Cocoa butter is the natural fat extracted from the cacao bean of the cacao tree in tropical climates like South America and West Africa. It has a soft, sweet cocoa aroma and contains lots of vitamin E and omega-3 fatty acids. This is why the ingredient makes an excellent moisturizer especially for dry skin on the body. This is the first time I’ve purchased cocoa butter from a brand. The last I’ve purchased was by the weight from a DIY ingredient supplier and I used it to make deodorant.
When I ran a search on the benefits of cocoa butter, I came across many benefits of the ingredient for our skin, some of which I wasn’t even aware of. I believe some of you will be surprised to learn of them too.
1. Provide sun protection
I know that shea butter provides some sun protection but it looks like cocoa butter is also a natural sunscreen. However, don’t expect it to provide too much protection—you’re better off using your sunscreen. What you can take comfort is that it may provide added sun protection and so it’s a good ingredient if you also have it in your sunscreen.
2. Prevent stretch marks
I’ve read a lot about how cocoa butter makes a good ingredient to reduce stretch marks. In fact, quite a number of reviewers actually use this Cococare 100% Cocoa Butter Stick for that purpose. However, I reckon this stick is good enough for a small area because you’ll definitely need lots of them if you’re looking at preventing stretch marks during pregnancy.
3. Reduce pigmentation
Okay, I wasn’t expecting to find out that cocoa butter can help reduce hyper-pigmentation. But apparently, it does, going by the reviews I’ve read online with before and after pictures. True or not, I have to take it for a spin to know. Logically, it makes sense because of the next benefit I’m about to share but I suppose it’ll take quite a long time to see results.
4. Smooth out scarring
Yes, cocoa butter is widely known to reduce scarring and I can attest to this. I started rubbing this stick on an ugly mark on my arm and have noticed some fading after just two days. Prior to that, the scar remained dark and showed no signs of improvement. So I believe the scar will disappear soon if I continue to persist in my application. But I need to add that my scar is rather new so I’m not sure if this ingredient will work as well for older scars.
5. Alleviate psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis
I’ve read that cocoa butter is good for problem skin conditions because it contains cacao mass polyphenol (CMP), a substance that inhibits the production of the immunoglobulin IgE. IgE is known to aggravate and accelerate skin conditions such as psoriasis, eczema and dermatitis. But I think if you want to use cocoa butter to treat your skin conditions, it’ll be best to get a body lotion containing this as a key ingredient because a stick like this can’t get you too far.
Well, the Cococare 100% Cocoa Butter Stick is little but I’ll say this product is versatile and useful especially if you need a moisturizer on the go. It is light and smooths your skin without causing greasiness. Anyway, at less than US$2 per stick, I don’t suppose users have anything much to complain against it anyway.
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