as I've been doing it at the same time as my Crest 3D Whitening Strips (review coming soon), but it's got plenty of rave reviews in the teeth whitening department. However, what I can comment on is the fact that it makes my mouth feel super super clean and my breath feel an amount of freshness that no toothpaste can mimic. Yeah sure it's super gross and fyi it doesn't get any nicer the longer you do it, but the results speak for themselves.
7. Cooking. Finally I'll talk about the obvious. You can cook with it. Long gone are the days of olive or sunflower oil, it's all about coconut oil. Anything that I toss in a frying pan goes in alongside a big dollop of coconut oil. Actually not even just a frying pan, if a recipe calls for oil, I use coconut. Not only is it the healthiest oil of the lot, it's actually really good for you, and it adds a really subtle flavour to your food. I wouldn't necessarily say that flavour is coconutty, but there's definitely a flavour there. I have one tub in the kitchen, one in the bathroom and one in my bedroom.
I could keep typing for hours, but I think that's enough uses raved about for now. What do you use coconut oil for?
Georgia
xxx
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