The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Epsom Salt
Posted by Dawn (Cedar Rapids, Ia Us) on 10/25/2010
★★★★★
Empsom salt soaks gets rid of dry feet:). I just take a usual bath & put in about 2cups of empsom salt I do this 3-4 days a week!!!
Coffee Grounds
Posted by Timvalsm (Victoria, Bc Canada) on 10/13/2010
★★★★★
Coffee Grinds cured my facial dry flaking skin. My skin was very flaky after years of wet shaving with soap based cremes. I applied damp coffee grounds to my affected facial skin, light rubbing to release the natural oil from the coffee grinds. After two applications, my skin looks new, again, with not even a sign of redness. By the way, I am also a daily ACV user after it cured a stubborn sinus infection.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Jenny (Perth, Wa, Australia) on 11/21/2009
Hi Chanson
I too have had dry hands my whole life and nothing seems to last until I tried pure shea nut butter. It works wonders, it does soak into your hands but does take a while. If you want something that will soak in quickly pure Jojoba oil in fantastic. It will soak into your skin within a minute or two and leaves your hands feeling so much softer. Hope this helps and good luck.
Glycerin
Posted by Dana (Boston, Ma) on 09/30/2009
★★★★★
Dry skin: I used all posible lotions, creams, oils even lard nothing helped much. Someone said to buy glycerin soap wich helped, then I started to read ingredients of all these lotions and creams and all of them contain glycerin. So I went to wall mart and bought pure glycerin (first aid section) diluted with equal parts of water. Rub it in than rinse it because its sticky. Its also great for lips. If you can stand sticky part apply it and sleep with it (use pajamas, it won't stain) that would be great, at least once a week. I am off lotions and creams for a year now and I feel great. Good luck!
Sea Salt Baths, Flax Seed Oil
Posted by Pete (Brampton, On Canada) on 08/03/2009
★★★★★
I went to an "eye-dolligist" for extreme dry skin problem. (sever athlete's foot + Jock Itch) was told to start adding 2 cups of Organic Sea Salt to bath water (use only luke warm water, not steaming hot) must sit in bath for 1 hour. Did this twice a week for 4 weeks and both problems are gone. It has been 3 months now and no return. For my dry skin I am also taking 2 tablespoons of organic flax seed oil morning and night. My skin now is soft and smooth as silk.
hope this helps
Coconut Oil
Posted by Dianna (Austin, Tx) on 07/15/2009
if the coconut oil is not enough for your dry hands - try using castor oil. castor oil will soak in overnight and will protect your skin from drying out.
also i have found that coconut oil takes some time to work but it will eventually heal dry skin - unlike some other oils that appear to just work when they are on the skin and when you wash them off your skin is dry again.
you may also take some coconut oil or olive oil and add a little melted beeswax (melt the VCO too) and stir or mix it very well. the beeswax will add a little barrier to the skin to keep the cold and wet from removing more moisture.
DRINK MORE WATER!!!
Coconut Oil
Posted by Diane (Lisbon, IA) on 07/14/2009
★★★★★
For dry skin, I have found that 1 teaspoon of Virgin Coconut Oil (vco) taken internally will hydrate the skin from within. Start with one teaspoon per day, and you may have to experiment with the dosage. Most people can simply eat a spoonful, but it can also be spread on something like a whole wheat tortilla or vegetables to make it more paltable. I was taking vco for another health benefit but had to stop because my previous "normal" skin became moist and "greasy" feeling all day long. Hope it helps someone.
Coffee Grounds
Posted by Teacher (Houston, TX) on 04/13/2009
★★★★★
Coffee grounds for exfoliations has worked very well for me. Immediately after washing my face with the grounds, I noticed a difference in my skin. It was softer and looked brighter. My family members even complimented me on a more glowing complexion. I plan to continue to use them. I have not tried the cellulite treatment yet, but intend to soon. My brother, who is a nutritionist, says that I should use organic coffee grounds because they are free of chemicals.
Pure Lanolin
Posted by Lisa (Little Rock, AR) on 03/19/2009
★★★★★
dry skin: This is for Chanson from the midwest and any others out there who experience severly dry skin. Go to your local pharmacy, retail store or baby supply and get a tube of pure lanolin. My Dr. told me to use it when I was breast feeding. My nipples cracked open and were, as you can imagine, extremely painful. The lanolin healed them completely and I was able to continue breast feeding. My father works with chemicals in his job and his fingers crack and bleed. I got a tube for him to use and it healed his fingers. I would suggest applying it after you have eaten as you don't want to get it in your mouth. It is an all natural product. It's very thick and has a slight odor, but nothing unbearable.
