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My mangled face: a postscript about coconut oil


Robyn Openshaw - Oct 16, 2009 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


So I told you about my close encounter with concrete on a run last week.   I told you that day, at a GS class I did, one of the event organizers dabbed lavender oil on my battered face that made the swelling go way down, quickly.   Then I went home and smeared coconut oil on the wounds on my chin, lip, and cheekbone several times a day. That kept the scabs soft and helped me not worry about infection. The scabs were gone three days later and the wounds barely noticeable.

(Craig did entertain himself saying things in public like, “Do that one more time and I’ll smack you AGAIN!” And I was glad to have the end of the comments from my male friends about finding the violent boyfriend who did that and avenging the deed with a hubcap and a cheap bottle of wine.)

But while the scabs have virtually disappeared on my face, the similar-sized scabs on my knees are still ugly looking and going nowhere four days later.   This is despite that the knee scabs had not been repeatedly splitting open, like the scabs on my lip did, every time I laughed.   (I laugh a LOT.)

Okay, so the only difference, which is remarkable, is the application of coconut oil (and originally, lavender oil).   I didn’t care about my knees, whereas I did care about my face.   I took my parents to lunch today, and was telling my mom about this.   She said she wishes she had known her whole life what a wonderful moisturizer and anti-bacterial organic, cold-pressed coconut oil is–she feels she could look younger and would have saved a lot of money!   Like me, she loves it and it’s the ONLY moisturizer she uses. It’s whole foods for the skin. (Why do we buy all these products full of refined oils, at best, and chemicals, at worst?)

She loves that by applying it, it soaks in and is used as NUTRITION no differently than if you ate it.   I put so much of it on, topically, that I don’t always concern myself about getting some in FOOD every day.

Anytime I see a child with eczema, I give the parents coconut oil.   The year we began using it topically as well as internally (as food, replacing other oils, such as in baking and sautéing), eczema disappeared on me and my kids.   Ditto my circulation problems (cold hands and feet) during the winter.

Here’s a photo of me and Craig three days after my accident, 50% healed–not so bad, huh?

Craig and Robyn 003

Posted in: Natural Remedies

11 thoughts on “My mangled face: a postscript about coconut oil”

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  1. I was told about coconut oil for our son’s severe Eczema, but could not use it due to his allergies. Our little guy has had severe Eczema for the first three years of his life and we tried everything to help him….everything! We feel like we have had a miracle occur in our life though because he is sooo much better now that he has been taking the Vidazorb bellyboost probiotics. Within a short amount of time his life turned around for the better. He began looking so great and he could eat all kinds of foods!! It has been awesome for him and I highly recommend probiotics for Eczema 🙂 I have a new mommy blog too and you can even see how he looked before and after taking them, so come and see if you want 🙂

  2. It was nice to read that you had such excellent results from using virgin coconut oil. I use virgin coconut oil as an after shower skin moisturizer and found it works even better as a dry hair moisturizer and deep conditioner. Studies have shown that virgin coconut oil actually penetrates the hair shaft and prevents protein loss. This leads to a stronger hair shaft, reducing breakage. I found virgin coconut oil really thickens and softens my hair and it works better than any man-made hair conditioner I’ve tried.

  3. Anonymous says:

    Robyn,

    I’m glad to hear the coconut oil is helping you heal faster. That fall sounded very painful, ouch! I have to say though that I linked to the pictures before you wrote about the fall and I didn’t even notice the scrapes on your face!

    I have been using coconut oil (organic virgin cold pressed) as my sole moisturizer for about the past month. First I only used it on my face and really liked the way it felt, so I started using it on the rest of my body. Then I started noticing that I would get this gritty, kind of sand paper feel to the palms of my hands a few hours after I had rubbed the oil in. I was pretty sure it was from the oil because I went a day without using it and I didn’t get the gritty feeling. It didn’t hurt, just felt kind of gritty, so I kept using it to see what would happen and the grittyness eventually went away. Now what I’m noticing is that right after I put some oil on my legs it feels great, but a few hours later my legs feel really dry again, to the point that they’re slight ashy and itchy, so I have to rub more oil in. I’m kind of going through a lot of oil with my skin just sucking it up so quickly, so I’m wondering if I just need to get used to it, or is it doing some kind of cleansing thing and will eventually go away like the gritty thing? I like using the coconut oil, I just wish it would keep my body moisturized longer. What’s weird is it only gets dried out on my legs and body, not my face. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated 🙂 I don’t know if this is a common reaction or if I just have super dry skin. I haven’t really struggled in the past with dry skin so I’m wondering why this is happening now.

    Thanks!

    Marisa

  4. Anonymous says:

    Hi Marisa, it definitely doesn’t have any moisture barrier (like Chapstick does, for instance). I wonder if it is causing some sloughing off of dead skin–I’m not sure!

  5. Anonymous says:

    Yeah, maybe that’s it, because I know my previous body moisturizer had mineral oil in it, so maybe my body is just adjusting to not having the barrier. I think the dryness is slowly improving because my legs aren’t getting as ashy, so I’ll stick with it and hopefully everything will even out.

    Thanks!

    Marisa

  6. Anonymous says:

    Hi Robyn,

    Wondering what you use to cleanse your face since you use cocnut oil to moisturize it.

  7. Anonymous says:

    For those that cannot use coconut oil, or for whom that doesn’t always do the trick, you may want to try something with with medicinal plants in it. Plantain (the weed, not the tropical fruit) and comfrey among others, are very good for your skin. They promote healing and new skin cell growth, and are very potent at drawing toxins out. Plus, they’re highly alkaline and mineral rich. See if you can find someone local who makes their own salves with weeds & healthy oils.

    I have a friend who makes a salve out of olive oil, comfrey, calendula, plantain, chickweed, cocoa butter, shea butter, beeswax, vit. e, and lavender oil. It worked for me where nothing else did (neither raw honey, tea tree oil, virgin coconut oil, EV olive oil, nor prescribed steroid cream).

  8. Anonymous says:

    I use organic coconut oil in many of my hand made soaps, shampoos, and creams, and it really works wonderfully. I also get a great deal buying in bulk online!

    Pure Organic Coconut Oil

  9. Anonymous says:

    Marisa,

    I used to have the same problem when I just used the oil straight as a moisturizer. Then I discovered that beezwax makes an excelent moisture barrier! What I do is melt two ounces of beezwax with one cup of oil on low heat. Then I pour it into a bowl containing one cup of warm water and mix with a mixer. When it starts to thicken, you may add about ten drops of an essential oil, but personally I think it smells good enough without any extra scent. This is a very rich moisturizer that I love because it lasts all day long!

  10. Destiny says:

    I know this page is really old but I just wanted to say thank you so much for the blog. I got some really awful shaving cuts under my arms which have left me partially disabled (I think the blades were blunt but I couldnt move my arms fully as it hurt too much). Some info online was saying that you shouldnt use coconut oil on open wounds/cuts but after reading your blog I decided to mix with a few drops of essential Lavender Oil with my organic unrefined Virgin coconut oil and I can finally move my arms lol. Its still early days but Im really hoping that I get the same results as you do in next next few days!!

  11. Alexa Jordan says:

    I have never gotten on the coconut oil train, but I do love essential oils! I’ll try this out.

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