I've been using coconut oil for months, as a replacement for basically everything--I use it as a body moisturizer, as a makeup remover, as a cooking oil, in homemade chocolate, etc. If I was allergic to it, I'd be dead by now lol.

Don't get angry at me here, but I take homeopathic cures with a grain of salt. There are too many uninformed bloggers promoting misinformation, and it's hard to weed out psychologically perceived benefits from proven cause-and-effect. I heard about a thousand cure-all magical benefits oil-pulling, and I decided to give it a shot; after all, despite my skepticism, I'd rather try something for myself than totally dismiss it.

Last night I used coconut oil, and swished it in my mouth for about 20 minutes before spitting it out. Today, I woke up with an itchy reaction all over my face--my skin looks really freckled, swollen, bumpy, rashy, etc. All in all, quite painful and unsightly. The only time I ever got a similar reaction was to eating shrimp, which I'm allergic to.

My question is--is this a definite allergic reaction to coconut oil, or are this a sign of "toxins being expelled"? I don't know where I stand on the whole "xxx gets infinitely worse before it gets better", vs "don't use something if it's making xxx worse".

Is this a normal reaction? Should I stop oil pulling, or continue practicing it weekly? Is it bad to pull daily with coconut oil?

Also.. should I not do oil pulling if I'm not committed to a gluten-free, raw/organic lifestyle? I haven't had an eczema outbreak in months, and my worst outbreaks were 5-6 years ago (e.g. my shrimp outbreak, which led to terrible eczema for months). I'd hate to be in a perpetual state of "pulling toxins" and suffering from random ailments that were previously nonexistent.