Honey
Posted by Martha (Orange, Texas) on 03/01/2009
★★★★★
Dry skin on face: Wash your face with raw honey. It will make your skin nice and soft also. Just rub the honey all over face, let it dry and rinse off with tepid water. I love it.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Dave (Trenton, MI) on 02/20/2009
Hello again, I forgot to say when you spay your face in shower and let it sit for a few minutes take your finger nails and scrap your face all over and watch the dead skin come off and then rub your face with a wash rag then rinse it and repeat if you want and then do it every time you shower and that will make your face skin like new and smooth. Dave
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Dave (Trenton, MI) on 02/17/2009
★★★★★
Hello,. if you have dry skin on your face from wind or what ever, put some 3% drug store Hydrogen Peroxide in a spray bottle and when your in the shower spray your face real good and let it set a few minutes, make sure you keep your eyes closed, and it may burn a little at first but let it stay and then rinse it off and keep doing it at every shower and your face will be real smooth after the first time. Dave
Coconut Oil
Posted by Dianna (Austin, Tx) on 01/13/2009
chanson - glad it is helping even just a little. btw - if the coconut oil is not enough moisture you can add another oil like olive or cocoa butter or even sesame oil. i just prefer to not have to buy more oils and so use the coconut. actually, the only way VCO will help my very dry hands is if i apply it and then soak in warm water AND/or apply a small amount of it after i have soaked in a bath and i am still wet. what you want to do is to seal in the water. the oil doesn't help so much for moisturizing as the water does - it just seals in the water. also when i drink 3 liters of water a day my dry skin really just goes away... so i know with me it is really water that i need.
also, some people find VCO to be slightly drying to their skin. it is a semi-drying oil - that is why it doesn't feel greasy. so if you find this to be the case you can add another oil to your VCO or just switch to a more moisturizing oil. this is why VCO seems to disappear on your skin and not stay greasy. and i have found that the longer i use it that the less i have to use it. hope this helps.
djh/austin, TX
Coconut Oil
Posted by Jamie (New York, NY) on 01/13/2009
Hi, Chanson. I too tried coconut oil for dry skin and found it didn't last very long. Two things might help you - pure shea butter and a lotion with alpha hydroxy acids. I have been using shea butter in the winter for 2 years now and it is phenomenal. Great for cracked heels too. When I visited my mother over the holidays, she had some alpha hydroxy skin lotion that she bought a natural food store. I tested it out and found it immediately cured dry skin and lasted all day, even after multiple washings. I wrote the name down but now can't find it amongst all my scraps of paper. I found a generic alpha hydroxy at the drug store and it does get rid of dry skin, but doesn't absorb well. If I can find the name of the good stuff, will post again. It made my skin amazingly silky and soft!
Coconut Oil
Posted by Chanson (Midwest, United States) on 01/12/2009
★★★☆☆WORKED TEMPORARILY
Dear Dianna from Austin, TX,
Thank you so much for your great pieces of advice about using coconut oil for dry hands! I have been trying your methods and experimenting with the concepts.
I have tried the ACV (which I love for other things) and am still determining the effectiveness.
You were so right that heat helps the coconut oil penetrate. I have cold hands and live in a cold climate! Based on your advice about warm water, I have been trying microwavable hot packs. After I apply the oil, I place my hands inside the warm packs with towels over them and then the oil seems to absorb quickly. For a short time afterwards my hands feel less dry.
Have you had any experience with losing the "lotion" effects of the coconut oil after your hands touch water during routine daily tasks (cleaning, etc.)? My fingers instantly become dry after I so much as use a damp paper towel. The coconut oil doesn't seem to maintain for me, even when I minimize water exposure. I would just love to have the moisturizing effects of the coconut oil last throughout the day.
Thanks again for your kind help and thank you in advance for any other ideas you might have!
Good Health to everyone!
-Chanson
Coconut Oil
Posted by Dianna (Austin, TX) on 12/29/2008
hi - i just wanted to say if you are having trouble with the virgin coconut oil sinking into your hands - first try wetting your hands first and putting a tiny bit of the vco on and rubbing them together. also if you massage the vco on your hands and then soak them in hot/warm water this helps it penetrate too. another thing you can do is wet your hands and rub a larger amount of the VCO on them and put on cotton gloves and sleep with it on. all and all- with vco i have found that less is more and that more (unless used by the last method) actually tends to make my skin feel drier. the massage and then soaking in warm water really really helps.hope you figure out a way to use it.
also you may try spraying apple cider vinegar diluted in 2/3 water on your hands before applying the vco. all of these methods have helped me. but the main thing i have found the most useful for very dry hands and cuticles is urine therapy - i use the first morning urine and just rub it onto my hands and then put a thin layer of vco over the top of it. then i go back to sleep and when i wake up my hands are very soft.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Chanson (Midwest, United States) on 12/29/2008
I love the idea of using virgin coconut oil on my skin, but gave up after a few weeks. Here is my situation: I am in need of a hand lotion that is not filled with the synthetic chemicals of typical commercial hand lotion. My hands are dry, winter and summer; and I suspect that some of this has to do with my continual use of the commercial hand lotions for many years. It isn't that my skin is chapped, it is that my hands FEEL stiff and dry. They look fine but they don't feel comfortable. Also, my ability to grip things with my fingertips is now decreasing; things just slip underneath my touch. I have tried (on two occasions) going a couple of months without applying any lotion to see if my natural skin oils would resurface, to no avail. I do drink at least a couple of litres of water per day.
