coconut oil – a slow convert
Caroline has a bad case of cradle cap. Actually, it’s not that bad – my pediatrician said it was really mild – but since Savannah didn’t have it at all it seems bad to me. :-)
The pediatrician recommended olive oil, but I found that messy and I felt like I was anointing her. (Heh) Someone else recommended coconut oil, so I decided to try it. Apparently coconut oil is the new (old) miracle cure for anything. I’ve heard about it a lot, but never really investigated myself. So the next time I was at Trader Joe’s, I picked up some Organic Virgin Coconut Oil. The first thing I noticed is that it smells soooo good. I want to eat the whole jar. It smells like coconut I guess, but to me it reminds me more of cookies. Yum.
One awesome thing about coconut oil is that its melting point is 76 degrees, which means it melts on contact with your skin. At first I melted it over a flame until I realized that step was unnecessary for what I was doing. ;-) So I actually keep it by the changing pad and dig out a little bit with my fingers and rub it all over Caroline’s scalp. The result? No flaky skin. Also, her hair looks FABULOUS. That may be coincidence, or it might be the coconut oil, but her hair is full and sooo soft. I’m a fan!
I have to repeat every few days, but so far that’s fine with me. (Cradle cap is just a cosmetic issue anyway.) I also use the coconut oil for diaper rashes. So far, it’s worked the best of all the “natural” ointments I’ve tried. (Caroline is less rashy than Savannah was, so I don’t need it too often.) And another unexpected benefit – I lost my deodorant after our trip to Florida for Christmas. Coconut oil worked in a pinch until I could buy more! I will say though I tried it for 6 days straight and after the first few days it stopped working for whatever reason – even after showering.
Anyway, I’m sure I will continue to explore all the benefits to coconut oil. I haven’t brought it downstairs to use in cooking yet (I think I need to buy a separate jar for that), but I’m sure that’s the next step.
And just for fun, pictures of Caroline’s hair right after I rubbed her scalp with coconut oil. (Savannah wanted in the pictures too.)
2 thoughts on “coconut oil – a slow convert”
I’ve noticed some flaky patches on Josiah’s scalp and his pediatrician said it was cradle cap! Weird, since he didn’t have the problem when he was a baby; I thought perhaps it was eczema or something like that. Anyhoo, she suggested coconut oil on that as well. When he was a baby I used coconut oil on his diaper rash as well as when he had a yeast infection. I’ve tried it on my face for oil cleansing but found olive oil works better. Still curious about trying it as a hair moisturizer but am wondering how hard it is to wash out with longer hair. I use it in baking all the time, and while I love the taste of coconut, those who don’t will be pleasantly surprised because you can’t taste it.
Love this! Wish I had known about coconut oil when my girls were babes, it wasn’t “in” yet. I used olive oil for their cradle cap, and it just didn’t work as well as I wanted it to. And coconut oil is anti-fungal, so that’s great! :) It’s also great for breastfeeding mama’s, both internally and externally. :) found this interesting blog post— http://www.hybridrastamama.com/2011/08/nipples-lady-bits-coconut-oiloh-my.html
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