I'm Young, I'm Hip, I'm...Oh

Since moving to Washington last September (boy that one year mark is coming right up), I have had a wild ride with my skin and hair and pretty much every other part of my body.

When I first went to my new hair stylist, she looked at the disheveled rat's nest on top of my head and sort of sighed, saying "Your hair is angry."
I thought about my diet.  Vegetarian.
I thought about my hair routine. Too much blow dryer? Nope, not much at all.
I got nothing.
"Why?"
"It's drier here than in Oklahoma."
Then she cut most of my hair off and told me to use a million products and a few neat ideas to smooth it all out.
I did most of them. I stopped washing my hair every day.  It's weird and I'm still getting used to that but whatever. I also stopped blowdrying with any heat.  For instance, right now, I'm sitting here typing with a fan blowing on me.  That's also because our house, like most in Ellensburg, Wa, does not have air conditioning.  We bought a small a/c unit last week and it helps us sleep, but for the most part, it's ok except from 5-8 p.m.  It'll go over.  In the meantime, fans.

I use a silicone oil on my hair. I sometimes put olive oil in the ends overnight.

For my body I got a dry skin serum made by a lady at the farmer's market.  I ran out two weeks ago and she wasn't there last week. Augh! I use one of those pumice things for my feet so that I don't get weird Flintstone feet. It's summer and I love to wear sandals so I use lavarocks to scrub my heels.  Also, eww.

The one thing I really resisted my stylist on is coconut oil.  Another friend swears by it for her skin, hair, face and insides.  You buy coconut oil in either the skincare section or in the cooking section.  It costs less in the cooking section.  I just didn't want to put cooking oil on my skin.

Then over the last 6 months, I have started seeing advertisements and realized that coconut oil (and coconut water) is sort of a fad thing, and that maybe once everyone gets over the hype they will realize that they are rubbing cooking oil on their faces.  Kind of yucky if you ask me, but hey, I use rocks on my feet for exfoliation.

Anyway, I broke down this week and bought some.  I can be hip. I can get in on a fad. It's not harmful, anyway.  If you can eat the stuff, you might as well put it on the outside too.
My legs, despite my putting lotion on them twice daily, look like a dermal version of the sahara, with cracked spots and general yuckiness all around. A little oily goodness couldn't hurt. Fine.  I bought coconut oil for my legs.  It was solid in the store, but the room temperature at my house during the day not only exceeds its melting point, I think that if I set it in the sun in the afternoon, I could use it to deep fry some tempura.  Whatever, I slathered it on my legs and arms and generously rubbed it into my feet.  Rather, I dipped my fingers in and slathered.

It's ok, not stinky.  Pretty effective. I put it on after my shower.  I came downstairs last night after doing so and sat on the couch to talk to G.  A minute or so later, I felt something funny on my foot and looked to see what was going on.

There was Eleanor, licking the top of my foot. Apparently coconut oil is also a delicious treat for cats.

I'm totally telling my stylist next time I see her.