One of the biggest learnings in my journey to reduce waste and simplify my life is that we buy a lot of unnecessary products. This is especially true in the area of personal care and beauty products. Today, I’ve got 12 amazing coconut oil beauty hacks to simplify your life—and save you money!
Read on to learn how a $10 jar of coconut oil replaces 12 products I used to buy and easily saves me hundreds of dollars a year.
This post was originally published in May 2021 and updated in April 2024.
Stop and take inventory
We know that the beauty and cosmetics industry is big business. Have you ever stopped to think of how many beauty and personal care products you use every day? Do you know how much you spend on personal care and beauty products every year?
According to Harvard Health, the average woman uses 12 different beauty products every day. Further, the average woman spends close to $1,000 a year on their appearance. And the gap between men and women isn’t as large as you’d think. (Source: Yahoo Finance)
12 amazing coconut oil beauty hacks
A couple of years ago, I started to experiment with coconut oil. I quickly learned it has many different uses. Here are 12 beauty and personal care products that I’ve replaced with coconut oil.
Facial care
- Night cream – Coconut oil is a great moisturizer to replace your night cream. You won’t notice any difference in the look of your skin when you ditch your expensive night cream.
- Eye cream – When moisturizing before bed, dab on an extra layer under your eyes. In addition to its moisturizing properties, it helps to lighten under-eye circles.
- Makeup remover – A little coconut oil on a reusable cotton pad or washcloth is an effective makeup remover.
- Lip balm / Lip scrub – Coconut oil works great as a lip balm and lip softener. Mix in a little sugar or salt to make an exfoliating lip scrub.
Hair care
- Hair frizz treatment – If you’re “blessed” with naturally curly hair like me, you know it has a tendency to get frizzy, especially in the summer heat and humidity. Instead of buying expensive anti-frizz treatment, simply rub a small amount of coconut oil between your fingers and run your fingers through your curls. It works just as well as any expensive hair product.
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Foot care
- Callus cream – Apply coconut oil after using a foot file to smooth the calluses on your feet. My feet have never felt smoother.
- Cracked heel treatment – If you have issues with dry, cracked heels, replace your cracked heel treatment with coconut oil. I’ve seen a big improvement.
- Cuticle cream – Massage a little oil into your cuticles as part of your manicure and pedicure routine. It works as well as any commercial cuticle cream.
- Foot scrub – Check out my easy DIY foot scrub recipe for a simple foot scrub you can make with common kitchen ingredients.
General body care
- Shaving lotion – Smooth a thin layer of coconut oil on your legs to replace your shaving gel or lotion.
- Bug bite itch treatment – It’s almost mosquito and black fly season. A little dab of coconut oil helps to take the itch out of bug bites.
- Body lotion – Coconut oil works especially well when dry elbows and heels need a little extra TLC.
Coconut oil will save you money, simplify your life and cut down on bathroom clutter. It’s also healthy and 100% natural with none of the toxic ingredients found in many beauty products. What’s not to love about that?
Do you have other uses for coconut oil? Tell us about them below.
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I have been using coconut oil for my hair for ages. I will start using it also for other purposes! Thank you for these useful tips!
Coconut oil is the single product that has simplified so many things in my life. It’s so economical too. Thanks for reading.
Great post, Michelle. Agreed, we can save a ton of money by getting back to basics. I love coconut oil. I use it in raw desserts to help them stick together. It is the only oil my massage therapist uses on me, for its incredible hydrating properties and the fact that it has no chemicals. Oh, almost forgot, I used to do “oil pulling” with it, but that was a practice that fell by the wayside! (Holding it in my mouth for 20 minutes without swallowing proved quite the challenge!) Thanks for sharing your great tips! 🌞
Thanks Lisa. It’s funny but I use coconut oil for everything except cooking. LOL
I’m not familiar with oil pulling, but I can imagine it would be challenging to keep it in your mouth for 20 minutes.
I will put this on my shopping list. Who can’t use a good inexpensive beauty cream. I have stayed away from coconut oil for cooking and baking as I don’t believe it is very healthy.
It’s funny you say that. I don’t use it for cooking and baking.
I’ve used coconut oil for toenail fungal infections. It took a long time but it works. 😀
That’s interesting. A friend mentioned she heard it works for cold sores, too.
I’ve actually never used coconut oil.. amazing that you can do so much with it.
It is such a simple and versatile product. I don’t cook with it but I use it for a ton of other things. 😂
Great post! Very helpful tips!💙
Thanks Kat. I’m glad you found it interesting.
I had no idea you could use coconut oil for so many different things. I’ll definitely be trying it for my frizzy summer hair. Ugh!
Yes, it’s a healthy and natural alternative to so many products I used to use. The cost saving is just an added bonus!
These are great ideas for using coconut oil, Michelle! Do you keep it in the fridge? I’ve heard that some people use it for cold sores but I’m not sure if it works. P.S. I’ve just added coconut oil to the shopping list! Thank you, my dear!
Thanks Cher. I usually store it in the cupboard, although it will liquify in the summer if it gets hot in the house so then I sometimes put it in the fridge.
I hadn’t heard about the cold sores. I’d be curious to know if it works.
That’s good to know, Michelle; thank you! Yes, I wonder if it does too!
Wow. Coconut oil sounds amazing!
It actually is. I’m so glad I discovered it. I started out using it as skin moisturizer and then decided to try it for different things.
Thanks for this info. I spend money sometimes on moisturizer in the winter time. I will explore coconut oil. Amazing to read your statistics about the average amounts spent and average number of products bought (many if not all packaged in some form of plastic) by human consumers… I often wonder how different our lives would be if, instead of spending so much money on personal grooming (makeup, hair cuts, hair coloring, spa visits, etc.) we SAVED that money for retirement.
Thanks Will. You’ll have to let me know how it works for you.
It is astonishing the amount of money we spend on personal care and cosmetic products. The big marketing machines make us think we need these products and they will improve our lives, but they really don’t.
Totally with you on the impact of putting that money away for retirement. In my day job, I spend a lot of time educating people on why they need to save for retirement. “I don’t have the money” is a common excuse. But, like most things, it’s all about choices and priorities.