Whip it...whip it good!!!

Alright kiddies, much to my dismay...winter IS here. I go through these spurts of loving then hating the snow. I hate driving in it, I have shoveling it but I love watching it fall, especially at night...and I absolutely love the look on Vaelyn and Maddox's faces when they see it falling. With snow and winter comes dry skin. My kids both have eczema, which gets a lot worse in the winter time because of the air in our homes being so dry. I have tried all kinds of medications, creams and ointments to try and fix this problem but nothing works and honestly...I really don't want to put any more medications and chemicals in my babies bodies or on their skin.

I am a HUGE fan of using Olive Oil on our skin to moisturize and clear up dry skin and rashes, but it didn't always work or last as long as I needed it to. So, on advice from my crazy sister (love you Erin!) I bought a large jar of coconut oil from Trader Joes. Not only does coconut oil have healing properties when applied to the outside of our bodies; skin, hair, feet, etc...but also has magical healing properties on the INSIDE of our body. Ok, they're not REALLY magical properties...God gave us so many natural things on this earth to help self-heal, but the results when using these abnormal things seems like magic. :-)

Weird thing about coconut oil is that at room temperature it's a solid. You'd think because it's called "coconut oil" it would be in oil/liquid form, not a solid form like it is. You can get coconut oil at Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Kroger, Meijer, Costco, Sams etc...the list goes on. The best deal I've found is the coconut oil tub from Costco. PLEASE remember, if you're going to be investing in something like coconut oil for your insides or outsides, it needs to be organic, virgin and COLD pressed. This means that it hasn't been altered or has had additives added to it. This is the coconut oil I got at Trader Joes:

Ok, there are so many uses for Coconut Oil this post would be a novel if I wrote them all in here. So I will write a follow up post about all the other fabulous ways to use this amazing, healing and quite delicious product. But, tonight I'm going to be talking about how to make a homemade, whipped body butter from this baby. I used the coconut oil because of it's healing properties, long lasting moisture and it's mild scent. I decided to add some Vitamin E oil to help with additional healing for people with scarring, stretch marks or bad skin psoriasis. The directions with pics are below to help you make your own organic whipped body butter. 

Step 1: Buy the previous mentioned or similar coconut oil at your local grocery store, preferably LOCAL grocery store...don't even get me started on Wal-Mart...

Step 2: Get your Kitchen Aid mixer or hand mixer ready. Along with a large bowl. 

Step 2

Step 3: DO NOT MELT your coconut oil. Keep it at it's solid state. You are going to have to chip away at the oil inside the jar and really use your muscles to scoop it out. It will be thick and chunky like this until you've whipped it for awhile. It almost looks/feels like wax. Don't be alarmed, this is normal. 

Step 3

Step 4: This is where you Kitchen Aid mixer will be a life saver (or muscle rather) because you are going to have to whip the coconut oil solids on high for 7-9 minutes depending on how much you are working with. Once you are about 4 minutes into whipping the coconut oil with your mixer, add 5 Tbsp of Vitamin E oil. This is the Vitamin E oil I bought and used:

Step 4

This is how your whipped coconut oil should start to look like at Step 4, approximately half way through. 

Step 4

Step 5: Keep whipping and every couple minutes stop the mixer and scrap down the sides with a spatula. I mixed mine on speed 8 on my Kitchen Aid. That seemed to work well.  When you're all done whipping the oil in the mixer with the vitamin E oil added, it should look like this:

Step 5

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL?!?!?!?! It's shiny, smooth, moisturizing and best of all, it has so many healing properties for our skin, especially dry skin and for those who have eczema and/or skin psoriasis. 

Make sure to store you new whipped body butter in an airtight container, in a place that isn't too hot or too cold. In a bathroom medicine cabinet would be a perfect spot. I know earlier I talked about people eating coconut oil, which you CAN, but I wouldn't advise eating the body butter because of the Vitamin E oil. 

There you have it folks. It's amazing. When you go to apply it make sure you give it a few minutes to soak into your skin before putting on clothes. And that my friends, is a great way to treat your skin to a natural home remedy. 

Stay warm and safe in the snow! 

Anna