Cocoa butter is not only an ingredient in the chocolate that we eat. It is also used as a beauty product for the skin. Cocoa butter is a vegetable fat that is extracted naturally from cocoa beans. This process happens when the beans are fermented, dried, roasted, and then pressed to extract the cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is such a popular item in natural skincare, and there’s a reason why. This amazing butter has many great benefits when it’s used in a skincare regime. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of using cocoa butter.
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Skin Moisturizer
Cocoa butter is an excellent moisturizer because it consists of fatty acids. These fatty acids help form a protective layer on the skin to improve its elasticity, thus keeping moisture trapped in the skin and preventing it from drying out. Other ingredients such as oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids found in cocoa butter are all skin nourishing.
Antioxidant – Rich
Cocoa butter is rich in polyphenols that help reduce the signs of aging. It also has a healing effect on inflamed skin, such as dermatitis and eczema. As we all know, free radicals are responsible for early signs of aging, such as fine lines, dark spots, and dullness. So, polyphenols neutralize these free radicals to keep our skin looking younger.
Vitamin Rich and Anti-Aging Properties
Various nutrients and vitamins form the basic ingredients of cocoa butter. Among these, we have: vitamin E, vitamin K, choline, magnesium, iron and copper. Vitamin E benefits our bodies in many ways. It maintains healthy vision and reproduction as well as the health of the brain, skin, and blood.
We all know about the benefits of collagen, but some studies showed that applying cocoa butter on our skin helps stimulate the skin cells to keep producing collagen. Thus, keeping our skin looking younger for longer.
Prevents Stretch Marks
Stretch marks are a familiar problem for pregnant women or anyone struggling with their weight. Applying cocoa butter over the body can help prevent you from getting stretch marks. The moisturizing properties of cocoa butter prevent the formation of stretch marks. Even in the case of scaring, cocoa butter helps repair skin damage and lighten the look of scars..
Protects Against Harmful UV Rays
A natural plant compound named phytochemicals found in cocoa butter is said to improve the blood flow to the skin, and slows skin’s aging process by protecting against the sun’s destructive UV radiation.
Helps Alleviate Burn, and Skin Infections
Rubbing a small amount of cocoa butter on burnt skin, helps the skin restore its balance and become refreshed. However, if you want to use cocoa butter to help treat light burns or sunburn, it’s important to use 100% pure cocoa butter as any additives could irritate the skin even more.
Final Thoughts
Whether you eat dark chocolate bars or apply cocoa butter to your skin, you are benefiting your body both ways from its vitamins and other properties. One word of caution here is that if you have acne- prone skin or overly congested skin, cocoa butter with its high fat content is not made for you, and your acne problem might worsen. However, if you have normal, dry or combination skin, cocoa butter can do wonders.
