11 Beauty Uses for Coconut

How Else Can We Use Coconut Oil?

If you are using coconut oil for topical purposes, especially skin, scalp and hair care, just melt the oil (if it is in its solid state) by keeping the bottle in the sun or warming it in warm water. Coconut oil melts in hot weather and congeals in cold weather and this is normal for coconut oil. You can also take some coconut oil out and put it in a small bowl and heat the bowl over a flame (do not use microwave). Then take the oil on your palm and apply it to your skin, or scalp and hair.

Body Lotion: After a bath or shower, just massage coconut oil all over your body— it feels and smells amazing. You can remove any excess oil with a Turkish towel and rub yourself down briskly.

Facial Moisturizer: Whether your skin is dry or oily or even if you struggle with acne, coconut oil turns out to be antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial, which explains why it heals skin conditions so well.

Eye Makeup Remover: Just melt a little coconut oil in the palm of your hand and apply it to a cotton ball and remove your eye makeup gently, as you would with a store bought product. Don’t get any oil into your eyes, please.

Hair Conditioner and De-Tangler: Coconut oil is great for all hair types, thin, thick, straight or curly—coconut oil helps amazingly and after blow drying or flat ironing apply a little to your hands and use to achieve a sheen.

Deep Conditioner for Hair: Perhaps once a month or after coloring, perming, straightening or other treatment, slather coconut oil on your scalp and let it soak in for a little while and then shampoo out.

Toothpaste: Baking soda + coconut oil makes a fine toothpaste.

Coconut Oil Shampoo: It’s not difficult to make your own shampoo, as follows:

Homemade Coconut Oil Shampoo

Simply mix 1/4 cup coconut milk (I use the Thai canned coconut milk but there are other options to experiment with or make your own) with 1/3 cup liquid castile soap (like Dr. Bronner’s) and combine with 1 tablespoon coconut oil, 1 teaspoon almond oil and 
10 to 20 drops of essential oil of lavender or rose (stop after 10 drops and see how you like the fragrance and then add more slowly checking after each addition to customize your shampoo). Combine all ingredients in a blender or whisk thoroughly and pour into a recycled shampoo bottle or jar and shake well. Again you can recycle whatever you have on hand for this purpose. It’s great to repurpose whenever we can. Shampoo as you would with any shampoo and rinse well. A rinse of 50 percent water and 50 percent white vinegar is a nice finish.

Or try a coconut oil hair mask.

Coconut Oil Hair Mask

Simply mix 1 tablespoon organic honey with 
3 tablespoons coconut oil (optional ingredient) and one raw beaten egg yolk and whisk thoroughly or use your blender. 
While still in the shower and your hair is still wet but not dripping, pour the hair mask a little bit at a time onto the ends of your hair, working your way up to the scalp. As soon as you’ve used all the mask and your hair is thoroughly coated, wrap it in a damp warm towel or a shower cap and leave in for 30 minutes. Rinse and shampoo your hair as usual. For a deeper conditioning treatment try this:

Deep Coconut Oil Conditioner Recipe

One very ripe mashed fresh avocado
2 tablespoons coconut oil
2 tablespoons purified water
2 tablespoons organic (preferably raw) heavy cream

Combine all ingredients and using a wide tooth comb, comb it through your hair and cover with a shower cap or a wrap your head in a warm towel for about 30 minutes. Allow the Deep Coconut Oil Conditioner to penetrate deep into your hair and scalp, then rinse the conditioner out with tepid water.  Shampoo with our homemade coconut oil shampoo and rinse.

All of these homemade personal care products will last a bit longer and stay fresher (up to a week) if you keep them in the fridge!

You can see by these examples that there are many personal care products that we can make ourselves by utilizing the beauty-fuel coconut and other natural ingredients. When we cook with and use coconut oil in many of our recipes, we make full use of the beauty-fuel benefits of the bounty that the coconut and nature itself offers us. This way we can achieve beauty that is more than skin deep!

Related:
Top 12 Ingredients to Avoid in Personal Care Products
5 Recipes for Homemade Personal Care Products
6 Healthy Uses for Coconut Oil