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**serenac** · 08-06-2010, 04:32 AM

Oh I forgot to add my coconut oil deep hair conditioning treatment. Every once in a while I'll bathe my hair in coconut oil or olive oil and leave it on for a while before shampooing and conditioning. Believe me it REALLY makes a huge difference! You will never need expensive salon treatments (or want any either!

) again!

**vril176** · 08-07-2010, 07:33 PM

Oils that are mostly saturated or monounsaturated (external use) are good for your skin, polyunsaturates are not.

Plant oils are toxic to the skin cells mitocondrias and accelerate ageing and much more. Some info -
Articles by Ray Peat - Index
Moved to LivinLaVidaLowCarb.com/Blog: Butter Anyone? Defending Fat With Facts
Know Your Fats

MORE LOWFAT HYPE FOR KIDS
A recent Finnish study on children's diets received headline coverage. Researchers divided 496 children into two groups. The parents in one group were asked to put their youngsters on a lowfat diet, with a goal of limiting fat to no more than 30-35 percent of calories. Specific recommendations included nonfat milk after the children were weaned and the addition of 2-3 teaspoons soft margarine or canola to their food until they reached 2 years of age. The parents of the children in the other group were advised to give them cow's milk containing at least 1.9 percent fat starting at age 1, but otherwise received no specific guidelines on fat intake. At age five, children on a "reduced-fat" diet and those on the "regular" diet performed similarly on tests of speech, language, motor functioning and visual skills. "Study Finds No Neurological Harm in Young Kids' Lowfat Diets," said the headlines. (Associated Press 8/22/00) But the fine print revealed that the difference in fat consumption for the two groups was no more than 3 percent. And neither of the two groups was compared with children who were given a truly adequate diet, one containing lots of quality dairy fat and cod liver oil. The recent decline in test scores and great increase in learning disabilities tells us that modern diets�either lowfat diets or diets in which vegetable oils are substituted for animal fats�have tragic effects on the neurological development of our children. - http://www.westonaprice.org/caustic_...inter2000.html

Concerning Soybean Oil �
Soy Update Information - Newest Research Reasons Why You Should Avoid Soy

The Surprising Toxic Effects of Vegetable Oils - The Surprising Toxic Effects of Vegetable Oils 6/28/05

Polyunsaturated to Death �
http://www.opinions3.com/polyunsaturated_to_death.htm

Vegetable Oil Fats Can Accelerate Cancer Growth - Vegetable Oil Fats Can Accelerate Cancer Growth

Omega-6 Fats Promote Prostate Cancer Growth - Omega-6 Fats Promote Prostate Cancer Growth

Polyunsaturated oils increase cancer risk �
Polyunsaturated Oils Increase Cancer Risk - Second Opinions, UK

TOXIC OILS
Scientists at the Universtiy of Basque Country have made a discovery that is bad news to the vegetable oil industry. They found that oxidation or thermal degradation causes deterioration of vegetable oils in foodstuffs and the generation of toxic substances. Heating to 70 degrees C created first hydroperoxides and then aldehydes, which are geno- and cytotoxic (poisonous to cells). In foods that were microwaved, the aldehydes were produced immediately. Among the oils tested, virgin olive oil took the longest to produce toxic compounds, and produced them at lower concentrations. More unsaturated vegetable oils produced more toxic compounds (foodnavigator.com May 26, 2005). Just what we�ve been telling folks for years�vegetable oils are bad news. - http://www.westonaprice.org/causticc.../cc2005su.html

The Myth Of Monounsaturates �
http://www.mercola.com/fcgi/pf/2002/aug/17/con_ola2.htm

Engineered Fats & Oils & The Degenerative Disease Epidemic �
Engineered Fats and Oils and The Degenerative Disease Epidemic.

Many degenerative diseases can be traced to a massive failure of the endocrine system. This was well known to the physicians of the 1930s as insulin-resistant diabetes. This basic underlying disorder is known to be a derangement of the blood-sugar control system by badly engineered fats and oils. It is exacerbated and complicated by the widespread lack of other essential nutrition that the body needs to cope with the metabolic consequences of these poisons.

