Does Oil Pulling Work? We Tried It Out (VIDEO)

Does Oil Pulling Actually Work? We Tried It Out.

Oil pulling isn't anything like it sounds. For one, the beauty routine consists not so much of pulling but of swishing, whereby one rinses one's mouth with a natural oil like sesame oil, sunflower oil or coconut oil in the manner of a mouthwash.

Secondly, it's supposed to have amazing benefits including whitening teeth, clearing up acne and imparting a glow to one's complexion. And oil isn't something we imagined being able to do all those things.

But plenty of doctors and health bloggers, not to mention the people who've done to ancient Ayurvedic practice for centuries, sing oil pulling's praises. So we had HuffPost Live's Caitlyn Becker and Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani test it out, swishing coconut oil in their mouths for 15 whole minutes before spitting it out (in a cup, we should probably warn you).

Their findings? "Oh, gross!" was Caitlyn's initial reaction after ditching the oil. (From Caroline's facial expressions, you can see she shared Caitlyn's sentiment.) But taste aside, reviews were positive. "My lips feel oily, but my mouth doesn't feel that oily," said Caitlyn. "And my teeth do look really white."

Watch the full experiment above and read more about oil pulling here. Would you try it?

More experimental beauty practices:

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