I am not exaggerating when I say that for as far back as I can remember I have had horrible dry skin, especially on my legs. It is common for me to have a year supply of lotions, face creams, and Chapstick (just in case the world comes to an end... at least I can continue my addiction for a little while longer). I am constantly waking myself up from scratching in the middle of the night. Sometimes I have to even get out of bed and rub cream into my legs to get them to stop itching. It's uncomfortable to say the least.
Although most of my focus has been on nutrition and foods, I have read in several different books that the additives put in beauty/hygiene products are just as toxic as some of the food like substances we eat. One for instance would be aluminum in deodorant. The aluminum acts as an anti-persperant, and makes up a large percentage of most deodorants. The problem with aluminum is that it builds up in our bodies and becomes toxic. This is mostly a problem for women who shave their armpits (all women I hope- there is nothing worse than little scraggly hairs peeking out!).The aluminum is absorbed through the broken skin most often when deodorant is applied right after shaving. I switched to Tom's of Maine deodorant which has no aluminum in it. Anyway the moral of my story is that along with changing my eating habits I am also starting to look into natural food based beauty products.
Back to my dry skin!
I could very well write a book about all of the different body lotions and face creams that I have tried ( it wouldn't be very exciting). I have to admit I am never satisfied. My dry skin is never quenched. When I started the 4 week eating challenge, one of the things that I wanted to see if I could remedy was my dry skin from the inside out. Well, I cannot quit body lotion cold turkey, because I would have to check myself into an insane asylum. SO...I decided to try natural oils. I have read of people using coconut and almond oils. Well, I couldn't find unrefined almond oil at my local Whole Foods, but I did find an unrefined coconut oil.
IT IS A MIRACLE IN A JAR!!!!
I kid you not. I have taken 3 showers since I bought the unrefined coconut oil. I keep the jar in the shower, and the heat warms it up into a liquid state (it is naturally a saturated fat so it is solid at room temperature). After I am done showering I dry myself off while I am still in the shower, and lube myself up with the liquid coconut oil. The reason I do it while I am still in the shower is because your pores are open to absorb more of the oil. You will be slightly oily after you get out, but it is not ridiculous because most of it is absorbed rather quickly.
No exaggeration- I do not feel the need to constantly scratch my legs any more. If you have dry skin PLEASE try this. There are no chemicals, nothing but natural, unrefined coconut oil. It is roughly $10-$13 a jar, which is comparable to a bottle of lotion, however since it is an oil you will use much much less. It is also a natural remedy for dry itchy scalp, which I also suffer from. So I will be trying it for that too and will let you know how it goes. I will specifically be looking to see if it makes my hair an oily mess because I know that many women would be hesitant to try it for that reason.
If you are interested in more information about all of the uses for coconut oil please visit Organic Facts. I also use it to cook and bake.
DON'T go into another dry skin season without trying this. I hope it works for you as well as it did for me!
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