All fats and oils are not equal. Some are healthy and beneficial; many, commonly available in the supermarket, are poisonous. The health distinction is not between saturated and unsaturated, as the fats and oils industry would have us believe. Many saturated oils and fats are highly beneficial; many unsaturated oils are highly poisonous. The important health distinction is between natural and engineered.
There exists great dishonesty in advertising in the fats and oils industry. It is aimed at creating a market for cheap junk oils such as soy, cottonseed and rapeseed oils - Welcome to NEXUS Magazine!
Our Deadly Diabetes Deception
Welcome to Windows Live
Deadly Diabetes Deception

CROHN'S DISEASE/CHEMICALLY PROCESSED POLYUNSATURATED FATS
A German study suggests that chemically processed, polyunsaturated fats (e.g. shortening, margarine) may play a role in the development of Crohn's disease. Researchers observed that as use of chemically processed polyunsaturated fats increased, rates of Crohn's disease increased, and that there are no areas of the world with a high incidence of Crohn's disease and low use of chemically processed polyunsaturated fats. Laboratory animals given chemically processed polyunsaturated fats developed changes consistent with the changes observed in the intestines of humans with Crohn's disease. (Gastroenterology 90(5 Pt 2)1445, May 1986)

Unsaturated Fats Can Increase Insulin Sensitivity - http://restoreunity.org/unsaturated_...ncrease_in.htm

Researchers have discovered that the over consumption of refined vegetable oils leads to diabetes. As far back as the 1920s Dr. S. Sweeney produced reversible diabetes in all of his medical school students by feeding them a high vegetable oil diet for 48 hours. None of the students had previously been diabetic. More recently researchers have been able to cause test animals to develop diabetes by feeding them diets high in polyunsaturated fat Simply restricting fat intake in diabetic animals has shown to reverse Type II diabetes. Likewise , clinical studies with humans on low fat diets also show reversal of the disease. Many studies have shown low-fat diets to be effective in controlling diabetes. �
100% Pure Virgin Coconut Oil and Diabetes

A type of unsaturated fatty acid found in corn and safflower oil appears to activate genes that promote inflammation inside blood vessels, a risk factor for heart disease, new research suggests - Prevent Disease.com - Some Unsaturated Fats Promote Inflammation

POLYUNSATURATED FATS/BLEEDING TIMES
A diet high in polyunsaturated fats led to increased bleeding times in laboratory rats. (Journal of Physiology 349:69P, 1984)

Toxicity of Unsaturated Oils �
http://www.efn.org/%7Eraypeat/efatox.rtf

Research on the truth about unsaturated fats �
Research on the Truth About Fats and Oils

Unsaturated Vegetable Oils � Toxic - Coconutoil.com - UNSATURATED VEGETABLE OILS: TOXIC
The Coconut Diet� - Thyroid Health: A Key to Weight Loss

Even Good Fats Can Cause Blindness �
Even Good Fats Can Cause Blindness 4/30/05

MORE BAD NEWS ABOUT VEGETABLE OILS
A Finnish study (Cancer Lett 1997, 114:251-53) found that women who consumed fried meat had higher rates of breast cancer. While the media may blame the increased cancer on meat, the culprit is more likely to be the fats used for frying�rancid commercial liquid vegetable oils or partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Another Finnish study found that children who consumed lots of vegetable oils were more prone to allergies (Allergy 2001;56:425-428). Another study found that mice fed excessive corn oil had increased caloric intake and obesity (Nutrition 2001 Feb;17(2)117-20). Researchers in Australia discovered that consumption of vegetable oils is associated with increased rates of asthma (Thorax Vol 56, p 589). Researchers have also found that high vegetable oil consumption is associated with increased rates of macular degeneration, the leading cause of irreversible blindness in adults (Arch Ophthalmol Aug 200; 119:1191-1199). These are just several of hundreds of studies indicating that modern vegetable oils are bad news indeed�they'll make you prone to allergies, asthma and overweight, and possibly give you cancer and make you blind as well. - http://www.westonaprice.org/caustic_...inter2001.html

CAFFEINE/UNSATURATED FAT/BREAST CANCER
Laboratory rats given caffeine and unsaturated fat developed tumors in an average of 95 days, while a similar group of rats given the unsaturated fat but not the caffeine, developed tumors in an average of 134 days. Rats given caffeine, but not unsaturated fats, developed tumors in an average of 188 days. The combination of caffeine and unsaturated fat significantly shortened the average time to tumor development. (Cancer 51:1249-1253, 1983)

PUFAs and Depression (Research):

Hibbeln, J., et al. Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and depression: When cholesterol does not satisfy. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 62:1-9, 1995 - (Hyperhealth Medicinal Database)

Oils In Context �
Coconutoil.com - Oils in Context - Dr. Ray Peat
http://www.efn.org/%7Eraypeat/oils.rtf

In the 1940's farmers tried coconut oil to fatten their animals but discovered that it made them lean and active and increased their appetite. Whoops! Then they tried an anti-thyroid drug. It made the livestock fat with less food but was found to be a carcinogen (cancer causing drug). In the late 1940's, it was found that the same anti-thyroid effect could be achieved by simply feeding animals soybeans and corn.

