Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Get Coconutty with Coconut Oil

Hi everyone,

Guess what's inside this jar?

It's coconut oil!
 And what do I use coconut oil for, you may ask.

Why, my dear readers, to moisturize my face, of course! A few months ago, I had a terrible crop of zits on my face. I used T3 Mycin and then benzoyl peroxide to cure them (but not together, though. That would be committing skin suicide.) Then, my niece mentioned cold press coconut oil and my mom got me 50 cent worth of it.

More than this much, but I doubt it to be more than an ounce.
 At first, I shrugged but put the coconut oil on my face anyways, since I'm such a good daughter (haha!) Day 1 saw less inflammation and so was day 2. Day 3, zits stopped oozing up. My mom and other female relatives started ooh-ing and ahh-ing at my new skin.

Once a geek, always a geek. I climbed Mt. Google and found out why coconut oil can cure acne. Turns out, there's an abstract in PubMed that talked about this. According to this publication, lauric acid is an ingredient found in coconut oil. Since it has poor water solubility, they loaded lauric acid on liposome to form LipoLA. This new compound can fuse with the membrane of P. acnes, the bacteria that causes acne, and lauric acid is released to kill the bacteria. Awesome science, right?

While waiting for LipoLA to come in a tube, I am determined to apply coconut oil to my skin. The scent is very yummy. Once applied, the oil absorbs into my skin and best of all, I don't need to use a lot.

See, this much is enough!
It is one drop of oil, people. ONE drop.
I was a fan of jojoba oil before but coconut oil tops it. It is a bit thicker and since my skin is oily, it takes time to absorb. However, on my hands and cuticles, the coconut oil is a dream! My hands feel feathery soft and the cuticles are well-behaved again. Since I only have a tiny bit, I don't use it on my hair. But for those who have really long Rapunzel-like hair, conditioning it at the end is very beneficial.

You can find cold pressed virgin coconut oil at health food store. I like the brand Spectrum. Although it's pricier than the other ones, the material is stellar. However, remember this: only use a little coconut oil on your face. The goal is to cure your zits, not to load more stuff on your face to suffocate your skin.

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