I know one thing for sure – that coconut oil is fantastic to ingest internally to help with your acne and overall health.
Coconut oil contains lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, which have antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. It can help to kill yeast and parasites which improves digestion, and it can also boost your immune system to fight infections.
Eating Coconut Oil is So Good For You!
My favourite way to use coconut oil is in my cooking. Instead of olive oil, canola oil, or any other random oil, it’s best to use coconut oil – not just because of the health properties, but because it has a very high smoke point.
Many oils (including olive oil) mutate and turn toxic when they are heated to medium or high heats. You don’t want that - damaged, toxic oils can have a very adverse affect on your skin. However, coconut oil is more stable and can withstand higher heat, leaving you with a much healthier meal.
Okay, great. But what about using it directly on the skin?
Using Coconut Oil on the Face
I’ve been getting a nutty amount of questions lately in regard to using coconut oil on the face. This is because there are many a review out there on the internet RAVING about how awesome coconut oil is for their skin. It helps to clear acne, heal wounds, and moisturize their skin to a silky state.
So people want to know from me… is it legit? Should they use it?
To be honest… I don’t know. I would definitely have no problem using it as a moisturizer for my body, but I’ve never used it on my face. Frankly, it’s because I’m too scared to try it.
While many people love using coconut oil topically, I’ve also heard many a time that it’s very comedogenic (meaning that it clogs your pores). One of the most concrete reasons I’m too freaked out to give it a try is because of some articles that Fran from High on Health posted a while ago about her experiences with coconut oil.
She wrote a post telling people that she was using coconut oil on her face and that it was going well, and that she LOVED IT! But then she later does a follow up post in which she says it triggered quite a breakout, all her pores became clogged, and it took her skin months to recover. She even calls it a ‘nightmare’.
Everyone Is Different, So….
But, then again, she is only one person, and I do find that no matter what the product or ingredient (or food for that matter), some will love it, and there will always be people out who happened to have had the worst experience of their life with it. However, she does have a lot of comments on those posts of hers from people saying that coconut oil broke them out as well.
If you are a braver soul than I and would like to give it a try, absolutely make sure that you are using unrefined, organic, virgin coconut oil. Then if it clogs your pores and breaks you out, you will know it wasn’t the cheap quality or pesticides causing you issues!
What do you think? Have you tried coconut oil on your face? Did you love it? Hate it? If not, would you try it? Or have I freaked you out enough to not touch it?
Funny you should say that. I have very sensitive skin and LOVED coconut oil as a moisturizer for a week or so… but then it started drying my skin out AND clogging the pores on my nose!
This seems to be a common experience :/
I’ve been greasing up with coconut oil from head to toe for about six months now… Silky smooth skin. And… I’m just doing it because it’s good for you. Not one pimple, rash, or dry area. Coconut oil use internally can lead to a detox reaction. So, coconut oil topically may as well. Once these people got the “eruptions” they should have ridden it out. Coconut oil would have helped the detox reaction go away as well….
Hi Clint,
My wife has been trying to ride it out for about 5 months now. She eats mostly grass fed meat & organic veggies for the last few years and doesn’t have much fat on her.
It started small with roughening of the skin a week or two after she added it to her diet, and the last 4-6 weeks has been really bad. So it seems to be getting worse rather than better.
We’re going to drop it for now and see if it clears up.
Let me know how it works out. Curious. She’s not putting it on topically then? Did she change anything else when she added it to her diet? Check out Coconut Cures by Bruce Fife. I’ve been telling people about coconut oil ever since reading it. I have about sixty people taking it now with no drawbacks, except three people didn’t lose weight so they stopped taking it. Also, check out the documentary on Netflix, Fords over Knives…
Hey D,
You might want to look into what is in your soaps, shampoos, and toothpaste. Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (and variants) can cause dermatitis of the skin. I developed a sudden sensitivity to SLS and parabens and my skin roughened, scaled, and blistered over the course of six months before I managed to figure out what it was.
Also, putting oil on that was a BAD move. It reacted even worse to any sort of natural oil (even virgin, organic olive or coconut oil) because it just feeds the imbalance in the skin.
This is what happened to me too. I wouldn’t use coconut oil on the face…though I love using it as a moisturizer and for hair conditioning treatment!!