In 1987 Lim-Sylianco published a 50-year literature review showing the anti-cancer effects of coconut oil. In chemically induced cancers of the colon and breast, coconut oil was by far more protective than unsaturated oils. For example 32% of corn oil eaters got colon cancer whereas only 3% of coconut oil eaters got the cancer. Animals fed unsaturated oils had more tumors. This shows the thyroid-suppressive and hence, immuno-suppressive effect of unsaturated oils. (Cohen et al. 1986) �
Why Coconut Oil is Good For You

Their [polyunsaturated oils] best understood effect is their interference with the function of the thyroid gland. Unsaturated oils block thyroid hormone secretion, its movement in the circulatory system, and the response of tissues to the hormone. When the thyroid hormone is deficient, the body is generally exposed to increased levels of estrogen. The thyroid hormone is essential for making the �protective hormones� progesterone and pregnenolone, so these hormones are lowered when anything interferes with the function of the thyroid. The thyroid hormone is required for using and eliminating cholesterol, so cholesterol is likely to be raised by anything which blocks the thyroid function �
The Coconut Diet� - Thyroid Health: A Key to Weight Loss
The Coconut Diet� - Thyroid Health: A Key to Weight Loss

Research on the Truth About Fats and Oils �
Research on the Truth About Fats and Oils

Diabetes, Scleroderma, Oils And Hormones - FerlowBotanicals | welcome

**vril176** · 08-07-2010, 07:35 PM

NOT FULLY WIRED
Scientists have always blamed the surge of hormones at puberty for reckless adolescent behavior but neuroscientists have come up with a different explanation. Beginning around age 11, the area of the brain associated with social behavior and impulse control actually sprouts a tangle of nerve cells. After puberty, this thicket of nerve sprouts is "pruned." About half the new nerve fibers are cut away to create an efficient network of circuits. The new wiring allows the adult to manage "executive functions" such as goal-setting, priority-setting, planning, organization and impulse inhibition (Washington Times, 1/7/2001). Now consider the fact that most American children are denied the kind of fats the brain needs when they are put on lowfat milk and margarine at the age of two. How does the brain get fed during this period of delicate rewiring? The answer is that many teenagers enter adulthood not fully wired, and unable to participate in those kinds of activities that give pleasure and a sense of meaning to adults�goal-setting, priority setting, planning, organization and the kind of patient follow-through that requires impulse inhibition - http://www.westonaprice.org/caustic_...pring2001.html

The Horrors of HNE
Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified a highly toxic compound, 4-hydroxy-trans-2-noneal (HNE), which forms in vegetable oils when they are heated to frying temperature (365 degrees) and then concentrate in the fried foods themselves. "HNE is a well known, highly toxic compound that is easily absorbed from the diet," said A. Saari Csallany, professor of food chemistry and nutritional biochemistry at the 96th annual meeting of the American Oil Chemists Society. "The toxicity arises because the compound is highly reactive with proteins, nucleic acids--DNA and RNA--and other biomolecules. HNE is formed from the oxidation of linoleic acid, and reports have related it to several diseases, including atherosclerosis, stroke, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, Huntington's and liver diseases." - http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/index.html

Potent Toxins
Lipid hydroperoxides are contaminants that form from natural fatty acids when polyunsaturated fats are heated excessively, which happens in processing and when these oils are heated for cooking and frying. Lipid hydroperoxides poison our body's systems just as trans fats do; in fact, they may even be worse than trans fats because of their propensity to react with oxygen and iron, thereby forming free radicals.
These distortion reactions occur in the factory, the frying pan, and in our bloodstreams. When we eat foods with lipid hydroperoxides, they incite free radical cascades in addition to deactivating enzymes, as trans fats do. This makes lipid hydroperoxides potent toxins, capable of causing tissue inflammation resulting in skin rashes, heartburn, liver problems, arterial spasm and blood clots--even cancer. �
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/index.html

Have fun

SpiriT

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 12:04 AM

Hi Vril! Thanks for the posts, very informative!

