Skincare with coconut oil? page

[_sarah_]

Like a few ladies around these forums, I use coconut oil as a moisturiser. The other day, I wanted to restock my coconut oil from an unfamiliar supermarket. When I couldn't find it, a staff member led me to 'copha'. I believe that brand name is uniquely Australian, but the product is just a block of 100% hydrogenated coconut oil.

To quiet alarm bells before they ring, NO, I am not thinking of cooking with this stuff! I know the health consequences of eating hydrogenated oils. But, I don't know the consequences of moisturising with hydrogenated oil. Healthwise, and/or effectiveness-wise, do you think there would be any disadvantage in using copha rather than high-quality coconut oil?

In terms of what I would be absorbing through my skin, I'm sure it wouldn't be worse than whichever commercial moisturiser I might otherwise grab off the supermarket shelf, or what I absorb each day from my makeup, etc. And at ~$10 a litre rather than ~$25 a litre, I'll admit I'm pretty tempted to save money on the stuff I'm smearing on my face and hair, so I can spend more on the quality stuff for eating.

Any thoughts?

[doublehelix]

I've read people DO cook with it.
I have been using it for years for my skin and even some on my hair. I don't know about the copha. I just buy virgin, organic coconut oil. Try some of the online vitamin/health stores like Lucky Vitamin or Vitacost. I get a lot of my stuff from them, and their prices are good.

[SarahW]

Here in America I use LouAna brand coconut oil on my hair and skin. I don't think it's hydrogenated, but it's made from the leftover "stuff" from making flaked coconut and filtered and everything else. And it's cheap. And it doesn't really smell like coconut. I'm in favor of spending more money on the stuff I eat.

Hydrogenation just moves the carbon atoms around, yes? My main concern is whether this disturbs the structure of the MCFA, since, as far as I can figure, the MCFA in coconut oil is the most similar in structure to normal human oil, hence why it hydrates the skin and hair so well.

[Blackcatbone]

I wouldn't worry too much about using it on my skin. I don't use CO on my face because it's too heavy, but everywhere else, yes.