I used extra virgin coconut oil for on my face after reading several good reviews on the net. The first week was good but after a couple of weeks, my skin became so dry and scaly. Then after a month or so, i noticed that my few cystic acnes that i was trying to get rid of, were multiplying in numbers and size. Oh my gosh !!!! That was a real nightmare !! I had to stop completely using coconut oil and it took me almost 2 months to get rid of the acnes..Thanks to MANUKA honey that became my miracle acne killer. I would never advice anybody to use coconut oil on the face after what i have been through, ( it was sooo scary) !!
I read that the Extra Virgin Coconut Oil doesn’r clog pores. The regular one because it is heated is comedogenic. Too afraid to try it though. I cut out dairy and wheat from my diet and 1 1/2 weeks later my inflammatory acne is under control Don’t want to risk it. I drink coconut milk though. Still getting my coconut benefit internally.
Carrie,
I also cut out dairy and wheat. 1.5 weeks into it my skin looked like it was making an improvement, but now tomorrow is two weeks and I have two going on three inflamed zits! What happened with you? Did it work, did you continue to not eat dairy and wheat? Did you find that either wheat or dairy (one or the other) was the culprit, or both? I’d be interested to know your experience!
do you guys still have yogurt?or just cut out milk?
I’ve tried virgin coconut oil on my face and it worked for a little bit and then I started breaking out from it.
I used it and found that it actually dried my face out as well, which seems sort of counter-intuitive since it’s an oil.
Maybe it’s some sort of detox reaction?
Like many others, it was great for the first week and then things got very bad! ;( I still use it on my body as my moisturizer and as we speak, I have some sweet potato fries baking in the oven covered in coconut oil! YUM!
I wonder why this drying thing after using the CO for a while seems to occur in many people. I thought my experience was just a fluke, but now that I hear others have had the same thing, it leads me to believe that it might be some sort of detox healing reaction.
Coconut oil is a fantastic moisturizer but I would never put it on my acne.
Want to know the best solution?
Water. That’s it. Splash water on your face and rub very gently with your hands while in the shower. Simple, free and effective!
Clearly this person doesn’t have a real acne problem.
Amen, sister. There is NOTHING simple about keeping acne at bay so that it doesn’t ruin your life.
Well, I don’t know. I don’t wash my face anymore, and it’s actually made my skin a lot better! http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3135/caveman-regimen/
I accidentally stopped washing my face when I lost my face wash and only used a wash cloth and water for a long time and surprisingly my acne actually went away. I use castor oil/olive oil mix to wipe off makeup but other than that I just use water now. Works great! The acne on my forehead is gone and my blackheads (mostly on nose and chin) are clearing up too. Apparently my face didn’t like my face wash and that’s why I had acne, haha.
I just use lemon juice. Cheap,simple & effective. Dries out & kills bacteria on pimple/zits FAST! It’s also 100% natural.
Wondering if you have ever tried/read about/heard about anyone using unrefined, untoasted sesame oil on your face??
Hmm no I haven’t… I’m not sure whether it’s a good oil to use or not!
I tried it. For three months. Gave me a terrible breakout. Lots of inflammations that that left slowly fading pigmentation scars. However, it was very effective at fading old scars and also at clearing whiteheads. Totally not worth it, though.
My advice for anyone who tries it is to get some serious assistance with the exact process of application. I did not have this and found it very hard to glean the method from information on the internet. Had I done it differently, I might have had a better result.
I was one of those asking about the coconut oil a while back after finding your post on healing crisis, since then I have taken the coconut oil out completely (could never cook with/eat it as it gives acid reflux) and gone back to the simple honey wash with jojoba oil moisturizer and voila, no more problems. As scary as it is to try new things like this, we can never truly know for sure without taking the chance. Thanks again for your help and the links to high on health, good luck with your moves to Australia! Cheers, Cat
Thank you!
hey tracy!
I’m wondering – could using a “heat resistant” olive oil be contributing to my acne? Could the oil still be turning into trans fats / oxidized? we usually get this olive oil at costco.
I’ve also been reading a lot about high raw. I’m thinking that perhaps incorporating a green smoothie everyday would be a good idea (i know it’ll be tough but…) but have you ever tried having just all out raw food?
or do you think I should just stick with cooking some but using COCONUT oil instead? my mom just keeps saying that “too much oil is bad for you” and she’s sort of been making me fear having coconut oil …. -.-
thoughts? thanks!
Hi Jeff!
