Benefits of Coconut Oil On the Skin

    I'm always preaching against using coconut oil on your face because of it's

super comedogenic properties, and the issue of heavy oil use disturbing the skin's natural moisture barrier (you can read my previous blog post here: "Can Face Oil Replace Moisturizer" if you want to learn more about that).

But that doesn't mean that I hate all things coconut oil, or find that all of it's uses are bad for the skin.  Coconut oil has many benefits to the skin, but they may just not be in the way you'd think or often read about.  

Let me explain further...

Coconut Oil is anti-fungal

 Coconut oil's main fatty acid component is lauric acid.  It's anti-fungal properties have been researched and medically proven for topical AND internal use. The lauric acid is also the part of it that makes the oil comedogenic as well, so I do not recommend using if acne prone.  But that also means, this is great to use if dealing with foot fungus and skin fungal issues on the body.

I don't recommend using it all over your body instead of a balanced moisturizer, but it can be super beneficial on the feet and spot treated in areas that may be prone to jock itch, and even has been found effective in helping to treat drug-resistant ring worm (along with other preventative measures like keeping skin clean and dry etc. and other treatment).  

The Amazing Skincare Ingredients You Wouldn't Know are Actually Coconut Oil

 These common ingredients are in everything from toothpastes, to deodorants, face creams to even sex lubes and health supplements.  They're even sold in keto coffee these days!  They are super moisturizing and give a "slippery" spreadable texture to products. But they mostly won't be listed on the ingredient labels as coconut oil.  They are known in skincare or personal care products as capric and/or caprylic acids or triglycerides, and for internal ingestion use as MCT oil which stands for "medium chain triglycerides".

So why aren't they just listed as coconut oil then?  Well, because they are coconut oil based, but chemically are no longer regular coconut oil.  They are "fractionated" coconut oil.  This means the oil went through a process that separates the fatty acids, removes the lauric acid, and leaving behind just the medium chain triglycerides (the capric/caprylic acids).  This also leaves it to not harden in cooler temperatures the way regular coconut oil does, so it remains like a liquid.

Since the lauric acid is removed (which is what makes coconut oil comedogenic and barrier disruptive), the fractionated oil is no longer super pore clogging!  Woohoo!  On the downside, this also removes the super potent anti-fungal properties.  But it still has skin healing, barrier boosting benefits that won't clog pores.

What else do you want to know about coconut oil on the skin?

Just leave a comment, and I'll let you know!