Coconut oil has so many benefits and uses that I didn't even know about before I stated my journey into a nontoxic life style. I might do a post on some of them one day, but today I want to focus on how it benefits your skin.
What is Coconut Oil?
Coconut oil is made by pressing fresh coconut meant or dried coconut meat, also called copra, to extract the oil. Virgin coconut oil uses fresh meat, but refined coconut oil is usually made from copra. When used in reference to coconut oil, the terms extra virgin is not regulated like it is with olive oil. As a result there is generally no difference between products labeled with either term.
Benefits of Coconut Oil For Your Skin
- Antioxidant, Anti-Inflammatory & Anti-Microbial! If you've seen what I wrote about the benefits of tallow and shea butter, then you know about these benefits already. I wont reiterate them here, but you can check either post if you're curious. (Tallow) (Shea Butter)
- The antioxidants in coconut oil make it a great anti aging agent. They also help to promote skin health and fade dark spots, scars, and tighten up wrinkles.
- Coconut oil is great for dry skin, but it's a bit more oily than both Tallow and Shea butter, so we use less coconut oil in our products.
- Despite being on the more oily side, coconut oil is actually pretty good at fighting acne too! In fact, my husband used to get really bad breakouts and had to really balance his diet and drink loads of water or he'd get huge pimples. When we started making our own tallow his face cleared up in less than two weeks. Now, even when he eats poorly, the worst he gets is one or two small zits that I only know about because he tells me.
- Coconut oil can actually help to even your skin tone, making scars and other dark marks less noticeable.
- As an anti-microbial coconut oil also helps to keep germs and micro organisms at bay.
- It's shelf stable for up to a year in the sealed jar. That means it doesn't need preservatives because it stays fresh for up to a year in our sealed container. Keep moisture out of the jar as best you can, and close it up when not in use to ensure it lasts as long as possible. We only use amber glass jars so you don't have to keep it in a dark place, but if you move it to a clear or semi transparent container, then be sure and keep it out of light too.
Coconut oil is great for skin, but like I said it is on the more oily side so I only use just what I need and nothing more.