However I don't agree that ALL plant oils are bad for you! It's not the source of the oil but rather the degree of saturation (or rather UN-saturation) of the oil that is more important. 2 of the best oils in the world, extra virgin olive oil and virgin coconut oil, are both plant oils too, seeing as they come from plants!

However these 2 oils in particular are NOT polyunsaturated oils, even though they come from plants. Olive oil is mainly monounsaturated while coconut oil is mainly saturated. When talking about saturated oils you do have to distinguish between TRANS saturated oil (the super baddies in the oil world!

Trans oils means hydrogenated oil which is just that: SUPER BADDY GUY!) and naturally saturated oils like coconut oil or palm oil, both of which are good for you. As you mention, the number of websites on the benefits of coconut oil is overwhelming, all you have to do is google coconut oil and you will get reams and reams of info about it!

At any rate, on this forum there are some threads devoted entirely to oils in the diet. I preferred to use this particular thread to talk preferably about oils and other natural products in cosmetic use.

Thanx!

**vril176** · 08-08-2010, 12:45 AM

I have actually never said that all plant oils are bad, that's your words, not mine.

I know very well that olive oil are mostly omega-9 fats, but still include quite some polyunsaturated fats which are going to react with heat, light/sun and/or oxygen.

If you read my posts about oils you'll see the only argument I have against to much use of olive oil is that it blocks adsorption of vitamin D, which is a very bad thing if you live in temperate regions of the world with not much sun around. This is of no concern for people living in countries with a lot of sun.

Plant oils, polyunsaturates, are bad any way you ingest them as long as they don't come in the whole food. They are still bad if you use them on your skin, since your skin has no immune defence methods to control the oxidation. The toxic metabolites go straight into your blood from the small capillaries in your skin.

If you look up the topic in medlines you'll find plenty of research that show polyunsaturates accelerate aging of skin cells, creates inflammation in your skin, make it wrinkled and so on, so your argument about topical use only don't make sense, because you do not know what you are talking about. If you would like to discuss the matter with me I suggest you at least read the research info about plant oils and human health.

Some relevant info -

"Unsaturated fats are essential for cancer

In 1927, Bernstein and Elias observed that a low unsaturated fat diet
prevented the development of spontaneous tumors. [14] Subsequent
researchers have observed that unsaturated fats are essential for the
growth of tumors. [15,16, 17] According to Kitada et al. (1987) [18],
tumors secrete a factor, which mobilizes unsaturated fats from storage,
thus guaranteeing their supply in abundance until the fat tissues are
depleted. In some experiments, the carcinogenic action of unsaturated
fats was offset by adding thyroid glandular. [19] This observation
suggests that at least part of the effect of unsaturated oils is to
inhibit thyroid function.

Ip et al. (1985) [16] studied the relationship of carcinogenicity to the
percent of unsaturated fats ranging from 0.5% to 10%. His results show
that the optimum unsaturated fat intake may be 0.5% or less. In addition
to inhibiting the thyroid gland, unsaturated fats impair intercellular
communication, [20] suppress several immune functions related to cancer,
and are present at high concentrations in cancer cells, where their
antiproteolytic action would be expected to interfere with the
proteolytic enzymes and to shift the equilibrium toward growth. Even
though cancer cells are known to have a high level of unsaturated fats,
[21] they have a low level of lipid peroxidation.[22] Since lipid
peroxidation inhibits growth, there is an absence of growth restraint in
these cancer cells. Not only this, but tumor cells secrete a substance
which mobilizes (releases) unsaturated fats from storage, thus insuring
their supply until adipose (fat) tissue is depleted. [23]

Consumption of unsaturated fats has been associated with both skin aging
and with the sensitivity of the skin to ultraviolet damage. According to
Black (1985) [24], ultraviolet light-induced skin cancer is mediated by
unsaturated fats and lipid peroxidation.

Source -
Unsaturated Fats

About omega-9's/monounsaturates; the human body, as well as every single seafood or animal food you can come up with, contain more monounsaturated fat than saturated and polyunsaturated fat. Since we already have so much monounsaturated fats in our bodies, and every single animal foods we eat include more monounsaturated fats than other fats, we really don't have a need for concentrated sources of monounsaturated fats.

