Coconut Oil Skin Cleanser

I've seen a few articles in the blog world about the "50 Best Things To Do With Coconut Oil" or "100 Unknown Uses for Coconut Oil" so clearly people are starting to see the benefit of this wonder fruit.  Did you know it was a fruit? It's in the same family as olives and peaches.  But it can also be classified with nuts and seeds.  See? Wonderfruit!

Did you know that the Coconut Palm in the Philippines is called "The Tree of Life"?
Coconut is known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and healing properties.

Coconut oil was used in a study on Alzheimer's patients and was shown to increase the patients' mental capacity over time.

It's considered a "good fat" because it's not an artery clogging fat.  It is easily absorbed by the body. I could go on and on.

We have been cooking with coconut oil for a while and even used it as a skin moisturizer for over a year.  It also makes for a great "carrier" oil for essential oils.  But there's one use I was skeptical about.  Using coconut oil to cleanse the skin.  It seems counterintuitive to add oil to skin in order to clean it, but I can speak from experience: it works.

There's a simple concept: oil cleanses oil.  Our skin has naturally occurring oils that act to keep the moisture balanced, protect the pores, and maintain elasticity.  So, when we apply soap to the skin, we are essentially stripping the good oil away from the skin.  We work hard to replace that oil with moisturizers (many of which have additives that are unhealthy), when truly we should just cleanse the oil that we have.  Enter the oil cleansing method!

I started at this website for some great information: www.theoilcleansingmethod.com

She suggests castor oil and sunflower oil but I have found coconut oil to be the perfect choice for me.  You simply rub the oil into your skin and massage for a minute or two.  Then take a warm (almost hot) washcloth and hold it up to your face until it cools.  Then simply wipe your face with the washcloth. I like to repeat this step a few times to make sure I have all the mascara off.

If you think you need a moisturizer, you can take a small bit of coconut oil and rub it in to your skin and leave it. Who said going natural has to cost you more? Toss out your expensive face creams and washes and use just one product! And you won't find it at the make-up counter.

Remember that your skin is the largest organ of your body.  What you put on it gets absorbed so don't put anything on your skin that you wouldn't ingest!