Because I have been unable to find a suitable replacement for the Blooming Lotus organic, handcrafted massage lotion since the company owner retired, I have decided to use organic coconut oil for all massages.
It has a very mild smell, is smooth and mixes well with essential oils. I have chosen to use Tropical Traditions’ Gold Label Organic Virgin Coconut Oil.
Tropical Traditions
Coconut oil offers many benefits:
1. Coconut oil has been demonstrated to have anti-inflammatory, analgesic and fever-reducing properties.
2. Coconut has been used for wound healing since time immemorial. Three of the identified mechanisms behind these healing effects are its ability to accelerate re-epithelialization, improve antioxidant enzyme activity, and stimulate higher collagen cross-linking within the tissue being repaired. Coconut oil has even been shown to work synergistically with traditional treatments, such as silver sulphadizine, to speed burn wound recovery.
3. In 2004, 52 isolates of Candida species were exposed to coconut oil. The most notorious form, Candida albicans, was found to have the highest susceptibility. Researchers remarked: “Coconut oil should be used in the treatment of fungal infections in view of emerging drug-resistant Candida species.”
4. Coconut oil has been shown to block out UV rays by 30%. Keep in mind that this is good, insofar as UVA rays are damaging to the skin, whereas UVB rays are highly beneficial (when exposure is moderate).
“In my opinion, coconut oil is the best natural skin lotion available. I have been using it as my body and face lotion for years and my skin has never looked better.
Not to mention, is smells amazing! Coconut oil is quickly absorbed and won’t leave your skin feeling greasy. One jar of coconut oil is my body lotion, face lotion, anti-wrinkle cream, eye-cream, stretch mark cream and massage lotion.”
Sources:
13 Evidence-Based Medicinal Properties of Coconut
8 Awesome Uses for Coconut Oil
Tropical Traditions
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hi Carla,
I’m interested in your choice to use coconut oil as a massage medium. I used loads of coconut oil on my skin for years, but later when I found 80/10/10 and began to greatly reduce my fat consumption I began to wonder if continuing to put 100% fat on my skin and therefore into my bloodstream wouldn’t be undoing a lot of the cleansing I was doing by eating so many fruits and greens and vegies?? What are your thoughts? You have a wonderful website and loads of helpful information, I appreciate your perspective.
I thought the same thing, Melissa! However I concluded that I’m going to put something on my skin and it’s going to be a fat/oil base, might as well make it completely natural rather than a lotion mixture or fractionated oil like almond oil. The biggest difference I noticed in my diet in regards to oil is when I gave up using extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). It was a beautiful oil as far as oils go, however still fractionated. I eat nuts and avocados (mostly avocados) as my primary source of fat. Almost never do I eat coconut oil (only because it doesn’t appeal to me so much, not because I think it’s “bad.”) When I transitioned away from EVOO my sugar/salt blood levels behaved appropriately. When I ate EVOO, I would experience edema with sea salt. No more now that my dietary fats are whole food. Not sure I answered your question, however I love using coconut oil on my skin. It is so soft, smooth and supple and I didn’t have that before as much. I imagine that I will be able to tell if I’m carrying too much blood fat from topical coconut oil use if I start to experience edema again from sea salt. Hope this helps! xo-C.
Thanks for the reply Carla. Just wanted to clarify because I thought coconut oil is actually also fractionated, as the rest of the plant is removed and only 100% fat remaining to produce the oil. So my question is; as 80/10/10 advice goes the benefit to the body comes from eating whole foods, so how can our bodies benefit from putting a refined product a fractionated product on our skin EVEN if it is natural?
Good points Melissa. I suppose we each need to decide for ourselves how strict with 80/10/10 we wish to be. I want to moisturize my skin with something and I prefer to use Tropical Traditions Gold Label organic unrefined coconut oil rather than a lotion or other plant oil. What do you use?
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