Check any food database that list the types of fats in animal foods and you see what I mean.

The propaganda about monounsaturated fats f.ex being good for your heart is plain b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t, and is a hypothesis, not documented fact. The promotion of olive oil, almonds, avocados and other vegetable foods as heart healthy because of their monounsaturated fats are pure idiocy as long as each and every single animal food you eat includes more monounsaturated fats than other fats. This whole idea is junk science based on fabricated facts, not logical or natural or even documented facts.

And, when we are talking about documented facts; the heart needs two fatty acids to do its work, and suffer if it doesn't get these in the quantity it needs them. And guess what, these are palmitic acid and stearic acid, both saturated fats, not monounsaturated or even polyunsaturated fats.

Yet another relevant documented fact; monounsaturated fats block adsorption of vitamin D which is also relevant here since vitamin D is needed for optimal heart function.

About trans fats being the worst kind of fats, you are not entirely correct, as the toxic by-products - lipid hydroperoxides - of heating polyunsaturated fats are even worse than trans fatty acids.

You may be a nice person with good intentions, but please do you homework before promoting stuff you really don't know much about. I may know little or nothing about much discussed in this energy-forum with so many brilliant minds around, but this is not so when it comes to food and health, me being a clinical nutritionist as well as a Heilpraktiker.

Have fun

SpiriT

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 01:57 AM

Hi Vril! Thanks for your posts! Very interesting, mmmh.......

Well I've written quite a bit about olive oil in the diet on the threads where it belongs (not here on this thread!), since you've also posted on those threads you probably know which threads they are. Not this thread pleeeeeeeease!!!

Anyways obviously as I also wrote, if you read my posts on the PROPER threads, I'm no scientist, but I think that living here in a Mediterranean country where olive oil is practically the only oil ever used, I know quite a bit about it. At least my knowledge isn't just theorical, because I live with olive oil every day and everyone I know lives with it every day.

At any rate, okay so the info about coconut oil isn't conclusive. Since coconut oil (like canola oil, soybean oil, safflower oil and just about every other oil which isn't olive oil isn't available here anyways) isn't available here I DO have to order it online, usually from some pricey American company hehe! No, just kidding, I actually get it from Coconut Supreme, not because it's any better than the others but because it's the ONLY company with USER-FRIENDLY shipping rates!

(Oooh I hate it when some American companies think the US is the only country in the world and the rest of the planet earth is like Mars! And then their shipping rates reflect that belief, they obviously think that their products are actually going to get loaded onto a spaceship bound for Mars when someone on the other side of the Atlantic places an order, and then they charge accordingly!)

But I'm ranting again and getting off subject. As I said before this is a COSMETICS thread, so please stick to the subject of oils and other natural products for COSMETICS use!

I won't answer any more posts here on oils in the diet, if you don't mind.

As for olive oil and coconut oil in cosmetics, well I personally swear by them!

I also say if I could only take 3 cosmetics products with me to a desert island they would probably be coconut oil, olive oil and maybe almond oil, or something similar. Oh by the way what you said about olive oil blocking absorption of vitamin D and that not being applicable in countries with a lot of sunshine, well I mentioned somewhere, maybe not on this thread, that plants DO tend to produce oils that are compatible with the lands where they come from. So olive trees come from sunny countries!

You can read up all about olive oil and the sun here: Olive Oil Sun Protection

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 02:59 AM

The reason why I started this thread

Hi all! Well I thought I'd comment on the reason why I thought about starting up this thread. There is just SOOOOOOOO much information out there about what our MOUTHS EAT, I mean if you sat down right now and started to go through ALL the research you could possibly come up with on the subject of what we EAT, between research papers, university doctoral theses, publications in scientific journals, newspaper articles and of course everything that you can find out there on the internet, I bet you could just sit there for the next 36 years or so and do nothing else and at the end of those 36 years you STILL wouldn't have read it all!

On the other hand, I personally find that there really isn't that much information out there about what our SKIN EATS! Relatively speaking I mean, compared to what you can read about our MOUTHS!

But our SKIN is eating too! Everything that you put on your skin gets absorbed and eventually makes its way into your bloodstream. I mean, you probably wouldn't find it very savoury to EAT parabens, munch on some petroleum by-products or swallow some 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane, would you? (Or maybe you would, I once had a chemistry teacher who made a cake and fed it to us, and at the end of the class she told us that she had made the cake with shampoo!