I am interested in trying again with the virgin coconut oil. Here is the problem. Even if I massage it in to my hands for several minutes and wait for a half an hour, it still has not absorbed into my skin. It is very greasy and I can't proceed with tasks I need to take care of. The oil is coming off my hands onto other things. Moreover, I need to either wash my hands several times a day or expose them to water in the course of my day, and after so doing I need to reapply lotion. So it's not working to have grease on my hands so frequently.
I don't use a huge amount of VCO. I thought perhaps I could use a towel to wipe off the surface grease, but in trying that, it seems that the skin on my hands is just back to where it was, feeling not moist. It has occurred to me that I could try applying it before bed and putting cotton gloves on, but I feel I will still need some kind of lotion during the day after I have washed my hands.
I am wondering what other substance could possibly be added to the coconut oil to make it easier to penetrate the skin? I have read that commercial hand lotions use alcohol to help their oils be absorbed. I am at a point where I would resort to that. Sadly, I have also heard that the alcohol is drying to the skin, and therefore makes you need to reapply the lotion. Perhaps this has something to do with what I call "hand lotion addiction". None of the commercial lotions I have ever used have genuinely improved my skin, in fact, I fear that they have made my skin lose it's natural oils. I am very sad that my dermatologists have recommended these products, products with long lists of synthetic chemicals, that seem to have done nothing for me other than possibly cause a sort of dependency upon them.
If anyone has any guidance on how best to use coconut oil for the skin, particularly the hands; or a suggestion for a preparation that uses VCO effectively in combination with something else, I would be VERY appreciative! Thank you very much and Good Health to all!
Coffee Grounds
Posted by Sreis (Jacksonville, Florida, USA) on 11/16/2008
★★★★★
Seconding the coffee grounds idea: I learned about using coffee grounds in a spa class. They are great to exfoliate with, especially since you can consider it recycling to use them after your coffee is brewed. They are said to help with cellulite because of increasing circulation in the targeted cells. That's from caffeine plus the action of rubbing your skin. Not sure if proven.
FYI about exfoliation: Exfoliation is for removing the surface layer of dead skin cells, polishing off excess build-up and any flakiness. It also really helps to increase cell renewal. Never exfoliate inflamed or cracked skin. Never exfoliate without moisturizing after. If you don't moisturize, you may see results at first but later your problems will be worse. The reason is that you're abrasively removing the outer protective layer, including good oils, and possibly causing damage to living cells. If you don't replace the oils to help protect and nourish your skin then it will dry out again, more quickly this time. Also, do be gentle.
Moisturizing: There are lots of great oils out there you can use right on your skin. Try to go as natural as you can and avoid anything with mineral oil, petroleum, alcohol or plastics. A few good oils: sweet almond (less greasy), emu, avocado, coconut, jojoba, olive, sesame.... Whenever I'm cooking with olive oil I like to rub some on my hands and elbows. It soothes and prevents drying too badly from washing dishes.
Coffee Grounds
Posted by Susan (USA)
★★★★★
02/05/2008: Jolie du Pre from Chicago, IL writes: "A cure for dry skin is to exfoliate. There is no need to buy a product from the store. Use the grounds left over from your daily cup of coffee. Keep the coffee grounds in a container with a lid and store the container in your bathroom. Apply the coffee grounds in the shower. It's messy, but the grounds will not clog your drain. Use the grounds all over your body, including your face. Coffee grounds are full of antixodiants. It's a great cure for cellulite as well.
Honey
Posted by Candy (Riverdale, NY) on 07/12/2007
★★★★★
Taking a bath in honey will heal dry skin. My cousin's 18 month old daughter had cronic dry skin since birth and I suggested this remedy(I read somewhere that Ancient Egyphian Queens took daily baths in honey). The baby no longer has dry skin, from just one bath in honey and it's been almost 3 months since the remedy was used. When my cousin took her daughter to the pediatrician for her regular check up, the doctor was surprised by the results b/c she (the pediatrician) had prescribed several remedies, all of which never worked.
Coconut Oil
Posted by Audrey (Gardner, Kansas) on 07/17/2007
★★★★★
coconut oil=so far helped my cracked feet and under eye dark circles...I have had dry feet 4ever...in the last year they have severely cracked...I have been applying the coconut oil for 2 days at night...feet are healing like crazy and circles are diminishing
