Unrefined Cocoa Butter - What are the benefits?

What is Cocoa Butter?

Cocoa Butter is a vegetable fat extracted from the Cocoa bean. It has a mild chocolate scent and flavor. It is used in making chocolate, it can be found in your favorite desserts such as cakes and chocolate bars and it as also widely used as an emollient in skin care products. People have been using cocoa butter for its health benefits for hundreds of years and research suggests that cocoa butter can not only improve the skin, but can also have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.

What is the difference between Refined and Unrefined?

• Refined Cocoa butter has had it’s scent and color removed.
• Unrefined Cocoa butter will smell distinctly of chocolate and will have a slight yellow color. It will still have all of it’s valuable nutrients intact. (pictured below)

What are the benefits of using Unrefined Cocoa Butter on the skin?

Unrefined Cocoa Butter has many benefits, the first one being it is full of antioxidants! Antioxidants help prevent oxidative stress, which causes signs of aging. By using antioxidants in our skincare, we can help prevent the signs of aging and also help reduce dull skin and dark spots. 

One of the biggest benefits of Cocoa Butter is that it is so hydrating. Perfect for dry skin types, the fatty acids will keep your skin moisturised as these fats can help to form a protective layer on the skin, preventing moisture from escaping, and therefore stopping the skin from drying out. For this reason, we use Unrefined Cocoa Butter in our Organic Luxury Lip Balm Base, Organic Lip Balms (Tubes & Tins) and Organic Lip Gloss Base.

Did you know that Cocoa Butter has also been known to help reduce the appearance of scars and stretch marks? Many people also believe that it can help prevent them, especially during pregnancy. 

Cocoa Butter is also gentle enough to use on skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis. Although there is no scientific evidence to say this helps relive the conditions, it can help to prevent dryness. 

What are the benefits of using Unrefined Cocoa Butter in the hair?

Not only is Cocoa Butter great for use on the skin, it has many hair benefits as well! Due to the richness of Unrefined Cocoa Butter, it can deeply moisturize your scalp and help to eliminate dandruff. Not only does it work on the scalp, it can also add nutrients to the hair and help to reduce dullness. 

Using Unrefined Cocoa Butter as a deep conditioning treatment will rejuvenate hair and leave it soft and shiny. We recommend melting some down until it resembles an oil, applying to the mid-lengths and ends first and then massaging it into your scalp, leaving it on for around 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, shampoo and condition as usual. 

How do you use Unrefined Cocoa Butter?

Because it is so firm, Unrefined Cocoa Butter should be melted down for use in skincare recipes like lip balm, lotion, and body butter. The best way to melt Unrefined Cocoa Butter is with indirect heat using either a double boiler or a heat-proof jar placed in a saucepan of simmering water. 

If necessary, you can heat Unrefined Cocoa Butter in the microwave, however it is important to be careful as over-heating the butter can damage its beneficial properties. To melt this butter in the microwave, place it in a small, heat-proof container, then heat for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until it has melted through.

Thinking of making a homemade body butter? Try mixing using 50% Cocoa Butter and 50% organic oil. We recommend Organic Virgin Coconut Oil. 

1. Gently melt your Cocoa Butter and Coconut Oil together.
2. Once melted, place in the fridge until semi-solid (you should be able to make an indent with your finger).
3. Whip up your butter until you have achieved the desired finish.

We currently have 20% off all sizes of our fresh batch of Unrefined Cocoa Butter!

Click here to purchase.