And no we didn't die!

)

You might think that just a little dollop of moisturizing lotion isn't going to have very much paraben in it anyways, right? But if you just think that you are gunking on that little dollop every day of your life, and the small particles of parabens in that little dollop are going inside you every day.

I once actually wondered if our skin really absorbs the creams we put on it. So I tried spreading some cream onto a piece of plastic. I bet you already know what happened. Nooope, the plastic didn't absorb the cream!

So the creams that we spread onto our face disappear as we are spreading them because they really are getting absorbed into the skin.

**vril176** · 08-08-2010, 12:05 PM

You still don't get it. You want me to stop posting info about oils in the diet here because you want this to be about oils as well as plants used in cosmetics/skin care and not diet.

This division is illusionary, since as you say yourself, your skin adsorb everything you put on it, which means that every single word about oils in the diet is as relevant in this post as it is in the post about dietary oils.

This is like saying mercury in food is bad, but okay on the skin? Please get your facts straight.

Let me copy and paste from my last post, (you cannot have read this since you argue that what I post has nothing to do in your skin care/cosmetics thread) -

Consumption of unsaturated fats has been associated with both skin aging and with the sensitivity of the skin to ultraviolet damage. According to Black (1985) [24], ultraviolet light-induced skin cancer is mediated by
unsaturated fats and lipid peroxidation.

What you say about petroleum products in cosmetics are true, and this also includes added vitamins/oxidants which are made from petroleum and are not from natural sources. Both vitamin A and E in skin care products are petroleum substances and not true vitamins.

Now, if you really don't want to accept the facts and still think - not know from documented facts, but think- that polyunsaturated plant oils used on your skin is not bad for you, you can go on posting your disinformation. Any person who read these posts who care about themselves should at least consider the facts I have refered before using plant oils on their skin.

I leave you alone now, so that you can have your thread about cosmetics for yourself.

Have fun

SpiriT

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 12:36 PM

Hi Vril! Well now so who's not reading the posts this time?

I never said that polyunsaturated oils were GOOD for you! OMG I shudder to think I would ever make such a horrid claim! You must've read me wrong (or more to the point, you probably simply didn't read my posts at all, just skimmed over them, or maybe guessed at what I was going to say, but at any rate you clearly didn't understand me, maybe it's just a misunderstanding however.........).

If you've been reading my posts you would have seen that I said that olive oil and coconut oil are not polyunsaturated oils, and I use them very successfully on my skin. Oh my no no no, I would NEVER use a polyunsaturated oil (like sunflower oil, safflower oil, canola oil, corn oil, etc.) on my skin!

Although on the other hand I've read about people who use things like sunflower oil on their skin and they're very happy with the results. So I don't think either you nor I can generalize, you know that one man's garbage is another person's treasure!

Anyways when I said that I didn't want to talk about diet here I meant that I didn't want to talk about cooking et al. As in, what we use for cooking, or whatever. I think there's already enough said about that subject everywhere, there must be about 50 million books written on what you should or should not use to cook with or eat. So I don't really want to add even more to all that confusion and headache!

I wanted to talk about what we put on our skin and hair. So if you've got some great recipes for natural products that you use to moisturize your skin, exfoliate or even to heal small cuts and abrasions, I'd be delighted to hear about them, Vril!

Well Vril and everyone else, I mean! I'd love to hear EVERYONE'S great recipes and ideas!

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 01:00 PM

Healing with St. John's Wort

Well to continue on with some more recipes. I once read this fantastic concoction for healing with St. John's Wort infusion. So here goes:

St. John's Wort is a plant that not only serves to heal little cuts and abrasions and to make bumps and bruises better, it's also supposed to help alleviate depression. Well I've never tried it for depression (although goodness knows we've got enough reasons to be depressed in this world sometimes!

) but I did stir up the concoction for healing small wounds.

At the time I actually used Vaseline (oh my a big no-no in the world of natural cosmetics that are good for you!

) to make my concoction, if I were to make it today I would probably use a more eco-friendly carrier oil like perhaps coconut oil or cocoa butter, maybe mixed with almond oil.

At any rate, you just take the carrier oil and melt it in a hot water bath (or whatever it's called, here in Spain it's called Maria's bath which I imagine wouldn't mean a single thing to the English-speaking public!), I mean you have a pot with boiling water and inside the pot you put the pot that you are actually working in, I can't remember what this method is called in English. Double boiling maybe?

