For the last few weeks the weather has been so cold that we've had to have the central heating on all day every day. Whilst this has helped to keep the house at a nice temperature, it has played havoc with my skin, leaving it totally dried out and VERY itchy and scratchy all over. Last week I was itching literally from my scalp to my ankles, and that's despite the fact that we have the biggest humidifiers known to man hanging from the downstairs radiators - they disperse a litre of water each per day.
Anyhoo, I was reading the comments on this post over at Notes From The Frugal Trenches and somebody suggested using Coconut Oil if your skin is very dry during cold weather. Well, that was most interesting to me as I had three jars of it in my sideboard, and no idea what to do with it apart from make homemade deodorant (mentioned in this post in mid-September and I've still not tried the recipe, ahem!!)
Well, I can certainly say that Coconut Oil works a treat. I'm no longer itchy and scratchy and apart from a very faint whiff of macaroons when you first apply the oil, there's no over-powering scent of coconut either. As they've got two jars of Biona Organic Coconut Oil for £1.00 at the local farmshop, treating my dry skin with this instead of Body Shop Body Butter (also excellent for dried-out skin) is proving to be not only exceedingly effective but also very easy on the purse. I believe Coconut Oil is easily available in most health food shops and should cost around £3.50 per 200g jar - still pretty economical compared to body moisturisers, and this stuff is all organic.
How likely is this to set off any allergies ? I use E45 cream as I'm fairly sure it won't make my scratched-red-raw legs flare up even more. However, I do like coconut smells, and I might try this.
Posted by: Ponytail | 12/19/2010 at 02:17 PM