How I use coconut oil

Coconut oil has many health benefits and has been used in beauty products, cooking, and over the counter pills. It's a versitle material that is solid when cold and becomes an oil when heated. I first started using coconut oil when I gave birth to my daughter and wanted to find all natural products to use instead of the chemically induced products in which we never really understand, trust, or can pronounce the names of such questionable ingredients anyway! So why put that in and on our bodies when there are alternatives that are more versitile, cheaper to buy,  and with a little time and a few good recipes, can become a great all purpose solution?

Storage
When the weather is cool I store my coconut oil in its original container under the sink in my bathroom. When the weather is hot, I store it in the back of my fridge. It may harden and become a little difficult to get out when I need to replenish what I have stocked around the house for daily use but the fridge keeps it from constantly going from solid to liquid as the summer days increase the heat in the house and the nights turn it back to a semi solid state.

What I use
Currently I use Nature's Way unrefined organic coconut oil and can be found on Amazon. While it doesn't really matter what brand of coconut oil you use, it does matter that it is unrefined and in its natural state with no added anything! This is especially important if you plan on ingesting coconut oil by using to cook food or oil pulling. In this case it should also be food grade or pharmaceutical grade. I have seen unrefined coconut oil at Costco and it is a little cheaper than Amazon was so next time I buy it, it will be kirkland brand.

How I use coconut oil
Lotion: I like to keep a small container in the bathrooms and use it as lotion on my children who are 18 months and 2 months old. The oil absorbs fast into the skin, especially right after a nice bath! From my experience, it hasn't stained any of her clothes so I'd say it's safe to use and then dress right after. I also use it in my own lotion recipe I use for myself but the recipe is still a work in progress but as soon as I fine tweek it I'll post it here.

Knot buster: For a all natural de-tangler I use a small pea sized amount on my 18-month old's hair (she has lots of it!), I spread it all around her hair (as if I was putting shampoo on her head), let it sit for a few minutes and then comb and style her hair. It works pretty good to loosen tangles but be warned, if you use too much then your hair will look oily and dirty even though it isn't. I like to apply it to my hair when its damp because it helps with frizz control and gives my hair a nice shine.

Cooking: while I don't use it much for cooking, you can use it in place of oil or butter. Coconut oil heats very hot and fast so if you're going to cook with it I recommend you not let it sit too long on a hot stove pan because it will burn quickly. Also, coconut oil leaves behind a slight coconut taste to your food so unless you want the taste or are making something you are going to add a lot of other flavored to, it might be good to use a different oil or butter.

Teeth whitening and health: using coconut oil to whiten teeth also is beneficial to your health. This method is
called oil pulling and is an ancient way to rid the body of toxins through the mouth. MyMerryMessyLife.com had a recent oil pulling challenge in which readers were encouraged to participate in oil pulling while the blogger, Sara, did it as well. She wrote about her daily experience and you can also read comments from readers who also took the challenge. I myself have also started oil pulling and I will warn you that it takes some getting used to. The first 2 days were the real challenge for me because there's nothing like the feeling of swishing oil around in your mouth. And then there's the taste of coconut! While I do enjoy coconut, I didn't enjoy the first 2 days of swishing it around my teeth and a few times I either wanted to swallow it or throw it up. But after that, I got used to it and can swish like a pro. You can use almost any kind of oil and oilpulling.com's instructions use sunflower oil.

Recipes List
If you're going to invest the time and a little bit of money on making your own all natural products there are 3 ingredients you will need to have on hand to make just about everything I have recipes for: coconut oil, lavender essential oil, and beeswax! My recipe list isn't complete at the moment but I'll get to that soon!

Recipes coming soon:

Baby Booty cream

Lotion