While your skin is breaking out, you shouldn't use cocoa butter for acne. Cocoa butter can cause the skin to become oily and greasy, which could make your acne breakouts worse by clogging your pores. Another reason why you should avoid it is that commercial cocoa butter products often contain harsh chemicals that can further irritate your skin, thereby causing your acne to get worse. Even though using cocoa butter for acne isn't necessarily a good idea, you can use it after you have your breakouts under control to help heal acne scars and blemishes.
Cocoa butter is extracted from the seeds of the cacao tree, the same tree that cocoa and chocolate comes from. In its natural form, cocoa butter is solid, but readily melts when it comes into contact with the skin. In general, it makes a good skin-care product because it forms a protective barrier on the skin's surface that keeps moisture in and helps to heal skin. Manufacturers often use cocoa butter as one of their primary ingredients in bath and body products, along with cosmetics.
The primary reason why you want to avoid using cocoa butter for acne is that it can make your breakouts worse than they already are. Most commercial cocoa butter lotions contain chemicals that can be especially irritating to the skin. Anything that irritates your skin will make an acne breakout worse. Even pure, raw cocoa butter can increase the degree of acne breakouts in individuals who don't already have their acne condition under control. Dermatologists recommend that anyone with acne conditions should avoid using any greasy lotions and creams, such as petroleum jelly, cocoa butter, and cold creams.
While using cocoa butter for acne isn't a good idea, cocoa butter is a great natural product for healing your skin and diminishing your acne scars after you have your skin condition under control. For example, hormone changes during adolescence often cause acne breakouts, but this condition often goes away after the teenage years. If you now have acne scarring, but no longer have an active acne condition, cocoa butter could be the solution you're looking for. After applying cocoa butter daily on clean, exfoliated skin, you may start noticing a difference in the appearance of your scars and blemishes after about four weeks. It's best if you use natural raw cocoa butter and avoid cocoa butter products that contain added chemicals.