I’ve never heard of heat resistant olive oil… are you frying with it? If so, it may still be going toxic at those super high temperatures. I would definitely switch to coconut oil for cooking, it’s way healthier. Don’t listen to your mom
As for high raw…. I remember getting a bit into high raw when was first trying to figure out the best way to eat for me… it didn’t last very long (seriously…. in order to get enough calories, you have to be eating like. all. day.), but I do think some raw foods is important! The thing is that many raw vegetables are really tough and hard to digest (broccoli, etc), so I think jumping into a high raw diet and trying to eat all sorts of tough veggies right off the bat will not be helpful. Smoothies are great because they pre-chew for you so it solves the problem…. and soft salads with tomato, cucumber, bell peppers, sprouts etc are also awesome.
I just hear about all these people getting really clear after going high raw. I found on youtube this one girl who got clear …http://www.youtube.com/user/RawRadiantHealth
if i just make smoothies throughout the day and drink that, will it be enough? I’ll be putting a whole ton of stuff in, though.
Hi Jeff… funny, I used to watch Natasha’s videos all the time. She’s probably the one who made me think I needed to eat raw in order to get clear. I’m not discouraging eating lots of raw foods (because they’re good for you), just that I think it takes a shitload of discipline and can be hard to digest for many, and in the end, the raw vegan diet is deficient in lots of nutrients that are best absorbed from animal products. Natasha ended up with a severe vitamin b12 deficiency (which happens to lots and lots of raw vegans after a year or two on the diet) and now she eats animal products. She actually eats, basically, the paleo diet now (although she doesn’t call it that).
I also had the brilliant idea once that I would just eat green smoothies all day. That lasted like two days hahah. I don’t think my body likes that much fruit. But hey… give it a try if you want!
oh. i haven’t watched those later videos then, i suppose! is her skin still fine after switching?
is her diet still mainly raw (like, 80 percent raw, then 20 percent cooked stuff?)
Yep it sounds lik eher skin was still fine after. And yeah, she still eats mainly raw foods!
hmm. i just watched her first few videos while on the high raw and she sounded so enthusiastic and happy that her skin was healing super fast and such … i’ll have to watch more videos, i guess.
i think for now i’ll just try this green smoothie thing for like a week and see how it goes. i’m varying the things I put in it as well – it’s not just fruit stuff. it’s mainly spinach, carrots, nuts, aloe vera juice, any berries, and avocado. it’s basically like your green smoothie video post.
do you still do your daily green smoothie? and if so how much do you think it helped you with your skin after you started?
Well it is a really healthy diet so I can imagine it would help your skin a lot! Raw diets replace almost all grains and beans and other things that people use as filler (but are no where near as nutritious as vegetables) with vegetables. So yeah, that’s a heck of a lot of nutrients that are great for the skin. It was just frickin hard to do, in my opinion.
I think the green smoothies definitely help my skin but I have no way to actually measure how much. I do notice a lack of energy when I don’t have them though so I know they make a difference…. I found the fruitless green smoothies with all the fat in them (that I was doing on my candida cleanse/paleo thing) to be a bit too dense though. Like… really heavy. I’m back to fruity green smoothies and I like them a lot better, (as far as enjoyment in drinking them and how they make me feel after having them)
what kind of things do you put in your “fruity green smoothies”?
the past .. 24 hours or so I’ve had about …. 6-7 cups of the smoothies that I’ve made … I don’t feel that tired at all, even though I had school today. Other than that, I’ve had some soup and that’s all. hah. I wonder if I’ll continue to have this kind of energy!
oh by the way, did you ever read natasha’s ebook that she sells? i’m thinking about buying it but I don’t want to be wasting money on something that has info I already know about …
Lately I’ve been using lots of blueberries, blackberries, usually a nectarine, lots and lots of greens (usually kale), 3-4 tablespoons of psyllium husk, water, and half an avocado to make it filling – usually I don’t feel good mixing fruit with anything fatty, but avocado seems to be okay and it keeps me fuller until lunch! I’m really enjoying my smoothies these days!
As for Natasha’s book, yes I did buy it, and yes it has some good pointers, but probably nothing you haven’t already learned here. It’s basically like…. don’t eat sugar, wheat, drink a lot of water…. don’t use harsh chemicals on your face…. eat vegetables. hahah…. something like that.
