Coconut Oil: The Base-ics

You may feel like you've been hearing a lot about coconut oil lately.  I know I have.  My Facebook feed fills with magical sounding claims.  Almost as many uses as breastmilk.  Of course, Facebook and the people you connect with via social media coupled with your search history populate what you ultimately see there.  For example, my brother-in-law was telling me about a neat video.  It was the one with the job interview that seems both ridiculous and impossible and ends up being the job description for a mom.  At the time he mentioned it, I had seen it posted daily, possibly multiple times a day for at least a month.  I explained to him that I see ALLthemomthings.  Because I am a mom.  He is far less likely to see such items because he is not.  Likewise, I am a dirty hippie.  But I say that in a loving, proud way.  I am crunchtastic.  So, depending upon where you fall on that spectrum, you may or may not be aware of ALL the ways coconut oil can CHANGE YOUR LIFE.  For reals.  So, let me tell you.  Here are 101 Uses for Coconut Oil from Wellness Mama.  And here are 101 more!  (Some are probably the same, but I saw some that are unique!).  And because 101 clearly is NOT enough to convince you, here are 160 along with many of the reasons you should give it a spin.  Quite frankly,  I'm starting to surprise myself because someone took the time to compile 1,001 ways to use coconut oil.  There are even books dedicated to 101 uses for coconut oil and the coconut oil miracle.

 

Just last night, Cece and I went with my aunt to Rita's Water Ice.  They do not serve coconut oil at Rita's.  That's not where I was going with this.  While I did not notice biting bugs or mosquitoes, Cece was saying that the backs of her legs tickled and she needed to scratch them.  I asked her to come over so I could take a look and she had what looked like huge welts all over the backs of her legs.  I worried that it was poison ivy.  It was not.  I asked her not to scratch which took all the will power she had.  When we got home, Jeff checked her and confirmed they looked like bug bites.  I was kicking myself for not having already concocted some bug spray.  What better day to make bug spray than the day AFTER you need it?  But I immediately thought of coconut oil.  It was hard to ignore that thought what with the 40 pound vat that had arrived just that afternoon.  I smoothed some all over the backs of her legs.  When she woke up this morning, the welts had gone down.  The bites looked more like normal sized bug bites and she reported no more itching.

The reason I am sharing all this is because coconut oil makes up the base of both of our deodorant recipes.  And some people wonder why.  Well, if you read the link above with 160 uses, you will note that the first thing mentioned about coconut oil is that it is anti-bacterial.  So, you sweat and you sniff, and think my sweat stinks.  Right?  Wrong!  Your sweat doesn't stink, but the bacteria under your arm does, and it breaks down when mixed with the sweat produced by the glands in your armpits.  But, what do you think takes care of that bacteria?  You guessed it!!  Coconut oil.

And now, I leave you with...oil pulling.