Coconut oil and its benefits on HWN BLOGS

It’s no secret that coconut oil can do some pretty amazing things, from replacing your pricey moisturizer to speeding up the healing process on a surface wound.
 
But some of the tips we’ve heard sound too good to be true—coconut oil as sunscreen, really?—so we teamed up with a few experts to get the scoop on what the oil really can do, and which tips are, well, snake oil.
 
Here's the scoop on 5 common claims:
 
1. You can use coconut oil as makeup remover.
Yes, coconut oil can even help remove stubborn eye makeup — but most oils can do this, Day points out. Just be careful not to get it in your eyes.
 
2. You can use coconut oil as natural deodorant.
Sure, if you don’t mind smelling like coconut! “It kills off bacteria and yeast, and that’s what causes odor,” Day said.
 
But Day points out that while coconut oil might be OK as a deodorant, it definitely doesn’t work as an antiperspirant.
 
3. Coconut oil will get rid of stretch marks.
Nope, sorry.
 
“I wish, but no,” Day said. “Stretch marks come from a loss of ground substance in the skin, and you can’t replace that.”
 
4. Swirling coconut oil in your mouth will whiten your teeth.
Dentist Zack Zaibak of Chicago confirms this is true, adding that swirling coconut oil in your mouth for about fifteen minutes—known as oil-pulling—can also remove bacteria and help improve conditions like gingivitis.
 
“It’s a good addition to dentistry,” he said. “There’s not much testing on this, but I haven’t seen any negativity, from a dentist’s perspective.”
 
5. Cooking with coconut oil will make everything taste like coconut.
False. Coconut oil is actually a mild, light option and you probably won’t detect the fruit in most recipes. Celebrity chef Candice Kumai says it works best cooking with high heat, and tastes especially great when cooking Thai and Indian food.