Cocoa butter is extracted from the cocoa bean in the process of making chocolate. Cocoa is obviously extremely popular in sweets and food products. But what does it have to do with skin care? It's edible, melts at body temperature and its moisturizing powers make it a great addition to natural beauty recipes. 

ABOUT COCOA BUTTER

Native to Central America, more specifically the Orinoco and Amazon basins, the cocoa tree - whose name simply means "tree" - is nowadays cultivated in several of the word's tropical regions, where it finds welcome humidity, shade, and heat. It is a delicate tree; it is both fragile and prolific; blooming and fruitage occur simultaneously and last all year. 

Cocoa butter is a type of fat that comes from cocoa beans. To harness cocoa butter, the beans are taken out of the larger cacao plant. Then they are roasted, stripped, and pressed to separate out the fat—the cocoa butter. The remnants are then processed into cocoa powder.

SKIN BENEFITS

• Moisturizer - Cocoa butter is high in fatty acids and hydrates the skin deeply, making it a wonderful addition to body moisturizers and lip balms. It contains oleic, palmitic, and stearic acids, all of which nourish the skin.

• Stretch Marks and Scars Reducer - Cocoa butter has a great reputation for enhancing blood circulation, which helps to reduce the appearance of stretch marks and prevent them from appearing (great for use during pregnancy).

• It's an Antioxidant Powerhouse: The antioxidant qualities of cocoa butter certainly take care of most signs of aging, but cocoa butter also protects the skin from outside agents as well. The antioxidants and beneficial organic molecules protect the skin from environmental, internal, and external forces that can cause irritation or damage to the skin.

Sources:

Victoire De Taillac et al. (2017). "An Atlas of Natural Beauty", New York, NY.