I’m in love with the coco.. Coconut Oil that is š In the past coupleĀ years, coconut oil has certainly become a staple in my own beauty routine. Not only is it a great moisturizer but it’s all natural, it smells wonderful, and it’s relatively inexpensive. You can purchase coconut oil in most grocery stores, I get mine from Whole Foods. I’ve tried Trader Joe’s coconut oil and a few other brands but my favorite isĀ Dr. Bronner’s All-One Coconut Oil. (This brand is great because it’s unrefined virgin coconut oil so there’s no extra additives to the oil). Here are 5 ways you can integrate coconut oil into your beauty routine!
1. Body Lotion
I have about 327 bottles of lotion – okay, I’m kidding but I have purchased my fair share of lotions over the years. I love the scented ones, the bronzing ones, the shimmer ones, and even the plain unscented ones. When I was growing up, my mom would always remind me to put lotion on before leaving the house. I’ve made a good habit of it now and using coconut oil is a great way to moisturize your skin. I try to steer away from any brands that have added extra scents to make the coconut smell stronger; I like when the coconut smell is faint and not overpowering. Whenever I massage this stuff on, it always makes my skin feel extra smooth for the whole day.
2. Makeup RemoverĀ
I’ve tried tons of different makeup removers, but coconut oil is really the most gentle way to remove your eye and face makeup. Whenever I use makeup wipes to remove my eye makeup, I ALWAYS lose an eyelash and really when you barely have that many to begin with it can be quite depressing. So I turned to coconut oil to make this a gentler process on my eyes. I take a bit of the coconut oil and rub it in my hands to warm it up from it’s solid form. Then I gently massage it onto my eyelids and lashes before wiping with a cotton pad. I always follow up with my Aveeno cleanser and then voila you have a makeup-free fresh face.
3. Cuticle Softener/Moisturizer
This one goes hand in hand with #1 but whenever my cuticles start to get dry from the cold weather here in San Francisco, I reach for someĀ coconut oil to massage into my cuticles. You know that I’m a real stickler about having nicely manicured nails and part of having nice hands is having nice cuticles! I feel like the thick coconut oil really seeps into my cuticles and brings them back to life within an hour of application.
4. Body Scrub
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One of my favorite uses for coconut oil! I love love love using body scrubs and exfoliating all my dead skin off. I mix coconut oil with sugar (brown or white) and a dash of honey (any brand will do). I usually eyeball it but you want to have about twice as much sugar as coconut oil since you don’t want it all to dissolve into the mixture. (The grainer the texture, the better the exfoliant)! Be sure to warm up the coconut oil up a little bit beforehand and let it cool before mixing it in with the other ingredients. Once you mix all of those products together, you can just go to town rubbing and scrubbing it all over your body. As soon asĀ all of those dull skin cells are scrubbed away, your beautiful glowy skin will be able to shine through.
5. Hair MaskĀ
My hair has never been the softest or smoothest. It’s natural texture is somewhat coarse and the fact that I color treat it and apply heat to it a few times a week doesn’t help. Using hair masks a few times a week has helped my hair SO much. I have a few store-bought masks that I enjoy but when I want an all natural mask I’ll use coconut oil right before I go to bed. I warm up the coconut oil and let it cool before applying it to my hair. I’ll start at my ends since that’s where the most damage is and work my way up to my roots. Once my hair is completely covered (not saturated but just coated), I put it all into a loose bun and lay a towel down and sleep on it. In the morning, I rinse it out and do my usual shampoo/conditioner routine. The coconut oil really brings life back to my hair and I love using it every few weeks!
What are some of your favorite beauty uses for coconut oil? Let me know in the comments below XO!