I'm with you. I've had to resort to heavy duty lotion to correct the damage on my legs. And your neighbor may be on to something because even though it is very humid here when I use the coconut oil under a lotion, I have no problems with excessive drying. I like to use it on my face under a lotion because it helps to clear blemishes (especially important while I'm doing all these cleanses) without the use of any bleaching creams or alpha hydroxy. Perhaps when I'm more balanced internally with the help of flax oil and such, I will give it another try. I'm a glutton for punishment. :)

Hey everyone. Yes, I've always had dry skin and had some eczema (which has now disappeared) when I was young. I now have the kind of skin that is soft but with a dry wrinkly appearance. I'm 23, but catch my skin on a bad day and my hands can look like that of a 70 year old! My skin does get flaky if I go for long periods without putting on cream or lotion (like less than 24 hours). I've found out the hard way that I cant use just any lotion on my skin, otherwise it just ends up being drier/wrinklier than before within a few days. Unfortunately the same applied to the VCO.

The brand that I used was in fact Wilderness Family Naturals. Now I'm thinking that it isn't the brand of oil that really makes a difference in this situation, but the nature of the Coconut oil itself. From what I can remember, VCO is made up of medium chain triglycerides (MCT's) but healthy skin requires EFA's which are fatty acid chains that are smaller in size. Maybe using VCO on sensitive (dry) skin upsets this delicate balance.

I've found a link at the Tropical Traditions site which even says that VCO contains no Omega 3 oils (an EFA), and that these should be included elsewhere in the diet.
http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/faq.htm (question 16)

It's quite possible that all of us here experiencing excessive dryness when applying Coconut oil directly onto the skin are in fact deficient in Omega 3 Essential fatty acids. I might do some more googling on it to see if this could be the case. But a mild omega 3 deficiency coupled with the dehydrating effect of the Coconut oil like BDraw said might be the reason for the skin reaction.


leni