I know the title of this post probably has about half of you turning your noses up and doing a little shudder. I get it. The idea of ditching what is widely considered a personal hygiene staple might seem totally bizarre. I mean, I’m sure I thought it was crazy the first time I heard about the whole “No Poo” thing (that term is so gross).

But, as with most things, I was slowly pulled towards it until I finally decided to brave it. And you know what? I haven’t washed my hair with shampoo in nine months—and not once has anyone questioned my hair routine (and believe me, there are people in my life who would have no problem asking why I’m such a greaseball).

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a beauty post. Mostly because who wants to write a post focused on beauty when you’re trying to avoid having people look at you in the first place?

I’ve been having some serious skin issues lately. I have rosacea, which is a chronic skin condition that basically makes you look like you have rosy cheeks all the time. Could be worse, right? Well, it can also progress so that the redness becomes darker and more mask-like. You can end up with bumps or pimples resembling adult acne and, when it’s really out of control, there is sometimes thickening of the skin, usually around your nose (think WC Fields). The latter stuff is decidedly not cute.

Lately my face has gone from the first rosy phase to the mask-like look with a side of bumps and pimples. To add insult to injury, your face can also get really dry with rosacea. So on top of the red mask and adult acne look I was rocking, I also had rough, flaking skin. A straight up skin mutiny.

Chances are, if you know me, I’ve prescribed coconut oil to fix one of your problems. I’m like the father in My Big Fat Greek Wedding who thinks Windex can cure everything. Only my cure all is coconut oil and it’s true. The ridiculously wide ranging uses for coconut oil blows my mind regularly.

Even my girls have started asking for it when they have a problem. Ellie calls it coconut “aw-lah” and any time she has a rash on her little tush she tells me she needs it (sign number 3,587 that she should be potty trained). Samantha has the driest hands in the winter and asks for it because she knows it won’t burn. Me? I slather it on multiple times a day.

Rather than drive everyone I know crazy with talking about my magical go-to non stop, I thought I’d throw together a blog post with twenty fantastic uses for coconut oil and let you try some of them out for yourself. Then you can come back and tell me what you thought and we can become COBFL—Coconut Oil Besties for Life. Yep. I went there.

Like most busy ladies with an overflowing to-do list, I’m all about little life hacks that make things quicker and easier. If you can help me with my abysmal time management skills, we can totally be BFFs. Good luck with that though, because I’m pretty sure this t-shirt was made specifically for me.

That said, I was more than a little intrigued when I saw a few posts floating around Pinterest referring to a magical DIY manicure with glue trick. They promised me I could paint a little white glue around my nails and then peel it off to keep my cuticles all neat and tidy and paint free. Most of the pins I saw originated from a post teaching you how to create a marble effect on your nails. But then I saw The (always-awesome) Paper Mama try it out in the exact way I wanted to (here) and I knew I needed to try this business for myself.

So I did.

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to summer beauty, I’m all about looking fresh-faced and natural. Who has time to fuss with a bunch of stuff that’s sure to melt off your face while chasing down rogue children at the pool?

I’ve got a few essentials that I keep on heavy rotation and the rest of my makeup products hibernate until fall.