A bunch of uses for coconut oil

There are just so, so many uses for coconut oil, it's insane. My first go-round with this health food craze was a love-at-first-sight sort of affair.

I wasn’t really sure where to start, so I did some digging and have already found so many uses for it:

Lip Balm

Take a small amount of coconut oil and smooth it over your lisp to help gain relief from dryness or chapped lips. Coconut oil can help keep your lips soft and shiny, and if you were out in the sun or wind for an extended time, it helps to provide relief and to moisturize them.

Home Made Facial Scrub

Coconut oil can be used to make a facial scrub designed to help remove dead skin cells to help reveal a cleaner and more radiant complexion. Take a packet of sugar and mix in a dollop of oil. Massage it into your face using small circular motions and rinse with warm water. Pat dry and repeat a few times a week to help improve skin tone and reveal radiant and youthful looking skin.

After Sun Treatment

The next time you or a family member gets a little too toasted in the sun, grab some coconut oil. They can be painful and lead to itching as well. Sunburns are not healthy at all for the skin and the damage can be permanent if you continue getting sunburned. Coconut oil and aloe vera gel combined together can be a great solution to this painful ailment. Coconut oil helps to not only soothe the burn but it can also help prevent any lasting effects that can come as a result of free radicals.

Toothpaste

You can make your own toothpaste and this is a great option for those that have damaged gums or have sensitive teeth. Coconut oil is antibacterial and all you do is combine the same amount of coconut oil, water, and baking soda in a small bowl or other container and use as normal toothpaste. You could even add a drop of peppermint essential oil!

Shaving Cream

Men and women will both find that coconut oil is a great ingredient for making their own shaving cream. For those prone to ingrown hairs or have sensitive skin, applying coconut oil to before shaving can help soothe skin.

Healthy Fat

Don’t buy into the myth that saturated fats are evil! Coconut oil is a saturated fat that is also one of the healthiest that you can use. For instance,

The truth about coconut oil is obvious to anyone who has studied the health of those who live in native tropical cultures, where coconut has been a primary dietary staple for thousands of years.
Back in the 1930s, Dr. Weston Price found South Pacific Islanders whose diets were high in coconut to be healthy and trim, despite high dietary fat, and heart disease was virtually non-existent. Similarly, in 1981, researchers studying two Polynesian communities for whom coconut was the primary caloric energy source found them to have excellent cardiovascular health and fitness.

Read more at The Huffington Post.

Anti-Dandruff Treatment

Coconut oil is loaded with anti-septic acids that help put a stop to bacterial and fungal infections. Use a small amount as a conditioner and wash out. It’s a gentler option than medicated shampoos.

Leave in Conditioner

Add 1 or 2 tbsp. of coconut oil to your current conditioner. Leave it in the hair for a few minutes and wash out for hair that is soft and silky, and not to mention, it smells fantastic!

I’m really just hitting the tip of the iceberg here… what do you use coconut oil for in your home?