Winter reeks havic on me and my kids. There seems to be a constant lingre of sickness (of the cold variety) that cycles through the house over and over again. Dry skin is abundant, particularly with me and my 4 yr old, but the other two suffer, too. It's lame and I hate it! After 5 weeks of coughing and snotting and grossness, I was done! I decided to dose my family with orange juice. We had oj smoothies, ate oranges, drank the juice and what do ya know? No more sickies!! Ya, I know...this is not that amazing. The sickies could have just run it's cycle and moved on to a different family. And ofcourse, vitamin C has long been used preventatively, but for me, for now, orange juice is my hero :)
As for dry skin: A. gets such dry skin that she is itchy. She scratches in her sleep and wakes with wounds!!! That is not cool! I have tried so many different lotions, from top national brands to the handmade variety. We've tried shea butter, mango butter, cocoa butter, avacado oil and combinaions of those, and more. Then, I remembered reading about coconut oil when i was researching cloth diaper safe rash solutions. There are tons of people who swear by it. I read that it has anti bacterial proporties which makes it perfect for both healing and moisturising. It has been used in the tropics forever on the skin, in the hair, for cooking and there are people who ingest it regularly for health. My family and I use it topically. (You'll have to google it because I read so much info that I don't have just one or two sources to give you).
Seriously, the results were near immediate and pretty darn unbelievable. I used it on my feet before I started using it on my child(ren). I wish I had taken pictures because the transformation was so unbelievable. My feet were so dry and cracked (and abused, lol), but no more. Virtually overnight, the worst problems were gone. I apply at night and put my socks back on to protect my bed stuff. Then the magic works. I use virgin, unrefined, organic coconut oil. It melts at 76 degrees, so when in the jar it is solid and as you put it on your skin it melts and it pretty messy. You really have to cover it up if you are going to use it at night or it will ruin your linens. I use this. And, ofcourse, I love the idea that this is a natural product that has been around forever! no sneaky names or ingredients. Just cocontut oil.
