Want to Try Coconut Oil to Moisurize your Face? Read this First!

Is Coconut Oil Good for Your Skin?

**This post contains affiliate links. Meaning, when you click on a product link, I can make a small amount of money, either in the form of the click itself, or in commission if you purchase anything from the site.

Hey pretty people! Have you ever had one of those weeks that you were like, where am I am what is going on? This week has been SO off schedule that a couple days ago I woke up, and literally had no idea what day it was. Wait, is it Thursday? Should the garbage be out? Saturday? Can I go back to sleep? It was Tuesday. And, it took me a minute, but eventually I realized it:)

If you follow me on the ‘gram, you may have seen my stories a couple of weeks ago mentioning I had just shot for this post, alllllll about coconut oil uses. If you’re on Pinterest ever, it might dawn on you after seeing about the 211th post, that coconut oil is AH-MAAAAZING! Like, try to name something it’s not good for and Pinterest will debunk it in about 2.2 seconds. It’s good for everything, right?

As you may have experienced depending on what part of the country you live in, this winter was brutal. I mean, not in terms of snow - that was just average. But in terms of cold? Pardon the implied language, but it was cold AF. Times 2. Needless to say, my skin (speaking primarily about my face) fell apart. This had me wondering if you can use coconut oil on your face, for moisturizing purposes. Because if I could, I would!

Usually my skin does get worse every year toward the end of winter…it just turns dry, kinda flaky…I call it my winter skin. This year however it hit sooner and harder. Thinking I would outsmart my winter skin, I turned to Pinterest where coconut oil came highly touted as basically the best thing in the world for any and all skin ailments. Dry skin? Coconut oil. Wrinkles? Coconut oil. Need clearer skin? Try coconut oil. I mean there really are an endless list of posts and articles that come up. I even watched countless YouTube videos from people who swear by coconut oil for everything, including hydrating their face.

Now, who am I to question Pinners and YouTubers from around the world offering their skincare tips? I was out of moisturizer anyway, and even though I thought it would make my skin super oily, I gave it a whirl. I slathered it on my face morning and night for about a week. At the beginning, it was great, definitely not oily, which surprised me. However, close to the end of that week, we were experiencing a major warm-up, all the way up to about 10 degrees and I had some errands to run in my downtown neighborhood. Since I’m so close to everything and really wanted to get out and move a little bit, I walked. When I got back I noticed my face was really red and even more dry. I came in and of course, slathered on some coconut oil.

A day or two prior to this, I noticed my face didn’t seem moisturized. It seemed slightly dryer actually, which I attributed to the weather. And then like I mentioned above it turned red, like a windburn, when I was outside for a few minutes (on a day that wasn’t particularly windy).

The next day when my alarm went off, I could tell immediately my face felt weird. When I looked in the mirror, I had to do a double take followed by the thought, “how long have I been sleeping?,” because it looked like I was 105. My skin was so dry that it was shriveling. Wrinkles here, there and everywhere. And as the day wore on, my face actually felt sore.

Later that morning I was on the phone with one of my good friends and I told her I didn’t know what to do about my skin. After telling her some of the things going on, she had responded with, “oh my gosh! You’re using coconut oil, aren’t you?” It turns out one of her family members had just told her about an article she read where “some people,” have the exact opposite reaction to coconut oil than what most others experience. Helllloooo, I’m some people! I usually revel in the fact of being just a little bit different, I mean, who wants to be a cliche but in regards to this, I was hoping for more of the “average reaction” to my new skincare routine.

At this point, if you’re wondering, “why didn’t you think about the fact that the coconut oil was causing this obscene dryness?” I don’t know - I think because if “everyone” tells you the sky is pink, you start to think it must be pink, even though you see it as blue. And to be fair to myself, there were actual days it was colder here than it was in Antarctica or Siberia. And no, that is not an exaggeration, sooooo I truly just thought my skin was reacting to the cold.

I obviously discontinued using it right away, once I found out about the negative reactions “some people” experience using it, but it took a good 3 weeks to get back to normal. Even while using my regular moisturizer repeatedly my skin apparently needed to heal. There was a point for about 5 days it was so dry it was scaly. I’m not talking flaky y’all. I’m talking full out reptilian scales. I was part snake with dry patches on my face.

I’ve researched why this happens and it seems to be that for “some people,” the coconut oil tricks skin into thinking it doesn’t still need to produce it’s own natural oils. Consider me tricked!

Skincare Advice for Dry Skin

Like I said, it was around three weeks before I was really back to normal. I think a huge factor in my healing process was a kit I had received from a PR company around Christmas time by No7. I got SO busy at that time, I didn’t have time to use it, let alone post about it, and I was thankful I had it after the above debacle. And now? I am completely sold!

The kit (no longer available), contained generous travel sized portions of the following: Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Day Cream and Night Cream, Protect & Perfect Intense Advanced Serum, Protect & Perfect Intense Eye Cream, Radiant Results Revitalizing Micellar Cleansing Water, and Youthful Replenishing Facial Oil.

Find products from the Protect & Perfect products line, including my favorite, Youthful Replenishing Facial Oil.

I remember the first night using the products, my skin literally soaking it up. I think I applied the Night Cream three times….I don’t know if glorious is too strong a word when describing how my skin felt, but it totally did. I’ve never used anything from the No7 line before this, but now, I cannot wait to try any and all of their products.

One other note, last summer I switched to oil-free everything and my skin reacted great. My makeup stayed on longer and I thought that was the way to go, buuuuut, these products do contain oil and so far, so great.

After alllllll this, I still do think coconut oil might be a good option for you, if you’re looking for home remedies for dry skin, BUT, I would definitely test it in one small area prior to using as a moisturizer. The great thing about coconut oil is the fact that it’s all natural. I think it’s always a good idea to go all-natural when you’re able and for most people, when it comes to moisturizing, coconut oil apparently works like a charm. Just, not for me….and possibly you….so test it out!

Don’t think for a minute I’m breaking up with coconut oil:) I just made the most amazing lip scrub with a coconut oil base that I’ll try to share soon as well.

What about you? Have you ever been “some people” when it comes to your beauty routines?