Five Unconventional Uses For Coconut Oil

Word on the street is that coconut oil is bad for you. Once thought to be a “fat burning fat” that was good to incorporate into your diet, now the advice is “you can put it on your body, but don’t put it in your body.”

Turns out, the research behind the oil being good for you was a bit flawed. It was looking at all the good stuff in “designer oil,” which isn’t what most of us are picking up at the supermarket.

Now, it’s worth noting that many mainstream news reports on the above subject have been sensationalised. Ingesting coconut oil is not going to suddenly kill you. Nevertheless, it’s a source of saturated fat that is probably just as bad as butter. In other words, you should at least limit the amount you consume.

If you have a bunch of coconut oil in your pantry you no longer want to eat, you don’t have to throw it out. There are a ton of great uses, some of which we’ve written about before, for the oil that are worth giving a try:

Condition Your Hair

You may not want to line your stomach with fat, but fat can be a good thing for your hair. Coconut oil is thought to be a great conditioner. Putting it on your locks can help smooth down overlapping layers of protein, and will repel water so your hair keeps looking its best.

Treat Your Feet

Take care of cracked heels by applying a little coconut oil to your feet at night, putting on some socks, and then leaving the oil to soak into your dry heels overnight. You’ll wake up to much softer, much more moisturized, tootsies.

Coconut Manicure

Just like coconut oil can do wonders for your feet, it can also take care of dry skin on your hands. Rub a bit on dry cuticles to moisturize them, and your hands in the process.

Remove Gum From Hair

When I was in elementary school I had really long hair, and I used to have a real problem with somehow managing to get my gum stuck in my hair. Back in the 80s, the removal method was always just cutting it out (good thing I had a ton of hair), but you can actually use coconut oil to remove it as well. Just rub the area down with a little bit of coconut oil. The area around will get slick, and the gum will slide right out.

Makeup Remover

Running low on makeup remover? Coconut oil can do wonders when it comes to removing stubborn makeup. Put a tiny bit of coconut oil on a cloth, and then rub it on the area to remove the stuff that isn’t budging with soap and water alone.

Tell us about your own favourite uses for coconut oil in the comments!