The Coconut Oil Miracle (17 page)

If dryness and cracking are severe, I recommend applying a liberal amount of coconut oil to the affected area and then wrapping it loosely in plastic (so it doesn’t drip all over the place) before going to sleep at night. In the morning remove the plastic and wash off the excess oil. Do this every night until the condition improves. A waterproof, self-adhesive bandage made by 3M, called Tegaderm, is an excellent wrapping for this purpose.

Whether it is applied topically or taken internally, coconut oil helps to keep skin young, healthy, and free of disease. When coconut oil is consumed in the diet and, to some extent, when it is applied directly, antiseptic fatty acids help to prevent fungal and bacterial infections in the skin. The Polynesians who use it regularly are rarely troubled by skin infections or acne.

Our skin acts as a protective covering, shielding us from harm much like a suit of flexible armor. It provides a protective barrier between us and literally millions of disease-causing germs that we come into contact with each day. If it were not for our skin, we could not survive; even organisms that are ordinarily harmless would become deadly.

The only way to gain entry into the body, other than through the natural openings such as the nose and mouth, is by penetrating the skin. When the skin’s defenses break down, infections can result. Acne, ringworm, herpes, boils, athlete’s foot, and warts are just some of the infectious conditions that can affect the skin and body.

Our skin is more than simply a covering. If that was all it was, we would literally be covered with disease-causing germs just waiting for an opportunity to gain entry into the body. The slightest cut, even a tiny scratch, would allow a multitude of these troublemakers into the body, causing disease and perhaps death. Fortunately, the skin provides not only a physical barrier but a chemical one as well. The chemical environment on the surface of healthy skin is inhospitable to most harmful germs. As a consequence, organisms that cause disease are few in number. Most cuts do not end up becoming infected because the skin is relatively free from harmful germs. However, if a wound is made by an object such as a dirty nail that is covered in dangerous microorganisms, they bypass the skin’s physical and chemical barriers, and infection often results.

The biggest chemical barrier to infectious organisms is the acid layer on the skin. Healthy skin has a pH of about 5, making it slightly acidic. Our sweat (containing uric and lactic acids) and body oils
promote this acidic environment. For this reason, sweat and oil do us good. Harmless bacteria that can tolerate the acid live on the skin, but troublesome bacteria can’t thrive, and their numbers are few.

The oil our bodies produce, called sebum, is secreted by oil glands (sebaceous glands) that are located at the root of every hair as well as in other places. This oil is very important to skin health. It softens and lubricates the skin and hair and prevents the skin from drying and cracking. Sebum also contains medium-chain fatty acids, in the form of medium-chain triglycerides, that can be released to fight harmful germs.

Our skin is home to many tiny organisms, most of which are harmless; some are even beneficial. Lipophilic bacteria are essential to the healthy environment on our skin. As you recall from an earlier chapter, triglycerides consist of three fatty acids held together by a glycerol molecule. Sebum, like coconut oil, corn oil, and all other fats, is composed of triglycerides. Lipophilic bacteria feed on the glycerol molecule that holds the fatty acids together. When the glycerol is removed, the fatty acids are freed and become independent of one another: this is what is called a free fatty acid.

Medium-chain fatty acids bound together as triglycerides have no antimicrobial properties, but when broken down into free fatty acids, they become powerful antimicrobials that can kill disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Thus the combination of the skin’s pH and these MCFAs provides a protective chemical layer on the skin that prevents infection from troublesome microorganisms.

Most, if not all, mammals utilize the antimicrobial property of medium-chain fatty acids to protect themselves from infection. As in humans, these fatty acids make up a part of the oil excreted by the
skin. In the wild, animals are left to nature and instinct to heal from injury. Bites and scratches are common occurrences, especially from encounters with predators. Wounds from these animals can often cause infection in a victim that is lucky enough to escape with its life. Instinctively, injured animals will lick the wound to clean it out and to spread body oils into the injured tissue. These oils disinfect the wound, thus protecting the animal from infection. Likewise, when we cut a finger we instinctively put the injured part of the finger in our mouths.

The saliva also helps to increase the amount of MCFAs on the skin. Saliva contains an enzyme called lingual lipase, which begins the process of breaking fats down into individual fatty acids. This enzyme readily breaks down the medium-chain triglycerides in dietary fats and body oils (sebum) into free medium-chain fatty acids. Fats and oils made of long-chain fatty acids, as most dietary fats are, need the addition of gastric and pancreatic enzymes to break them all the way down into individual fatty acids.

Animals often cleanse themselves by licking their fur, coating it with salivary enzymes that can convert body oils into protective free MCFAs. Licking a wound also mixes saliva with the oils on the skin and hair, producing more medium-chain fatty acids that can help fight infection. Some animals seem to produce more of these protective fatty acids than others. The porcupine is one of these. The porcupine’s quills make an intimidating weapon; unfortunately, these critters can accidentally impale themselves or other porcupines. Dr. Uldis Roze, a biology professor at Queens College in New York, speculates that the high amount of protective fatty acids is a defense against self-inflicted wounds (Nochan, 1994). Dr. Roze found out
about the antimicrobial properties of fatty acids on porcupine quills the hard way. His research involves tracking porcupines, capturing them, and attaching radio collars. One day he followed a porcupine up a tree and in his attempt to capture it took a quill in his upper arm. Unable to remove the quill, he waited for it to work itself out. A few days later when the quill came through, Dr. Roze was surprised that the deep puncture wound remained free from infection. He reasoned that a wood splinter traveling the same path would almost certainly have caused a serious infection. Roze theorized that the oil on the quill contained antibiotic properties that protected him. This theory was verified when the oil was analyzed and tested. The medium-chain fatty acids in the oil proved to be the secret. His studies showed that these fatty acids could kill several types of bacteria that are often treated by penicillin, including streptococcus and staphylococcus.