Hey tracy my skin was beutiful until this breakout plzz how should i get this acne off of me im 14 im a girl my first time hving acne plzz help
Hi Ashley,
I’m so sorry to hear you’re starting to break out. There’s lots of resources on the site to help you! Start reading on the article pages (get there from the menu bar)
gotcha. thanks for the pointer… I’ll probably save the money and buy your book … is it coming out soon (or is it out already..?)
so basically you drink the smoothies in the morning for your breakfast … is that all? what do you usually have for lunch and dinner? (i’m thinking maybe trying to copy your diet would solve all the problems, lol … but we have different bodies though, … maybe that’s a sliight problem).
haha yep, my book is out already, you can hear all about it here: http://www.thelovevitamin.com/books
It also includes videos about what I have for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and a look in my fridge and cupboards
isn’t it an online book? (i haven’t watched the video yet .. will soon) … so that means you can constantly update it, right? according to changes in your own diet.
Yep, it’s an online book. And yes, there may be updates, but I’m not promising constant updates! haha …. you know, you do need to find what works for you and not just copy exactly everything I do
I’ve been using coconut oil on my face and it used to make my face very soft and radiant and help with acne too. However, recently, I have been breaking out and I’m not sure whether it’s due to the coconut oil or my changing sleeping schedule. And now that the clogged pore concern was mentioned… I’ve been getting lots of clogged pores/blackheads and whiteheads recently. Maybe I should lay off on the coconut for a while… I haven’t tried the jojoba oil yet so maybe I’ll give that a whirl
I wouldnt put in on my face personally, but I put a heaping teaspoon in my green tea every morning. Tastes great and helps me get some healthy fat! I love it.
Also for the record I’ve been using jojoba oil for months and I find it to be fantastic! My skin tends to be dry (but still acne prone) and this stuff is great to remove makeup and then I can slap on some more to moisturize!
Awesome.. I like to hear from people who like jojoba oil
I like it too!
That’s weird… i’ve been using coconut oil on my face for the last 3 or 4 months and it’s perfect. I have a very sensitive and dry skin. Sometimes I have some blackheads and i do a facial sauna with camomile and a facial mask with honey and olive oil once a week. I’m going to pay attention to see if something strange happens.
Hey, if it works for you, then don’t worry about it! If it was going to cause you problems, it would have by now
Oh, a facial mask with olive oil and sugar, not honey!
I use a vanilla and orange scented coconut oil on my face. I used it all summer as a misturizer and ‘ foundation’ but I think being in the sun helped a lot too
the stuff I use is hand crafted by Liz Neves of Brooklyn, NY@ Raganella’s Botanical Solutions. I will have to see how it will work or help now during the cold season. I’m all for keeping acne away even at 50!
Hey Tracy, I’ve been using coconut oil as a night moisturizer for one month now
I stopped using it a month ago, but am still dealing with the breakouts. I was fine the first week i used it, but the weeks after that, i keep waking up with a new pimple, even on the places i don’t break out at all. Do you have any suggestions? how long is this going to last? I am not doing anything right now, just washing my face with honey, i figure if i leave it alone the pores will eventually unclog themselves. Please give me some suggestions, I am freaking out!
Hi Neha!
I’m sorry you had a bad time with the coconut oil… I don’t know how long it’s going to last, but if it was caused by the coconut oil it will go away. A good jojoba oil might help to unclog them… you may be wary of oils now, but jojoba oil is different than others.. it’s actually a wax and the most similar to our own natural oils
Your skin is supposed to worsen prior to recovery because your skin is detoxifying it’s self with the applied cocnut oil on to open up your pores and cleanse all of the built up bacteria and other toxins from your cloged pores. If your not sure if your allergic to the organic based product apply the elbo and wait about 24hrs.
I tried it for a few months about a year ago. It broke me out horribly. However, I don’t think I used it right. I know now after your jojoba oil video how to cleanse with oil. I didn’t know that, then. I put a lot on, let it sit for an hour or two and only patted off the excess, I didn’t rinse it off. (This was in the winter.) So, if anyone out there is going to try it, don’t do it that way. Maybe it works if done differently. I won’t be trying it again. Jojoboa oil works just fine for me.
However, it did significantly reduce pigmentation scars. It also made my skin very soft and supple.
I have been using coconut oil with OCM for years and my skin (which used to break out a lot) has never been clearer!! FWIW, I also use a homemade honey almond scrub several times a week and I don’t moisturize with straight CO, I use a natural homemade lotion (which does have CO in it.
