The exotic
THE coconut and its water, milk, and oil have endless health benefits. Last week in Part 3, I expounded on coconut oil’s myriads of uses for the care of the skin, ranging from the aesthetic aspect to maintaining healthy skin and healing infections like skin and nail fungal infections (athlete’s foot and others) to preventing wrinkles and signs of premature skin aging. However, there is one more thing I would like to add about coconut oil. It has dual effects. It provides the sun protection factor (SPF) of around 10. But because the oil is a mild sun protector, it allows the sun’s ultraviolet rays to penetrate the skin to synthesize muchneeded vitamin D. However to increase SPF, mix it with sesame oil, which has a higher SPF level. This way you will get more protection from the dangerous sunrays.
Anyway it is not advisable to stay long hours under the midday and early afternoon sun (11 a.m. to 4 p.m.). Twenty minutes of direct sunlight are sufficient to benefit from the sunrays. Lighter skins benefit from the sun’s vitamin D more than darker skins, but burn faster. A sign of sunburning is when the skin starts turning pink or red like a lobster; that means you are sunburned. To avoid skin cancer, sunspots, sunstrokes, dry and dehydrated skin, and premature wrinkles, avoid roasting and burning.
Applying coconut oil (SPF 10) or sesame oil (SPF close to 15) is safer, especially with intermittent exposure to the sun. Remember, they do not completely block sunrays, which are required for the skin to make the important nutrient, vitamin D. The two also protect the skin and its inner layers from breakdown and damage by too much sun, dry wind, and harsh climates. Moreover, the natural oils give a nice and lovely tan if you limit exposure to the noon sun.
I encourage you to use natural oils because commercial cosmetic sunscreens contain toxic chemicals, which turn into xenoestrogens, which act like estrogen in the body, increasing risk of hormone cancers and reducing fertility in men. Mothers-to-be need to be extremely cautious about their use of cosmetics and body, hair, and skin care products, which contain a variety of chemicals, mimicking oestrogen in their bodies, which is passed on to their foetuses. The reproductive systems of male fetuses is affected and hence their fertility gets compromised. Young girls receiving too much estrogen reach puberty much earlier than those who have normal levels of the hormone. Obesity in children does the same. Excess fat in the body releases estrogen, which changes the body structure of male teenagers and young men. They develop flabby chests