After melting the oil you put in St. John's Wort and let it infuse slowly at low heat for a few hours, I can't remember how many I used, about 3 or 4 I think. Then you strain out the plants and pour the hot oil into some place where you can keep hot oil, for example heat resistant glass jars. I actually used the little pots that baby food comes in! It worked anyways!

I made such a beastly amount at that time, I've never had to do it again and I was giving away jars of my miracle concoction to all my friends for quite a while. And even so I still ended up with loads of jars for my own personal use (which I then had to pack and carry around with me every time I moved!

). I rarely ever used them myself, but they turned out to be real heaven-sent once my kids arrived! You know how kids are always cutting themselves or getting bumps and bruises. A little spread of this on my kids' skin and all the temper tantrums disappeared and got replaced by smiles!

Well, like I said if I were to do it today I wouldn't use Vaseline. However the Vaseline didn't seem to hurt my kids' skins and anyways it wasn't like they spread on a handful every day!

And speaking of Vaseline I actually know some people who have used Vaseline on their faces every day of their lives and swear by it, they claim it has kept their complexion youthful and wrinkle-free, which you can see for yourselves. I wouldn't do that, but it doesn't seem to have done them any harm. They're not writhing from cancer!

**serenac** · 08-08-2010, 01:29 PM

Tea tree oil for ringworm

Another home remedy I've used VEEERY successfully was tea tree essential oil for ringworm. Now if anyone is really picky about these things and insists on seeing documented studies supporting that something actually works and won't harm us, I'm sorry I won't be able to please them. I have no idea at all if anyone has ever made a documented study on using tea tree oil for ringworm!

However on a practical level it totally worked for me!

In addition to which, the person I used it on was my baby, well my youngest son who was a baby at that time. Somehow he was born with very very sensitive skin (unlike my oldest son who has always had the strongest, most beautiful smooth skin) and ever since he was born he had rashes and other skin affections. Anyways one of these affections that he picked up was ringworm.

So I just spread a drop of tea tree oil directly on his ringworm. I can tell you it disappeared like magic!

And he's never been plagued by ringworm again, and he's 6 now.

Now tea tree oil can be quite strong, however my son had his ringworm on places that were far away from his face (his back and legs) so it wasn't like he was going to breathe it in or lick it.

**serenac** · 11-07-2010, 06:14 PM

Turmeric mask

Hi all! Just remembered this new cure/skin and health treatment which I find really effective, so I thought I'd post it now. It's called turmeric!

I'd always known that turmeric is anti-cancerigenic, people in India who use it regularly in their cooking have less cancer than other people who don't use turmeric regularly (they did some studies, not that I can remember where I read these studies so that I could quote them for people who like offical validation). I always use turmeric when I cook, can't say anything about its benefits in our family because we're all pretty healthy already, except for my son's asthma which is hereditary anyways.

Turmeric is an anti-oxidant, so it fights free radicals and I suppose that is where it gets its beneficial actions from.

Anyways, that was getting off the subject. Now I remembered some skin-care recipes with turmeric. You can use it as a face mask or as a regular skin cleanser.

As a face mask you can just add a little water to turmeric and make a paste and apply it all over your face, leave it on 15 minutes and then wash it off with warm water. You should do this at night because supposedly it will turn your face yellow temporarily. By morning your face will be back to normal colour. I don't know about the yellow colouring, I've never made a mask just with turmeric, I always used the following recipe, which uses little turmeric and doesn't stain your face.

You can make a mask or a regular cleanser using the following: just mix a little bit of turmeric with gram flour (chickpea flour, garbanzo flour), enough to cover your face. You can just put it on and wash it off as a cleanser every night (I don't think it can remove makeup, I remove makeup using natural oils, usually coconut oil or almond oil, I don't use anything else to remove makeup and this is SO effective).

Or you can leave on the chickpea flour + turmeric paste for 15 minutes as a mask. You can also enrich it with the following: rice powder (for oily skin), ground almonds or almond flour (for dry or sensitive skin), milk or milk powder + water, and/or olive oil.

I used to make this paste with rice powder but found it too drying, I tried it with almonds and it was too oily (almonds have lots of vitamin E in oil) and milk or milk powder + water. But I found it too much of a hassle and the benefits of using these added ingredients, for me, I really didn't find it was worth the extra bother. So I just used gram flour and turmeric.