Cool! I’m really glad it works for you. I realize coconut oil isn’t all bad… it just works for some and not for others. But that’s true of my beloved jojoba oil too, so there you go.
I’ve read that Grapeseed Oil is the closet to our natural skin and less likely to cause breakouts. Is this true?
I used the oil cleansing method, using Castor Oil and Olive Oil, however after the first week I broke out BAD with bright red pimples and white heads. Strangely, the breakouts were all along my jawline and up my face to underneath my eye brows. Possibly an allergic reaction to one or both oils?
Just an FYI to others with sensitive skin!
Jen, I’m having the same result from OCM. Its been a few weeks since I stopped using the co, evoo & castor oil, but my face still looks horrible. It’s so depressing, I’ve never broken out this bad in my life. How long did it take you to get clear again? What did you use?
what type of coconut oil should i use for cooking?
there was 2 types at the store i shop at. One for high temp cooking and one for medium temp ( which was mentioned “something pressed” i remember watching one of your videos that mentioned pressed in it
It should be virgin, unrefined. Cold pressed is probably what you’re thinking of. Either way, even unrefined “medium” temp coconut oil can withstand high heat quite well. Don’t buy the refined stuff, even if they say it’s safer for cooking.
i dont really understand the difference?
is the high heat coconut oil unrefined and the medium head refined? both of them were virgin. sorry im so new to this.
Sorry – the way I understand it, is that because, generally, when oils are heated, they go bad. Unless they are refined, because then it doesn’t matter since they are already bad anyway, therefore, they are fine to cook with at any heat, but not really because they are still bad even before you began cooking.
I have heard sometimes that they say ‘use unrefined for lower heat’ and ‘refined for higher’ … but with coconut oil, I don’t think it really matters, since I don’t believe it goes bad at high heat due to its saturated fat content. So buy unrefined – which is what they call virgin. If both of them were virgin – well, I don’t really know what the difference is between the ones they label medium and the ones they label high. Sorry :/
You are awesome! I was looking for information about coconut oil. I still have a question and wonder if you might be able to answer it.
Do you have an opinion about using coconut oil based cleanser/soap (e.g., Dr. Bonner’s or Dessert Essence Tea Tree Therapy Bar)? Since I’ve read coconut oil is highly comedogenic, I’ve always been confused about whether that should apply to it in a soap form.
I have oily skin that is prone to having a lot blackheads and some whiteheads. Almost nothing seems to be able to slough off all that sebum at the end of the day. Coconut oil soap seems to work wonders initially, though it dries me out. After a month of use, I noticed my black/white head and oiliness problems were still better, but I was starting to get more inflamed acne (at least one at all times), a rarity for me before. I still have hope for using coconut oil soap, but maybe I should try it in combination with other things? Any ideas? Maybe a good moisturizer like jojoba oil?
Hi there – check out this article, it might help you figure out which oil is best for your skin:
http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3103/that-oil-is-ours-basic-skincare-with-oils/
Also I wouldn’t suggest using any cleanser/soap on your face… use something gentle like honey or even nothing and all and just wash with your oil of choice. Or you don’t even have to wash your face at all… http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3135/caveman-regimen/ – might help you regulate your skin’s sebum production. Washing only makes it overproduce
I use coconut oil everywhere including my face and never broke out from it. It was my diet causing acne….wheat and dairy! I’ve been using the CO for years! Internally and external! LOVE IT!
I can’t be without my coconut oil! But only in my diet or on other parts of my body than my face. I tried it on my face with the same consequences as so many others. My skin’s just now recovering! Any oils or even essential oils do me in. Which is sad, since I’d love for them to work wonders. Love your insight and experiments, Tracy!
I heard coconut oil is bad because it has saturated fat. Do you have any more information on that?
Hi Analisa – The whole ‘saturated fat is bad for you’ thing is a total myth that’s been regurgitated for years and now resides in public consciousness as truth when it’s not at all… http://chriskresser.com/heartdisease
Love this article. I have to say that I have used coconut oil on my face as an acne treatment and did not like the results
i got a lot of whiteheads afterwards that took forever to go away. I haven’t tried it since to confirm it was coconut oil but I’m pretty sure that it was. Having said that, however, I do consume it every day and love it! I also use it on my legs as a shaving oil 
Try lemon juice. Dab some on pimple/acne area and just leave it to dry. Repeat the process if necessary. In my experience, pimple is usually gone the next day. Hope this helps.
