Coconut oil, the best thing in the world?
Coconut oil is big, not long ago people would have given you a strange look if you told them you put coconut oil in your hair. Now it seems as though everyone is using it for a whole range of different weird and wonderful uses from treating skin conditions to making your teeth whiter!
I’ve started to use coconut oil for cooking and I think it is great, I just wish someone had told me about it sooner! I’ve not gone quite so far as to putting it in my hair yet, I am a bloke afterall so it’s just not going to happen, but I have been reliably informed it does wonders for split ends…
So I’m going to list just some of the uses of coconut oil, some of them may have to be taken with a pinch of salt (or should I say a dab of coconut oil?) as I can’t personally vouch for all of them either from experience or scientific research so I guess it’s up to you to give them a try and see what you think. Perhaps you could let us know how you get on in the comments section below this post.
So here goes;
- On toast – makes a great healthy (and vegan) alternative to butter
- In a smoothie – Coconut oil makes a great base for a smoothie – check out these tasty beverages on Pinterest
- Salad dressing – a great ingredient to a salad dressing, see here for a basic coconut oil based salad dressing
- Skin lotion – makes a great moisturising skin lotion
- Make up remover – get rid of makeup quickly and easily, find out more here
- To clean your teeth – yep that’s right you can clean your teeth with a mixture of baking soda and coconut oil to give your teeth a mice white shine!
- A natural chap stick – sooth your lips without splashing out on lip balm
- Sooth athlete’s foot – the oil can help sooth the itch from athlete’s foot
- Cooking – It’s better for high-temperature cooking than olive or vegetable oils
- After sun treatment – once the heat from the burn has gone down apply some coconut oil to keep the skin moisturised
- Insect bites – coconut oil goes a long way to making those pesky insect bites a more tolerable
- Get perfect hair – great to use on split ends and to de-frizz hair
- On leather – to soften or condition leather (but test it on a small area first!)
- Stain remover – mix with baking soda and rub onto a spot on upholstery or a carpet to loosen the stain or item
- A natural deoderant – again the magic combination of baking soda and coconut oil, find out how here
- Shaving lotion – you can use it either with a close shave or as a moisturiser after
- Season cast iron pans – Coconut oil can be a great way to keep your cast iron pans in tip top condition
- Massage oil – not too greasy and with a relaxing scent
- Remove chewing gum – perhaps one of the most infuriating things in the world… getting a bit of chewing gum stuck to your clothes! I’d recommend putting the clothes in the freezer and peeling it off (nice!) then rubbing coconut oil on to help remove any leftover marks.
- Helping with psoriasis or eczema – helps moisturise and sooth flaky and itchy skin and reduces the urge to scratch.
- You can even just eat it!
I’d love to hear what uses you have for coconut oil, please fell free to share in the comments below 🙂
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Conditions my hair better than anything else I’ve tried and works really well as a shaving oil for super smooth skin. To use it as a conditioner I melt about 1tbsp of oil in the microwave and rub it through dry hair like a mask – it works best if I leave it in for a while so I wrap my hair in a towel and let the warm oil do its thing! Shampoo thoroughly to remove. For shaving, I find it can be rubbed into the skin straight from the jar in the shower. It will leave skin softened and moisturised.
Peter, a brilliant blog about coconut oil! Love it. Thank you for sharing with us.
I use it for many of the things you’ve listed, it’s one of the only oils which doesn’t go toxic when heated to an high temperature, scrambled egg cooked in coconut oil, is fabulous!
It is great for soothing eczema and psoriasis. I use it for “oil pulling” an ancient Ayurvedic practice for cleaning the mouth. I make avocado fudge with it (dates, avocado, coconut oil and raw cacao powder) It can help eliminate Candida. Eaten as an healthy source of oil/fat. I’m sure I’ve read some reports claiming it can help reduce symptoms Alzheimers? I moisturise my hands and face with it. In the winter, it is delicious added to hot chocolate, made with goat’s milk, raw cacao powder, half teaspoon of honey, teaspoon of raw coconut oil and an optional pinch of chilli powder. I never go anywhere without a jar! With very best wishes, Jackie
Coconut oil has been around for years I remember my Auntie using it on all her 6 Children’s hair when I was a child, now I use it on my Grandchildren great stuff
Shocked that everything in the ethical supermarket isn’t fair trade. Went to buy some coconut oil after reading this…. 400g £5 ish, fine. Scrol down, 400g (fair trade) £15… Wtf! Does that mean that an extra £10 needs to be paid to the workers to give them a living wage…. Very confused and unable to buy 🙁
Hi Fiona, you are right in saying not all of our products are Fairtrade, we offer a range products with different ethics, such as Fairtrade, organic, no animal testing, environmentally friendly etc. There are many products which are not Fairtrade which because they don’t have this certification does not mean they aren’t necessarily ethically produced.
You are right in saying the Biona coconut oil is not Fairtrade certified and priced lower than the Tiana coconut oil, however our price is derived from the price we buy it from the supplier, so we would not be able to price the Tiana coconut oil at the same level as the Biona oil.
As I said not being Fairtrade Certified does not mean a product is unethically produced. Have a look at the Biona website http://www.biona.co.uk/ which has information on how their products are produced organically with 100% traceability from farm inspectors, raw material suppliers to the finished product.
I hope this clears things up for you 🙂