We're now on day 3 of using my homemade coconut oil products. I made toothpaste, deodorant, and I have been adding coconut oil to our morning smoothies. I also have been using the oil for oil pulling on a regular basis, 3 times a day. I have one thing to say about coconut oil: I love it.
It is truly the miracle oil they say it is. Versatile, delicious, and healthy - it can be used in so many applications it's mind boggling.
I haven't had a super-active day yet where I could really test out the deodorant, but I did take my two year old and my dog for a good long walk yesterday in the heat. We went about 6 km, all told, and that included some pretty brutal hills. I didn't stink at all when I got home.
I have found that I need to reapply the deodorant around 4pm. Even so, that's eight hours of coverage - not bad. I haven't yet found a safe deodorant that lasted for much longer than that, anyway. I had been using Lush solid deodorant bar (can't think of the name at the moment), but I found out they changed the formulation to include some not-so-nice ingredients and had planned on not purchasing it again. I refuse to use commercial "antiperspirant", due to its aluminum and other toxic crap. And commercial deodorants aren't much better with all the chemicals that are in it.
So this is the recipe, taken from a previous post:
1/4 c baking soda
1/4 c corn starch
5 tbsp coconut oil
a few drops of peppermint essential oil
Put dry ingredients into a bowl and add the coconut oil. Mix with fork until smooth, then add in essential oil of your choice and blend. Store in a glass jar with lid in your bathroom. Scoop out with clean fingers and rub into your clean armpits. Rub excess into your hands - it's a moisturizer, too!
I'll have a more comprehensive review of the deodorant after this weekend: my family is going camping, and it's supposed to be super hot and humid. That will be the real test - outdoors 24 hours a day for 2.5 days!
The toothpaste recipe comes from the same post as the other. I blended equal parts baking soda and coconut oil and added a few drops of peppermint oil for flavour. It's REALLY salty tasting - something I hadn't considered when mixing it up, although I'm not sure why I'm surprised. Baking soda is sodium bicarbonate, after all. But it leaves my teeth feeling clean.
Oil pulling is simply amazing. You swish coconut oil (you can mix in clove, oil of oregano, or tea tree oil into it for medication) in your mouth, pushing and pulling it between your teeth, for 15-20 minutes, then you spit it out. Basically, it pulls all the (bad, unwanted) bacteria out of the crevices and from below the gum line and flushes it from your mouth before it can enter your bloodstream and cause illness. The bonus is that it leaves your teeth SUPER clean and fresh, and noticeably whiter, after just a few sessions. Trust me, you'll not want to stop once you see the results. I've been using oil of oregano to kill off any dental bacteria that cause decay, in hopes of halting (if not reversing) dental decay in my own mouth. I have been having problems with cavities forming UNDER fillings. Not good. So we'll see if this helps. I've also been following a "heal thy teeth" protocol that I will discuss in an upcoming post. Hopefully with everything combined, my teeth will be on the road to recovery!
Coconut oil in our morning smoothies is pretty much unnoticeable. I put it in there just for its health benefits. Coconut oil helps maintain a healthy body weight, and helps your body protect itself against sunburn. With my daughter and I spending so much time outside, we need that! I refuse to use traditional chemical sunblock on her. I do have an organic one that contains a bunch of essential oils and zinc for a physical barrier but only use it on her nose and cheeks. Other than that, once she starts to pink up (after she's had her safe amount of exposure for vitamin d production) she gets covered up and plays in the shade. But you can't do that all the time (camping, etc) so added natural protection is great to have.
All in all, I'm really impressed with the coconut oil thus far. I am upset about one thing, but it is completely my fault: I dropped my open jar of coconut oil tonight. I lost about 85% of a full 2 lb jar, as it was liquid from being at room temperature. It went all over my counter, floor, and wall. I'm totally not impressed with myself. So do yourself a favour, and don't drop your oil!
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