I’ve been a coconut oil fanatic for just over a year now. I use it on my entire body, including my face. I also have experienced it ‘drying me out’. I go back and forth between coconut oil & vitamin E oil (yes, on my face). I have acne prone skin & the use of these products have helped keep my acne under control. I should also mention that I use a facial exfoliater (you can find these at Target/Walmart/Walgreens)on my face each night when I wash it (Not a soap with exfoliating balls in it, an actual exfoliating pad). So this may be keeping my skin from becoming clogged from the oil. I use Extra Virgin Organic Coconut Oil.
It has also healed my son’s psoriasis on his scalp.
I love coconut oil so much, i’m now making my own. I use it a lot but as far as using it on my face, I only use it to remove my makeup. I don’t mind moisturizing my body and hair with it because it’s excellent but I would definitely break out if I left it on my face.
Like so many of you, I also used extra virgin organic coconut oil on my face and it was good for a week and then suddenly I had zits appear on my cheeks and chin and forehead. I have never had an acne problem but more importantly, I’ve never had zits on my cheeks ever. I won’t use it on my face anymore except on my eyes when I go to bed. And it removes makeup wonderfully. I have no problem putting it on the rest of my body though, including my neck. I don’t understand what is going on in the facial skin to cause breakouts whereas it is fine everywhere else.
I wonder if we used it as a nighttime moisturizer I day a week if it would work well for the facial skin recovery. Maybe everyday is the problem. Idk, haven’t tried this theory yet but I see that many of us were doing good for a week straight and then the zits came. Maybe the skin needs a break.
I had a better experience with organic hempseed oil on my face, but after around two weeks also got cheek acne. I think Im going to try every couple days routine and see what happens. Maybe I’ll switch between hempseed and coconut.
I tried coconut oil & i got the same problems. Skin actually dried out & began to break out.
I was told by an old Italian lady to use olive oil, not coconut oil. This woman had the most radiant skin at her old age, so i immediately gave it a try.
I’ve been using olive oil as a facial moisturizer daily for a year. My face has never been so clear and beautiful. I have struggled with acne my whole life. But, not since I’ve been using the miracle cure. Olive oil does not clog pores like coconut oil does. Olive oil actually helps draw the oil out of your pores, and it helps your skin regulate it’s secretion of sebum.
I will never EVER pay so much for facial products, when all you need is a clay mask & olive oil moisturizer. My face is radiant, and i am so happy i have found something that keeps my face clear & beautiful.
Hi Chica – I’m glad olive oil worked for you! I often hear about olive oil breaking people out too though… different oils for different people seems to be how it is. What kind of skin type do you have?
I used RMS Beauty Coconut oil facewash/eye make-up remover and their coconut oil based concealer and blush. BAD BAD IDEA. I feel bad for that company as they base all their products around coconut oil. It has severely clogged my pores for a long time now and my cheeks were never the same.
You know what! I never even messaged them to tell them my horror story. I should, shouldn’t I!?
It was great at first but then the problems came and big time.
I was wondering if anyone here has tried oregano oil. I have started reading really great things about taking it internally as well as application to the skin (when diluted, of course). Anyone tried it?
Yes:) Taken orally is fantastic for your health. Here’s a little skin recipe that works great…
(all organic essential oils)
1 drop oregano oil
1 drop thyme oil
1/2 drop cinnamon bark oil( must be very carful this one can burn if used too much)
1 drop lavender oil
Add this combo to whatever moisturizer you’re using
I really am shocked to see how many of you have a bad reaction to coconut oil. I am prone to breakouts and coconut oil is wonderful! For myself anyway. I have read that grape seed oil is great for people who are prone to acne breakouts. Maybe you can give that a try and see how that works for you. Also I’ve added MSM cream to my routine with great results! My face is smoother, more even toned and it’s reducing my scars! I smooth on MSM cream then add Coconut Oil over it twice a day. Love what it’s been doing for my skin! Just wanted to share my two suggestions and hopefully some of you can get great results too! Good luck!
What is MSM cream if I may ask?
MSM is an organic sulfur compound. MSM is required for healthy collagen and keratin which are essential for healthy hair, skin and nails. It literally regenerates skin tissue so it renews itself, diminishing scars and discoloration. It can also be taken orally which I have not done YET. MSM also has proven antioxidant benefits. Google ” MSM for acne” There is so much information that just might blow your mind that we haven’t heard much about this! Videos too!
