Refined Cocoa Butter – Great for healing the skin
Cocoa butter or Theobroma cacao the latin name translates to “food of the gods” is a great natural product derived from the cocoa tree, which is excellent for dry skin as well as skin that fails to heal quickly. Due to its unquestionable properties as a skin conditioner, softener and skin healer, many skincare product manufacturers use cocoa butter as an ingredient in their beauty products including moisturisers, lotions, body and lip balms, soaps and massage creams. It is also used by confectioners in chocolate and other parts of the cocoa beans are used in chocolate drinks. The cacao tree can be found mainly in Africa and South America and cocoa butter, which is the oil from the seed, is extracted from the cacao beans produced by the tree. The naturally solid butter at room temperature easily melts on contact with the heat of the skin and can be easily rubbed in, it absorbs well and gives the skin a nice healthy sheen and helps to soften the skin.
Does cocoa butter fade scars?
Yes cocoa butter helps to fade scars. When you rub a small block of the refined cocoa butter onto dark scars they will gradually fade with the help of the cocoa butter, which also keeps the skin soft and supple helping to prevent wrinkles and mend scar tissue and skin damage, making it an ideal skin restorer in the prevention and healing of stretch marks on the skin. This is due to the naturally high Vitamin E content found in it.
Natural cocoa butter has a slight scent, which is hardly noticeable and is yellow in colour.
What is the difference between natural refined cocoa butter and cocoa butter moisturiser?
Refined cocoa butter, which is in block form, is usually melted and then added to moisturisers because of its moisturising and healing properties. Cocoa butter is also very hard in its refined form as you can see from the picture above (it looks a little like cheddar cheese), so melting it down and adding oils, water, emulsifiers (to keep it all together) and other moisturising ingredients makes it easier to apply and use as a moisturiser.
Does cocoa butter lighten the skin?
Cocoa butter is an extremely good skin healer which helps to restore the skin to its original state. Some people seem to think that it lightens the skin as a result of its magnificent healing abilities. Cocoa butter heals the skin and restores it and has the ability to fade dark marks from the skin, an example of this is a major dark scar I had on the front of my leg for over 20 years. I started to exfoliate and then rub the cocoa butter block as pictured onto the scar every single day and the scar has finally gone at last. This is an injury that I had when I was about 8 years old, I fell and had a deep gash to the front of my leg on my shin.
Does cocoa butter darken the skin?
No, it does not darken the skin, but it does help to heal the skin and make it soft and smooth.
Can you use cocoa butter on your face?
Yes, cocoa butter can be used on the face if you have normal or dry skin. I wouldn’t recommend it for oily skin as it has a very rich and oily consistency which may cause the skin to feel greasy and look shiny, which is not what you would want if you already have oily skin. However, if your skin is quite dry on the other hand, cocoa butter works wonders at moisturising and softening it.
Other uses for cocoa butter
Further up in this post, you can see a picture of the earth superfoods organic cacao nibs, which are broken chunks of the cocoa bean, which chocolate is made from. These cacao nibs are quite hard and have a slightly bitter taste and are very rich in anti-oxidants (preventing damage to body and skin cells). I like to put the cacao nibs in the blender when making smoothies, in order to make use of the protective and healing effects of the cacao from within. We already know of the benefits of using cocoa butter on the outside of the skin, so imagine what it can do when you eat it.
Apparently, you can sprinkle them on your breakfast cereal as well. You can try sprinkling cacao nibs on porridge, muesli or use it in desserts, but I mainly add it to the blender when making smoothies.