Ten Ways to Use Coconut in Natural Skin Care

The coconut is such a unique gift from nature. Technically speaking, it's a fruit, a nut, and a seed. For our purposes, let's just refer to it as a botanical. Among its unique qualities is its fat content. No other plant in nature has such a high fat content. It's comparable to fat in an animal source. Yet, this is a good thing.


Coconut oil is a great oil to cook with because it's a great source of medium-chain fatty acids. Your body digests and burns these easily and without the insulin spike.

From a skin care perspective, you want to use products that moisturize as well as protect and coconut oil is great for this because it resists oxidation and is considered to be an antioxidant because of this quaity.

If you like making up your own recipes at home, you'll enjoy these 10 ways to use coconut in your natural skin care routine --

DIY Coconut Body Scrub Recipe

• 1 cup of warm coconut milk
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• 2 drops of essential oil of your choice

Mix the ingredients and apply to your body with circular motions for a few minutes before rinsing off. Your skin should be exfoliated and moisturized at the same time!

2. Coconut water has a bleaching quality. If you need to fade blemishes, apply it on the face, hands, and neck. Wash off with tepid water.

3. The hard skin on elbows and knees can be softened by rubbing coconut oil on them regularly.

4. Massage coconut oil into the sensitive area around the eye to fight wrinkles.

5. Combining equal parts tumeric, salt, and coconut oil and apply to dark spots to fade them. Leave on for 30 minutes and wash off.

6. For dry or damaged hair, heat a few tablespoons of coconut oil until it's soft and apply to damp hair. Cover with a plastic cap for an hour and shampoo.

7. To exfoliate blemishes, combine 2 tsps coconut oil with 1 tsp of oatmeal. Massage skin with the mixture for 5 minutes. Rinse with a mixure of lukewarm water containing juice of half a lemon.

8. For dandruff, combine equal parts coconut milk and lime juice to the scalp and massage. After one hour, shampoo.

9. Incorporate monoi into your skin care routine. Monoi, a mixture of coconut oil and flower essence, has been used for centuries by Pacific islanders to beautify hair and skin.

10. Mash an avocado and mix in enough coconut milk until it makes a paste. Apply to the hair and scalp and leave on for 15 minutes before shampooing.