Oh I forgot to add, I read someones experience with MSM cream online and she had deep crater like scaring on her face from acne. She said her face has become very smooth, even and soft and by looking at her you would now know she ever had an acne problem. This is what made me jump on the MSM cream! I’ve noticed results in under 2 weeks! It’s sad that this information is not everywhere for people to find…You really have to DIG for the right information. I know diet is extremely important too. Too many today have food allergies such as dairy and wheat that is absolutely contributing to their skin problems. Once you find the actual root cause, you can then fix the problems it left behind, otherwise you’ll spend your life chasing your tail!
http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3586/rolling-acne-scars-msm-cream/ was it this article?
Yes that was one of the many success stories I have read about MSM
Thanks for the info! I have noticed that pasta and some breads make my stomach blow up like a balloon, I was thinking maybe a gluten intolerance?? Could that actually be triggering my acne you think?
Aimee,
Most definitely! Try completely eliminating all wheat/gluten from you diet for a couple weeks and see how you feel and how your skin looks. Just eliminate one allergen at a time so you know for sure what may be causing you trouble. Good luck, hopefully thats your problem and you will know right away whats been causing or contributing to your acne.
You could have a mild gluten intolerance but most likely it’s not a true intolerance. With all the pasteurization and processing done to most foods, it kills the digestive enzymes needed to aid the body in that process. Try taking digestive enzymes, NOT probiotics, although those are very important too, 30min-1hr before your meals. And make sure you are only eating complex carbs! I have adult acne. I have done literally almost everything. Iv’e done Vegan, Raw, vegetarian, organic, no dairy, no gluten, skin specific diets, ect.. Including all kinds of topicals, meds, essential oils, masks, ect. over the years. Skin specific diets in conjunction with all natural organic skin care worked the best but never cleared my skin. I recently found out that I have a mild case of PCOS. which can and almost always causes acne. I have been taking the meds for it for only a couple weeks and noticed a massive difference already!:) If you aren’t shy email me and I can help you create a specific skin diet just for you.
Lisa, what meds do doctors typically prescribe for PCOS?
I wish I read this at first. I started using coconut oil as a moisturizer, but I am still breaking out. However, my forehead got clear. I had lots of pimples there. I break out just on cheeks and around mouth now which sucks. I am going to stop applying raw coconut oil on skin. I am just gonna use the Dr. Bronner soap again.
I can tell you from experience that Coconut oil helped my skin out for about 3 days after that it became increasingly oily. So I decided to do some research. I found out that although oils are great for you face your skin may overreact and start producing either more oils or less depending upon the person, which would result in a breakout. It’s not necessarily the product your using just how your skin reacts to it. I however have large pores and very sensitive skin, do I still use coconut oil on my face?, absolutely. I just incorporate it in with my homemade cleanser. I find I have the soft skin without the drying or oiliness from before. I hope this helps for some of you.
I’ve been using coconut oil for several months now and haven’t found it to be a problem. I don’t put it in my T-zone, only on my cheeks and neck. It makes my skin look and feel younger.
I use Nutiva Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. I have had acne for many years and within the last few months I have made many changes to my diet and I changed my facial cleanser to a more natural one from Burt’s Bees. I only wash my face and moisturize it with coconut oil. Less oil if I am going out of the house but if I am staying home I will usually apply a bit more. I read that coconut oil has to be digested(by bacteria on your face) to provide benefits, which kind of makes sense but I cannot find much to back this up. But just in case this is true, I make sure to apply coconut oil to my clean face and reapply many hours to my less clean face. Also, my complexion is more clear and my acne scars are disappearing fast. Im not sure what the coconut oil is responsible for, but I definitely have never noticed more acne or any other side effect.
Hello! Prior to purchasing a bottle of coconut oil today, I did some research on the effects it had on the skin. Overall it seemed pretty good, although one or two sites did warn about the molecules being too big and clogging the pores. I’m so relieved I didn’t put any on my face yet. I guess it’s just gonna go to my hair, huh.
But I have been applying a mixture castor oil and extra virgin olive oil about less than a week ago, and at first I started to notice some remarkable changes in the glow of my skin, but now I think I’m starting to break out a little. It’s scary. I’m switching to EVOO to minimize the damage and hopefully my face will heal quickly. ><
coconut oil, great for consumption and body. but was Terrible for my face. i stuck with it for a couple of months. thought i was having detox effects. nope. no way. don’t put it on your face!