He approached the pharmaceutical industry in an attempt to interest them in producing an antibiotic ointment or medication using these fatty acids. He was turned down because medium-chain fatty acids are readily available natural substances and therefore could not be protected by a patent.

We all have this protection on our skin to various degrees. Primarily because of the action of friendly bacteria, the oil on the surface of your skin and hair is composed of between 40 to 60 percent free fatty acids, among them the medium-chain fatty acids that have antimicrobial properties. They provide the protective layer on the skin that kills harmful germs.

Adults produce more sebum than children and therefore have a greater degree of protection from skin infections. The antimicrobial
effects of MCFAs in sebum have been observed at least as far back as the 1940s. At the time it was noted that children suffering with scalp ringworm (a skin fungus) were cured spontaneously when sebum secretion increased as they reached puberty.

Medium-chain fatty acids similar to those in sebum are found abundantly in coconut oil. The fatty acids in coconut oil, like all other dietary oils, are joined together as triglycerides. Triglycerides, as such, have no antimicrobial properties, even when they are made of MCFAs. However, when we eat medium-chain triglycerides, our bodies convert them into monoglycerides and free fatty acids, which do have antimicrobial properties.

When coconut oil, which is made of triglycerides, is put on the skin, it doesn’t have any immediate antimicrobial action. However, the bacteria that are always present on the skin turn these triglycerides into free fatty acids, just as they do with sebum. The result is an increase in the number of antimicrobial fatty acids on the skin and protection from infection. The free fatty acids also help to contribute to the acidic environment on the skin, which repels disease-causing germs. After all, fatty acids are acidic and therefore support the acid layer on the skin.

When bathing or showering, soap washes the protective layer of oil and acid off our skin. Often afterward the skin becomes tight and dry. Adding moisturizers helps the skin feel better, but it does not replace the acid or the protective MCFAs that were removed. Your skin is vulnerable to infection at this time. You would think that your body would be clean and germ free after a bath. But germs are everywhere, floating in the air, on our clothes and everything we touch. Many germs survive washing by hiding in cracks and folds of the skin.
Before long your skin is again teeming with microscopic life, both good and bad. Until sweat and oils return to reestablish the body’s chemical barrier, your skin is vulnerable to infection. If you have a cut or cracked skin, this can allow streptococcus, staphylococcus, and other harmful germs entry into the body. By using a coconut or palm kernel oil–based lotion, you can quickly help reestablish the skin’s natural antimicrobial and acid barrier. If you are troubled with skin infections or want to avoid infections, it would be to your benefit to use coconut oil after every bath or shower.

What coconut oil does for the skin it can also do for the hair. It makes a great hair conditioner. The noted New York hair stylist Amanda George gives credit to coconut oil for her luxuriant hair. “I massage
two teaspoons of warm coconut oil into my hair before bed, then wash it out in the morning,” says Amanda. The result is hair that is soft and shimmering. To warm the oil you can place the bottle in warm water or hold it briefly under hot running tap water.

Beauticians who are familiar with coconut oil swear by it. They claim that it can be just as effective for conditioning hair as a $50 salon treatment—at only a fraction of the cost. And you can do it yourself at home.

A little oil (a couple of teaspoons) can be applied at night and washed out in the morning, or you can use a little more and thoroughly soak the hair for an hour or two before washing. Some people prefer to put the oil on, cover the head with a shower cap, and then take a long relaxing bath. After about an hour the oil is washed off. This process can be repeated every few days.

If you take a long warm bath make sure to apply coconut oil on your skin afterward to replace the natural oils that have been washed off. In fact, any time you use soap you are removing your body’s protective layer of oil and changing the pH of your skin. Applying coconut oil will help reestablish a healthy skin environment.

Another advantage of using coconut oil as a hair conditioner is that it will help control dandruff. I found this out for myself. I’d been plagued with dandruff since I was a teenager. The only thing that could control it was to use medicated shampoos, which I did for many years. Whenever I tried switching to a nonmedicated shampoo, the dandruff came right back within a few days. As I learned about the harsh chemicals used in many body-care products, I decided I didn’t want to use medicated shampoos anymore. I started to use more natural herbal soaps and shampoos. As before, the dandruff came
roaring back in full force. I tried everything natural I could find in an attempt to control it. Nothing seemed to work. I eventually put some coconut oil in my hair, as just described, and washed it out several hours later. The result was phenomenal. After a single application all the dandruff was gone. I couldn’t believe it was that easy. Nothing except medicated shampoos had worked this well before. I now have a natural product that has not only cleared up my dandruff but is good for my hair and scalp as well. Coconut oil is now a regular part of my personal hair care regimen.