Coconut Oil as a Face Wash?

A few years ago, I learned about some of the amazing benefits of coconut oil. (Lots of good-for-you medium chain fatty acids, stable at high temps, etc.) I used it for several months then for some reason, I just kinda stopped buying it. {I can’t even tell you why.}

Well, then a few weeks ago I noticed a friend/co-worker’s skin was looking particularly awesome. Being the generous gal that she is, she told me how she’d started using coconut oil on her face. She said she sprayed it on like a tropical mist each night and in the morning, her skin was a happy camper! “Coconut oil? Seriously?!” Hmmm….

Then the following week (can you sense a pattern here?), my friend/boss, Karrie over at Happy Money Saver posted about how she used coconut oil as a moisturizer for a full 30 days in an effort to save a little moolah. Guess what? She too had great results!

So of course, that got me to thinking: Why don’t I give the ol’ coconut oil thing another try? This time…for facial purposes, not just cooking!

After researching things a bit further (Search: “coconut oil” “skin care” holy cow), I decided to dive in and take the plunge! I went to Trader Joe’s and picked up a jar of their Organic Coconut Oil for $5.99. (Name brand varieties found at organic grocery/health food stores ranged in price from $9.99-$15.99, so I saved a nice little chunk there.)

I told my daughters about it who (I admit) looked at me with more than a touch of skepticism, but they were up for anything that promised to make their (teenage hormone-driven) skin look better.

Each morning and every night before bed, we’d simply wet our faces with warm water, ‘wash’ with a little “scoop” of coconut oil, then rinse. A little bit of oil stays on your skin but it does absorb rather quickly. (It won’t leave greasy marks on your pillow cases or anything like that…Hee hee!)

And so far…? We LOVE it! Our faces are surprisingly NOT greasy in the morning, we didn’t wake up with pimples the size of Mt. Everest – in fact, the little tiny blemishes we did get were just that – tiny! And they were totally GONE within 24 hrs without using extra “stuff”. (Yayyyy!!) Even more interesting? We use it to shave our legs and – tadahhhhh! – no need for lotion afterwards!

So! What do you think? Have YOU washed with coconut oil before? What were your results?