As for the olive oil, I moisturize a couple of nights a week only with olive oil and it's great, so I don't need it in a mask.

You can also make a healthy drink using turmeric, I'll just stick it in here even though this thread is really only for skincare products. You can just mix a teaspoon of turmeric with water and drink it 2 or 3 times a day. Or you can boil a little bit of turmeric in half a glass of milk until the milk turns yellow and sip it slowly at night. This is an Ayurvedic drink, I'm really into Ayurveda! Turmeric is supposed to strengthen bones and prevent osteoporosis, in addition to being antibacterial and cleansing of toxins.

You can also add to the milk you use to boil turmeric, some cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and some ghee. That's supposed to be really good at night. Sometimes I used to make that at night but I didn't feel any different. I also sometimes fool around on and off with a vegan diet, which means no milk, but I can't keep it up because I live in a real backwoods, old-fashioned, traditional neck of the woods, so it's impossible to get more modern, progressive health foods here that substitute milk, like soy milk or almond milk. And I can assure you, your morning cereals with just water or juice aren't exactly appetizing!

**serenac** · 11-07-2010, 06:39 PM

Nightly routine with oils

So since I was on the subject I thought I'd post my daily moisturizing routine, which is really really simple. This isn't something that would work for everyone, everyone has different skin, I guess this would only work for people who have skin like me.

To remove makeup I only use oil. Coconut oil in the summer when it's naturally liquid and almond oil in the winter when the coconut oil turns solid. Here in the south of Spain we only have 2 seasons, summer and winter, for me summer is when coconut oil is liquid (about 7-8 months) and winter is when the coconut oil turns solid at room temperature in a room without heating.

Oils remove EVERYTHING, waterproof mascara, foundation, everything. You don't need anything else and you won't need to rub. Just let the oil soak in a few minutes if the makeup is really resistent, like waterproof mascara. It will just slide off.

Later I cleanse with coconut oil, then one of my favourite natural handmade soaps, I used to get them from this amazing store called More Than Soap, they had hundreds of all-natural handmade soaps made only with natural plant oils, no beef tallow or chemicals or Sodium Lauryl Sulfate there! But they went out of business, because with the crisis people prefer to buy cheap beef tallow soap (they cost like about 3 for 1 euro, as compared to the natural plant oil soaps which cost about one soap for 3 euros!) and chemical-laden shower gels which you can get a gigantic litre bottle for less than a euro.

So now I have to "make do" with Lush soaps, they're expensive and some of them have Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, so I'm not overly excited about them, but I prefer that to using fat from dead cows on my face!!

Or I can always use the turmeric cleanser I posted earlier.

Then I add a thin layer of coconut oil (after cleansing) and wash off the excess with warm water.

Since most of the coconut oil gets washed off I later need to use a moiturizer. Besides which I have fairly dry skin in the winter and combo in the summer, but never really oily. I don't have blemishes or acne, so I don't have breakout prone skin. So people with acne, really oily skin or breakouts will probably prefer different formulas from me.

ALthough the turmeric is supposed to be EX.CEL.LENT for acne. I couldn't vouch for that, since I don't have acne.

So anyways, I always moisturize at night with a natural plant oil. I vary the oils every night, every night a different oil. So I can get the different benefits of different oils and also so as not to get bored!

I alternate almond oil, olive oil (extra virgin of course!), coconut oil and avocado oil. You could also use wheat germ oil or vitamin E oil if you have dry skin. Even if you have oily skin olive oil and coconut oil are supposed to be balancing, other people find that when they use coconut oil their skin actually produces LESS natural oils!

If you have normal or oily skin aloe vera gel is also very good, as I have dry skin I don't like to use it, I find it too drying.

And rosehip oil is supposed to be good for anti-aging. I don't use it as I'm allergic to it. One or 2 drops mixed in with your moisturizer are all it takes.

**noises** · 11-08-2010, 02:19 AM

I know someone who sells some really good hair care, skin care and cosmetic products online, I've seen women in tears of gratitude thanking this girl at her stall for solving skin problems they've had for years. (vanity is a curse, and to be moved to tears over your complexion seems a bit shallow to me, but anyway, enough judging.)

Organic l Skin & Hair Care l Mineral Makeup l Wild Nature Australia

the shampoo and conditioners they sell are especially good.

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