“There’s a reason that women in Sri Lanka and the Philippines just use coconut oil every day – and it’s not just to do with a local abundance of coconut trees!” says Abi Weeds from multi award-winning green brand Essential Care.
“Coconut oil is a saturated ‘fat’ and very resistant to being oxidised by sunlight and it will protect the skin against skin-aging and damaging free radical generation and help it stay firm and elastic”.
Quickly becoming the skincare star “du jour” with summer just a couple of months off, coconut is appearing on a flurry of beauty product labels, because of its gentle antibacterial action and suitability for sensitive skin. It’s brilliant if your hair’s starting to look a bit straw-like after too much kite-surfing in Tarifa and you need to up the gloss factor.
So no wonder that Essential Care’s Coconut Candy Scrub is one of EC’s hero products. Abi suggests we ensure the skincare products we choose contain organic and non-chemically refined coconut oil as the vitamin content, and thus its beneficial properties, will be at their highest.
Essential Care have also brought out a delicious Creamy Coconut Cleanser (also available as a travel size, £6) and if you like a conditioning but natural shampoo, coconut shows up in their Gentle Herb Shampoo, too.
Essentialcare.co.uk