As soon as summertime rolls around, I'm always ready to start adding coconut to pretty much everything: from food to beauty! In fact, I had to buy new shampoo and conditioner last week, and I couldn't help but try new brand
Inecto (a natural brand I found at London Drugs),
which has coconut oil in it. It smells fantastic, and my hair feels great!
Well, as it turns out, just after I picked those up, a package arrived in the mail from Jouviance...with their new Coconut Melting Balm inside! And, since I can never have enough coconut, I was pretty pumped about the coconut candle they sent as well. Yum, it smells as good as the Melting Balm.
The Jouviance Coconut Melting Balm consists of 100% natural coconut oil. In fact, it's made of 50% cold pressed, non-hydrogenated, non deodorized coconut oil, and 50% coconut oil of first pressure and deodorized by steam (it's high quality - that's what I'm getting at, and organic too).
The main benefit to coconut oil is its hydrating properties as an emollient, but it's also anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial. But when it comes to dry skin, hair and face this time of year, being out in the sun more, I was definitely most interested in the hydration benefits. But here's why this Melting Balm is really so cool: it's multi-purpose! And who doesn't love that? Here's all the ways it can be used:
Body Moisturizer
All you need is a super small amount to hydrate your entire body with the Melting Balm. My tip: I like to apply my moisturizer on damp skin, after I've shaved, for maximum moisture retention.
The Coconut Melting Balm also helps with your skin's healing process, meaning it's a good bet if you've got a sun burn or other irritation. And I know I'm going to have a sunburn at some point this summer, unfortunately. At least I'll have this at the ready. Also - because it's anti-inflammatory, it works great after shaving (while skin is still damp, as I mentioned above).
Baby Butter
Now this isn't something I was able to test on (no babies in sight here), but Jouviance recommends applying it all over your baby's body by massaging gently into the skin.
Belly Balm
Again, no personal experience on this one, but you can also use the Melting Balm on your belly during pregnancy to reduce skin itching and prevent the appearance of stretch marks. Seems like it's worth a try!
Lip Moisturizer
Now I thought this is one of the coolest uses of the Melting Balm! Often, moisturizers are made for the body, and the body only. So it's great to have one that's safe to use on the lips as well. Jouviance recommends applying to your lips when they're feeling dry, especially after sun exposure. When I read that, I knew I was going to get lots of use out of this stuff! I've been riding my bike in the sun almost daily, and applying this really helps to heal and protect my lips afterwards. Applying it as a lip mask at night also works really well. It's nice and light on the lips, not at all sticky or tacky, so you honestly forget it's there. And then you wake up to perfectly hydrated lips the next morning!
Hydrating Night Mask
This is one of my favourite uses of the Melting Balm. Before bed, take a pea-sized amount, rub between your hands to warm it up, and then apply all over your face. You just leave it on overnight and wash off in the morning. It hydrates so well! Especially on the dry patches on my cheeks right now. At first, I was a bit hesitant to smear the balm all over, for fear of it feeling too oily, but it really does melt right into the skin nicely (they don't call it Melting Balm for nothing!).
Hair Serum
In the summer, my hair usually gets pretty dry and brittle from being in the sun. Especially because my hair is already so thin. You can also apply the Melting Balm to your hair to help hydrate your strands and add shine! I appreciated that they offer directions for both thick and fine hair, because my first thought was 'woah - but this is going to weigh down my hair'! For fine hair, Jouviance suggests you start with a very small amount of Melting Balm, to ensure your hair doesn't get greasy. Erring on the side of caution, I took essentially half a pea-sized amount, and that worked well to hydrate my brittle ends, without making it greasy.
You can also use the Melting Balm as a hair mask before shampooing. Just apply a small amount (I used less than the directed quarter size amount) to your dry hair, avoiding the scalp. Then, you just put your hair in a bun and leave in for half an hour. You can apparently leave it in overnight, too, but I haven't tried that yet. Then you just shampoo and rinse! I actually liked this technique better than the hair serum, as I liked having it soak in over the half hour, but then being able to rinse it out afterwards. My hair felt so soft and not at all brittle afterwards!
And that's all folks! Anyone else on a coconut kick right now? (I ask as I eat my coconut berry smoothie bowl...)
Happy Hydrating! xo
~ Britta
