Spotlight on Etsy.com for natural haircare/skincare products

In my search for a pair of vintage eyeglass frames on a website called Etsy.com, I stumbled across the Health and Beauty section and found there there are a wealth of vendors out there who are regular everyday people just like you and me who whip their own all natural concoctions and sell them on this website. Etsy was described on a blog that I was reading as a "kinder and gentler Ebay". The items on this website are mostly handmade, all natural and vegan products and you can find almost everything and anything! I bought a few items as the retail prices are so cheap and the shipping even cheaper! All the items I purchased all are natural with no artificial ingredients.What I like about the site is you are able to ask the seller questions about anything you want to purchase from them and I always receive lightning speed responses, you get a chance to view feedback from other people who have made purchases from vendors and you can pay using paypal so no personal information is shared. I have had nothin but positive experience with this site and all purchases and I love love love all the items I've purchased!

Happy searching....

COCONUT OIL

The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.

Hair Care: Coconut oil is one of the best natural nutrition for hair. It helps in healthy growth of hair providing them a shiny complexion. Regular massage of the head with coconut oil ensures that your scalp is free of dandruff, lice, and lice eggs, even if your scalp is dry. Coconut oil is extensively used in the Indian sub-continent for hair care. It is an excellent conditioner and helps in the re-growth of damaged hair. It also provides the essential proteins required for nourishing damaged hair. It is therefore used as hair care oil and used in manufacturing various conditioners, and dandruff relief creams. Coconut oil is normally applied topically for hair care.
Skin Care: Coconut oil is excellent massage oil for the skin as well. It acts as an effective moisturizer on all types of skins including dry skin. The benefit of coconut oil on the skin is comparable to that of mineral oil. Further, unlike mineral oil, there is no chance of having any adverse side effects on the skin with the application of coconut oil. Coconut oil therefore is a safe solution for preventing dryness and flaking of skin. It also delays wrinkles, and sagging of skin which normally become prominent with age. Coconut oil also helps in treating various skin problems including psoriasis, dermatitis, eczema and other skin infections. Therefore coconut oil forms the basic ingredient of various body care products such as soaps, lotions, creams, etc., used for skin care.
Weight Loss: Coconut oil is very useful in reducing weight. It contains short and medium-chain fatty acids that help in taking off excessive weight. It is also easy to digest and it helps in healthy functioning of the thyroid and enzymes systems. Further, it increases the body metabolism by removing stress on pancreases, thereby burning out more energy and helping obese and overweight people reduce their weight. Hence, people living in tropical coastal areas, who eat coconut oil daily as their primary cooking oil, are normally not fat, obese or overweight.
Pancreatitis: Coconut oil is also believed to be useful in treating pancreatitis.
Digestion: Internal use of coconut oil occurs primarily as cooking oil. Coconut oil helps in improving the digestive system and thus prevents various stomach and digestion related problems including irritable bowel syndrome. The saturated fats present in coconut oil have anti microbial properties and help in dealing with various bacteria, fungi, parasites, etc., that cause indigestion. Coconut oil also helps in absorption of other nutrients such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids.
Immunity: Coconut oil is also good for the immune system. It strengthens the immune system as it contains antimicrobial lipids, lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid which have antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral properties. The human body converts lauric acid into monolaurin which is claimed to help in dealing with viruses and bacteria causing diseases such as herpes, influenza, cytomegalovirus, and even HIV. It helps in fighting harmful bacteria such as listeria monocytogenes and heliobacter pylori, and harmful protozoa such as giardia lamblia.
Healing: When applied on infections, it forms a chemical layer which protects the infected body part from external dust, air, fungi, bacteria and virus. Coconut oil is most effective on bruises as it speeds up the healing process by repairing damaged tissues.
Infections: Coconut oil is very effective against a variety of infections due to its antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial properties. According to the Coconut Research Center, coconut oil kills viruses that cause influenza, measles, hepatitis, herpes, SARS, etc. It also kills bacteria that cause ulcers, throat infections, urinary tract infections, pneumonia, and gonorrhea, etc. Coconut oil is also effective on fungi and yeast that cause candidiasis, ringworm, athlete's foot, thrush, diaper rash, etc.
Liver: The presence of medium chain triglycerides and fatty acids helps in preventing liver diseases as they substances are easily converted into energy when they reach the liver, thus reducing work load on the liver and also preventing accumulation of fat.
Kidney: Coconut oil helps in preventing kidney and gall bladder diseases. It also helps in dissolving kidney stones.
Diabetes: Coconut oil helps in controlling blood sugar, and improves the secretion of insulin. It also helps in effective utilization of blood glucose, thereby preventing and treating diabetes.
Bones: As mentioned earlier, coconut oil improves the ability of our body to absorb important minerals. These include calcium and magnesium which are necessary for development of bones. Thus coconut oil is very useful to women who are prone to osteoporosis after middle age.
Dental Care: Calcium is an important element present in teeth. Since coconut oil facilitates absorption of calcium by the body, it helps in getting strong teeth. Coconut oil also stops tooth decay.
HIV and Cancer: It is believed that coconut oil plays an instrumental role in reducing viral susceptibility of HIV and cancer patients. Preliminary research has shown indications of the effect of coconut oil on reducing the viral load of HIV patients .
Finally, coconut oil is often preferred by athletes and body builders and by those who are dieting. The reason behind this being that coconut oil contains lesser calories than other oils, its fat content is easily converted into energy and it does not lead to accumulation of fat in the heart and arteries. Coconut oil helps in boosting energy and endurance, and enhances the performance of athletes.

By ’15, coronary heart cases will treble

6.15 Crore Indians Will Be Affected: Health Min Report

New Delhi: Cases of coronary heart disease (CHD) in India in 2015 are expected to be three times the number reported in 2000. While in 2000, an estimated 2.7 crore Indians were suffering from CHD, the number is expected to increase to 6.15 crore by 2015, according to Union health ministry's latest national health profile projections 2010. In 2005, India was estimated to have 3.5 crore CHD patients while in 2010, the number stood at 4.6 crore.
    An interesting trend, according to the ministry's projections, is the stark increase in CHD cases in the age group of 20-29. While CHD was estimated to have affected 45 lakh Indians in this age group in 2,000, the number progressively increased to 61 lakh in 2005 and 83 lakh in 2010. However in 2015, the number will break the one crore barrier mark–1.04 crore in the age group 20-29 years. What's really stark is the tremendous gap in the number of rural and urban Indians in this age group suffering from CHD. While in 2000, 17.99 lakh rural Indians aged 20-29 and 27.1 lakh urban Indians suffered from CHD, the gap would increase to 23.24 lakh rural and 81 lakh urban Indians in 2015, showing clearly how heart disease would jump manifold in young urban Indians due to their faulty lifestyle. Speaking to TOI, director of interventional cardiology at Moolchand Medcity Dr Deepak Natarajan said, "India will definitely see a huge increase in CHD. The problem is that Indians are doing everything that is wrong – they have no time to exercise, are driven by money and markets, hence eat junk, have no control over their hypertension and have the worst lifestyles in the world. An average person is obese and smokes. India's growth rate is directly linked to the country's spike in heart disease."
    In CHD cases heart's blood supply is blocked by a build-up of fatty substances in coronary arteries. The walls of the arteries can become narrow with fatty deposits. If coronary arteries become narrow, the blood supply gets restricted causing chest pain. If it becomes completely blocked, it causes a heart attack.