Oil Pulling. Just writing the words makes me gag. In fact, you can be confident in the knowledge that I will be dry heaving at this cafe with free wifi while I write the chilling details of my experience.

Let me start by filling you in on this growing trend. People are guzzling oil (vastly coconut or sesame) for what feels like DAYS (20 minutes) and claiming it’s curing every ailment they ever faced (namely curing hangovers, gingivitis and headaches, as well as whitening teeth and removing “toxins”). If you read that sentence without my asides then it sounds quite seriously insane. Obviously, people dig it.

Oil pulling originated centuries ago and started as a simple practice to improve oral heath. The thought is that the mouth is the door to the body’s many toxins and is the best place to start if you want to get them out of you. Google trends will show that nobody gave a flying fuck about oil pulling until around 2007, with a mega spike in 2014.

Why did the Google loving North Americans start turning to oil pulling? I can only assume it’s because the massive amount of times they use the word “toxins” whenever it’s mentioned online. People love toxin shit. But you don’t come here for my incredible assessment of fad history (she screamed into the empty abyss to noone), you come here for the gritty details. Continue reading →