The Beauty Treatment Good Enough to Eat

Exfoliating. It's not a new concept. But I betcha haven't ever exfoliated with something that you could actually eat if you wanted to. It's so easy. Place a half dollar sized dollop of coconut oil in the palm of your hand,

Okay, if you're wondering how in the world you're supposed to dollop a liquid then you prolly haven't heard of coconut oil before. No worries. Coconut oil is discussed all over TMB which is also known as TMI in some circles but I happen to love the place. My favorite kind of coconut oil is Nature's Way EFA Gold Organic. I like it best because it comes in a nice-sized widemouthed plastic jar with an easy-to-grip cap. It's organic so the essential fatty acids are fresh and not rancid, preserving that lovvvvvely coconutty smell. Unlike some organic brands of coconut oil, this brand is consistenly slippery because they do a spendid job of filtering out any pesky bits of coconut that might make the oil feel gritty.

Okay, so you can spend hours investigating and pontificating on coconut oil over at TMB where they'll tell you all kindds of splendid ways to use it, but for now let's get back to our exfoliating recipe. For the sake of time, let's just say that coconut oil is a solid at most room temperatures and becomes a liquid when it melts in your hand.

So, place a half dollar sized dollop of coconut oil in the palm of your hand, and pour in the contents of one sugar packet (you don't really want to keep a jar of sugar and a measuring spoon in your bathroom do you?) Stir it with your index finger until the coconut oil is all melty and you have a nice thick, smooth and scratchy consistency. Now, before you get all gung-ho and apply it to your scratchy elbows or whatever else you want to exfoliate, step into the shower. Trust me on this. Once you're in the shower, massage this delightful smelling goo all over your elbow or your knee or whatever else you want to exfoliate. If you also happen to also need to shave your legs, I recommend you start your coconut sugar exfoliation with one of your legs from knee to ankle. You'll notice at first the sugar granules are verrrry scratchy. Stay calm but be gentle for heaven's sake. You're trying to remove the tiny outer layer of dead skin cells not gouge off a tattoo. After just a few seconds, you'll notice that while the sugar granules haven't lost their scratch, the coconut oil seems to be dissapearing and the skin you are exfoliating is starting to feel verrrrrry sofffft. The oil isn't disappearing, silly, it's soaking into your skin delivering it's lovely payload of essential fatty acids. Okay, you're nearly done. Reach back with one hand into the shower stream (didn't I tell you to turn on the shower before you started? Ooops. Sorry!)Actually, that's okay because if your skin isn't perfectly dry when you first apply the coconut oil sugar mixture it won't work at all. Okay, now where were we? Oh, yeah. Whether from the faucet or the shower, reach into the stream of water and cup a teeny bit of water in the palm of your hand, and apply it to the area you've been exfoliating. After 1 or 3 rubs, you'll feel the sugar granules start to dissolve and the scratchy feeling finally goes away. Great! You're nearly done. Rub for a few more seconds and allow the rest of the coconut oil and melted sugar to baby your skin. It will be very gooey at this point. Now, if you happen to be exfoliating your shin in anticpation of shaving, reach over and grab your razor. Use this thin layer of sugar coconut goo as your shaving cream and shave your legs. Be careful and gentle. Your razor will easily zoom all over your superexfoliated skin. It will prolly be the closest smoothest sweetest smelling shave you've ever had.

Okay, now rinse. Water only no soap. You want to wash away the sticky melted sugar (that stuff could attract ants!) but you want to leave the lurvely essential fatty acids from the coconut oil. Step out of the shower (for heaven sakes be careful and step onto a rug or bathmat!) Now blot gently with a towel. Preferably one of your really soffft towels. You'll notice that your legs feel extrordinarily soffffft and that hair didn't stand a chance, did it? Don't you feel silllky and lovvvvveely? ;)

Wait! Before you reach for that bottle of lotion..the last step after shaving is usually to moisturize your skin with lotion, right? Well, you can skip that moisturizing step, cause you already did that. It's sorta like the life-is-short-so-eat-dessert-first dynamic. Life is short so moisturize first before and during shaving so you don't have to wait till afterward.

So this coconut sugar beauty treatment....It smells verrrrry good. It's fairly inexpensive. It works incredibly well. It's edible. What else could a girl want?

By the way, girls, don't pass up on a major flirting opportunity here. Sidle up to your husband who is doubtless sitting on the couch watching sports with the remote gripped firmly in hand because that is a husband's natural habitat. (But after all the sneaky corporate SOBs the poor dear man has to parry and fight all day long, doesn't he deserve a few minutes of peace?) So go sit on the sofa next to your husband and slowly sensously place one of your legs in his lap. Say to him, "darling, I've just tried a new kind of organic shaving lotion. What do you think?" And place his hand over your leg and then don't. say. a word. Just relax and watch his cursory swipe become a fondle. Good for you and your sweet coconut self! -SW