DIY cosmetics ingredients: coconut oil

Some ingredients used in home made cosmetics deserve some extra attention because they're easy to find and can be used to a variety of recipes. Today we'll talk about coconut oil.

Coconut oil is made out of the meat of the coconut. It's used in a lot of products such as soaps, toothpaste, shampoos and all sorts of body lotions. Some people use it to cook, that's why you can find it in most supermarkets and Asian supermarkets. It's an easy to find product and not expensive.
The unrefined coconut oil melts at about 24-26 degrees Celcius. This can be a bit tricky when you're making a recipe where you want to coconut oil to stay solid, for instance in a cream deodorant .Keeping your products in a cool place during the summer is a must if you want things to stay solid.

How can we use coconut oil in natural cosmetics? 

Sometimes the simplest thing is the best. You can put some coconut oil in your hair before washing it, wrap a towel around your hair and leave it in for at least 30 min. This will make your hair super soft.
Massage your skull with some coconut oil to increase blood flow and reduce itches. Sometimes I just melt some coconut butter in my hands and spread in on my hands or body.

If you're going for recipes with coconut oil,  it can be used in cream deodorants (see the link above) due to it's antibacterial properties.
It's also great to add to your body butters, because it's a bit more solid when cold, but easily melts when it comes in contact with your skin. Coconut oil is also used for making home made soap.
Like I said coconut oil is sometimes used in toothpastes and for "oil pulling", where people swish with coconut oil before brushing to remove bacteria from their mouth. I'm testing it, more about it later.

Visit your local supermarket or Asian market and try some coconut oil! 

Animal ingredients in cosmetics: what are they and how to avoid them

A lot of animal ingredients are used in cosmetics. You can find them in store bought cosmetics or when shopping for ingredients. Today I'll share some hints and tips on how to avoid such ingredients.

There are tons of ingredients based on animal products. Some you may know such as lanolin, bees wax, carmine. Some ingredients are made by killing animals such as carmine, while others are just a products produced by animals such as milk and bees wax. It all depends on your personal decision whether or not you choose animal ingredients. It's not up to me to force you into choosing anything, I just want to help people make a decision based on facts.
The internet has a lot of info on this matter, but today I'll share some lists from PETA's website. Often companies will claim their products to be "vegetarian" or "vegan" when in fact they're not. So it's best to check the PETA website or to search the ingredients of the product itself.
 Also, not all products that might in fact be vegetarian or even vegan have a label. Companies have to pay to get a certification on their products so in some cases producers may choose not to get one when in fact their products are vegetarian. By checking the ingredients you might be in for a surprise.

so here are some resources that can help you.

A list of a lot of animal ingredients and their alternatives here.
A list of cruelty free and vegan brands here
A website with a search tool on ingredients that also has info on animal ingredients here

I hope these tips were helpful. Always keep a watchful eye when you see a label on your products. It's OK to double check ingredients or to look up labels. Thinking for yourself and doing some research will prevent you from buying stuff you really don't want.