Coconut Oil/milk

[FruitEnthusiast]

Early on when I was reacting to so many foods, one of the foods I had to give up was Coconut Milk. I haven't tried any coconut milk for a year and a half. (Boy, it sure has paid off to write down dietary changes on my calendar) Anyway, now since I'm having issues with fragrances in non-food products and going fragrance free, I would like to try coconut oil as a moisturizer on my skin. I hear it works great.

 

I have two questions:

1) Do I even need to be concerned about putting coconut oil on my skin, unless I could ingest it by mistake? Clearly I'm not planning to lick it off which would be weird, and sort of gross actually, but seriously I could get it into my mouth if it's on my hands before I eat something, in which case I could wash my hands after applying it then use a different lotion on my hands. I'm thinking since it's oil it will probably soak in anyway.

 

2) My other question is how many of you have had issues with coconut milk in your diet, and, if so, have you had success adding it back into your diet eventually? It was so yummy and is great for an upset stomach just like cow's milk was before I gave up dairy. I haven't had any foods that gave me a gluten-like reaction in the beginning, not for a year and a half.

 

The most important thing right now is finding the right skin moisturizer. If that went ok then I could consider the coconut milk. Don't want to go into coconut shock or anything.

[GottaSki]

Coconut Oil is wonderful for many things.  I don't see any issue if you were to apply to your skin and/or try to re-introduce to your diet. 

 

I do not mean to make light -- you have to understand -- as a child I hated all things coconut and I was not a fussy eater...but if there was a tiny bit of coconut in something I could taste it -- fast forward to my post celiac diagnosis years and I was left with one safe flour -- coconut flour - I had to laugh or cry

 

It has been long enough for you to trial fresh coconut in your diet.  If you don't want to do that -- I still see no problem with applying to your skin.

 

Oh - unless you have an allergy rather than intolerance -- then do not apply.  Vitamin E oil is very moisturizing.

[LauraTX]

You can do a test spot on your skin.. I will usually do a spot on one cheek and on my upper arm to see what happens and wait a day.  I second the vitamin E oil thing, works nicely for scarring, too, but it doesn't thin out as well as coconut oil.  Coconut oil works great for my eczema, and much much cheaper than the expensive creams.

[Adalaide]

If it was only an intolerance, it shouldn't be an issue at all on your skin. And, I agree that at this point it would be totally fine to test it again and see if you can have it in your diet. Just make sure you are trying something without additives that could be the problem rather than the actual coconut. (Such as some "milks" that are boxed.)

 

Lots of people use coconut oil as a lotion out of the shower. I actually use it to make a body scrub that I use in the shower. It's just as effective, and I come out without needing to bother with an extra step. If you aren't fond of that idea, or are still worried about it being on your hands, you can just use gloves when you apply it as a lotion. It isn't something I would worry about though beyond washing with soap and water after.

[1desperateladysaved]

You may want to try SHEA Butter.  Applying after bathing helps to seal in moistness.  My skin feels mist for several days with this treatment.  I have heard that Shea butter has natural latex, so if that is a concern please look it up, or test carefully before applying! Shea butter is so thick reminds me of the Eucerine cream I use to use to combat dry skin. Shea butter contains nothing one can't eat.  I found a tub of it at a natural food store.

 

The things I don't tolerate, I tend to react to on my skin also.  Beware!

[FruitEnthusiast]

Lots of people use coconut oil as a lotion out of the shower. I actually use it to make a body scrub that I use in the shower. It's just as effective, and I come out without needing to bother with an extra step.

 

I think it was an intolerance not an allergy, I never had a problem with coconut until after my gluten diagnosis. So, I agree it’s safe to try it. I’ll try a spot of the oil to test it on my skin first, then try the milk at some point. I did find coconut milk with no other additives at Trader Joes when I had tried it before. A topical vit E for scars is something I’ve wanted to get too. Also good to know about the Shea butter as an alternative.

 

Adelaide - I’m interested in your recipe for the coconut shower scrub. Is the scrub gentle enough to use on your face too? As you know I’m replacing all my products with fragrance free ones, so my old scrub is out. It would be great to get clean, moisturized, and exfoliated all at once. I’m liking the Eucerin lotion you recommended, by the way.

 

Thanks everybody!

[LauraTX]

You may want to try SHEA Butter.

Ahhh shea butter.  I think I may be the only person in the US who is allergic to it, lol.  I have accidentally been exposed many times... twice at the salon (my hair looked great but my face was covered in rash) and in lotion tissues.  When I first discovered it, I tried an eczema lotion that cleared my eczema but then all these little bumps showed up.... LOL.   It is slower to form for me, thankfully, but also slow to go away.  It is in everything nowadays... the past 4 years or so it has become the cool thing to add to beauty products, so I have to read labels like a maniac.  And don't trust salon professionals to do it for you, even though it sounds simple. Because they will fail and you will be itchy. 

 

Now that I occasionally use coconut oil I have been wondering if I may accidentally expose someone to it as an allergen when I am in public.  So I wash it off my hands and use my regular hand lotion.  My sister is "allergic" to coconut and almonds according to her, even though one day I was at her house and pulled out all the things in her pantry that contained said items.  *eyeroll*  She wouldn't let me throw them away because she still wanted to eat them.  Apparently almonds do make her lips swell/tingle, I told her she is possibly one exposure away from that developing into full anaphylaxis.  Bless her heart.

[GottaSki]

Ahhh shea butter.  I think I may be the only person in the US who is allergic to it, lol. 

 

Not the only one

[Adalaide]

I just use half as much baking soda as coconut oil. Mix with a spoon, this will seem impossible and take like 5 minutes but eventually it will be a lovely paste. I use it on my face and whole body. I was using a salt and olive oil scrub but my husband's hands are a wreck and he was complaining about how the salt hurt his hands when he scrubbed my back. There are lots of other recipes for scrubs online, but I like this one.

[BethM55]

I second the shea butter idea, but remember that it is a tree nut.  If you have problems with tree nuts, you may also be sensitive to shea nut butter.

 

The Alba company has a nice lotion that comes unscented.  I don't like anything scented and do well with this product for face and body.  I usually buy it from Vitacost.com, as their price is much better than anywhere else.  I also buy shea butter from them, in fact I need to order some very soon!

 

You can also use olive oil as a moisturizer.  

 

I love coconut oil, for eating and for skin care.  When nothing else will soothe my hands, coconut oil works well for me.  I only use organic, unrefined coconut oil.  Trader Joe's has it at a good price.

 

Oh... one more... Sea Buckthorn oil.  It does have a citrus-y scent, which I think is natural to the plant.  I love this stuff, use it on my face every night.  Again, I buy it from Vitacost.   

[FruitEnthusiast]

As someone who has allergies/intolerances to several things, I plan to avoid anything that tends to be a problem for many, so shea butter will be on the list of things not to try. I'm allergic to wool, bees, cats (mildly), and salmon (this is an odd one). I'm allergic to 2 out the 4 available classes of antibiotics. I've been sensitive to corn and mold long before my gluten intolerance DX.

 

I am feeling better each day since going off products with fragrances, but I realize I will have to be vigilant about reading labels since I now know the formulations can change any time. Label, labels, labels. All those ingredients I can't recognize much less pronounce.

 

I can see I will be better off using natural remedies whenever possible. Love the shower scrub recipe with only two natural ingredients: coconut oil and baking soda. Look forward to trying that.