Totally Coconuts for Coconut Oil

Everywhere you go lately, it's coconuts, coconuts, coconuts.  The list of health and wellness benefits is a mile long and growing. It's the new miracle that not only helps your heart, digestion, metabolism and weight loss, it boosts your beauty too. You can now find every kind of coconut something under the sun at your local grocery store - and drug store too!  

Usually this kind of craze (trending! ding!) makes me craze-eeee and I tend to be a bit skeptical about it all. But the science and research is undeniable. Coconut actually IS good for us, in a whole lot of ways. Cook with it. Eat it raw. Gargle with it. And rub it all over yourself - your skin and your hair.

I'm sure you've seen lists all over the internet that tell you what to do with it and why (you might want to check out this, or this, or this), but don't forget to come back here. I wanted to chat a little bit about the coconut oil I use in my soap.  This is not a new development, it's been there since the very beginning, in the first bar of soap I ever made right up until now. And it's still a good thing, even if it's suddenly "trendy."

One of the primary oils in my soap (#2 in fact, after olive oil) is coconut oil. I use a certified organic coconut oil, which is odorless, unlike the very fragrant tropical extra virgin stuff that everyone is eating right now. 

There used to be a rumor about how coconut oil was "drying" when used in soap. That was and is totally false. It has been proven repeatedly to be a really super moisturizer for skin with antioxidant properties, helping protect against environmental and free-radical damage. It's also known to alleviate redness and inflammation, be a bacterial and fungal fighter, and provide sun protection by screening ultraviolet exposure. There are literally thousands of DIY beauty recipes that begin with coconut oil.

Using coconut oil in your soap recipe gains you all these skin benefits too.  But the primary reason to use coconut oil is the rich, creamy, luscious lather it gives to a bar of soap. Nothing else even comes close. And I just don't feel like I'm getting clean if there is no lathering or sudsing up.

Blended with olive oil, palm oil, and shea butter, this coconut oil makes a pretty darn good bar of soap if I say so myself.

Do you have a favorite way to eat or use coconut oil? Please share! We'd love to hear about it in the comments below.