Cocoa butter is the vegetable fat extract of the nut, or bean, from the cocoa tree. Its high antioxidant content gives cocoa butter a long shelf life and makes it a healthful ingredient in chocolate and other culinary applications. Cocoa butter is also a key component of skin-care products.
Moisturize
Cocoa butter is an emollient, an oily substance that forms a moisture barrier on skin, keeping the skin hydrated by preventing water within the skin from evaporating. Rich in vitamin E and other nutrients beneficial to human health, natural emollients such as cocoa butter are safe to apply on the skin and can provide nourishment in addition to hydration, an element usually lacking in synthetic chemical emollients, according to the Northwestern Health Sciences University. Cocoa butter helps relieve the itching and pain of dry skin; for these reasons, Texas A&M Health Science Center suggests that cocoa butter is an ideal sunburn treatment.
Post-Surgery Healing
The nourishing, healthful, soothing properties of cocoa butter make it a good choice for post-surgical application to incision sites and other areas that might scar. The University of Michigan Medical Center advises patients who have had skin graft surgery associated with hidradenitis, a painful skin disorder, to apply cocoa butter to both the site where the skin graft was removed from, and to the newly grafted skin site. The University of Michigan Medical Center also advises burn patients to use cocoa butter on healing burn sites. But post-surgery and post-burn, cocoa butter will help moisturize and protect skin, alleviate itching and promote healing.
Beautiful Glow
Allison Barnes, writing the Beauty Buzz of the Week for "Southern Living" magazine, advises that 100 percent cocoa butter, available for less than $4 at discount stores, gives arms and legs a glowing shine and a light scent. In addition to rubbing cocoa butter on the skin, add a few drops of cocoa butter skin oil to the bath, and use it as a treatment for rough, dry cuticles.
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