Love the coconut oil! Controls my acne like no other thing! Gave me hope
))))))) I’ve been using it for about half a year or more and hope to use it for many years!
I agree, I can’t believe how many people are getting bad results putting it on their face. My face is clear and soft unlike when I don’t use it. It’s been years and I have friends and family who are using it too with great results. I don’t get it!!
Hi there,
) You have to stir it in before each sip until you drink most of the oil because it will pool a bit on top of your cup. I also started using it as a night time moisturizer and only at night. I use my normal Philosophy moisturizer that I have been using for a long time during the day. First I have to say I’m in my forties, and that I break out occasionally (usually monthly…women will get that one :/ ), My face will feel dry if I do not use moisturizer, and I do use a pure mineral makeup…. but weather I do moisturize or not…or makeup or not, within a few hours, my face gets really shiny and I usually blot excess oil from my face every day to get rid of the shine. After using coconut oil as a night moisturizer, my skin was GREAT. It felt soft and moisturized but amazingly enough, not oily…It absorbs into the skin. I’ve read that the tiny molecular structure of this oil allows this to happen, which also makes it a great hair oil treatment. Anyway, It completely cured the excess oil production in my skin which has been annoying me for years! I guess it’s what my skin needed…I think it’s amazing! I too did break out after a week or so but I think this may be the whole monthly thing. So I’m going to try it again for the next few weeks to see what happens. I just thought I would share this experience, because anyone with the shiny, excess oily skin will understand how frustrating it is. Everyone skin is different, but I think it’s definitely worth a try. 
I Recently starting reading great things about coconut oil. I purchased the pure,cold pressed,extra virgin, unrefined type in the jar which looks almost solid and opaque, which I read was the best to use. I started putting a teaspoon in my morning coffee (which is really good by the way
I tried the EV coconut oil, and thought it was working great on my skin when applied topically. At first, everything went away and my skin looked great. THEN a horrible breakout. I am still trying to clear up months later, I would advise it is great for cooking, but not for moisture on your face.
I’m glad people are still commenting on this article since I’m probably one of very last ones to try virgin coconut oil on the face and getting confused not being sure if it’s a good thing or not. I actually wanted to stick with the cavemen regimen about 2 months ago, but my skin looked so awfully dry and wrinkley, I couldn’t handle it. I was out of the pure unrefined shea butter I was using before and all I had at home was EVCO, so I thought despite all the warnings I give it a try myself. as expected I started breaking out a little bit at the beginning, small pimples that come to the surface quickly but also heal very quickly. but about 1-2 weeks ago (after about 6 weeks of use) my skin started looking much nicer, clearer, better complexion, no pimples for once, smaller pores. So I thought, great, I already made it through the healing crisis everyone is talking about! but then, I couple of days ago I started breaking out again. a lot. all around my nose and mouth, plus my skin is super flakey and looks worn out. It’s the same kind of pimples I described before, come fast, heal fast. Is it possible to have a second healing crisis? and is it worth it? I didn’t make any major changes in my lifestyle only that I stopped drinking alcohol completely about 10 days ago and that I’m doing more yoga. I believe no one can answer that questions, but I really don’t know if I should stop with EVCO at this point or try a little longer. The thing is, I don’t know what to do instead. I could go back to shea butter, but I’m not sure if it was the right thing. Jojoba never worked okay for me but not that great, I also tried a lot of other oils, like macadamia or almond or pomegranate. Nothing seemed to match my skin. I’m reading about great results with hemp seed oil, but am honestly tired of having to try yet another oil. also hemp seed oil has to be refridgerated, which I find too complicated.
Eva, if it were me, i would stop the coconut oil now. It seems like it’s just not suited for your skin type. Have you tried tamanu oil?? I am using it now and starting to see great results. I got organic tamanu from mynaturalmarket.com
tamanu oil – never even heard of it! thanks for your reply. before I jump on it, how long have you been using it? and how do you use it? and yes, I already decided, after writing the comment above that I will stop with coconut oil on my skin. will keep on taking it internally though. another thing is that I’m planning to go back to washing my face with bottled spring water only, coz I find the tapwater here too drying. I was using tap water lately out of pure laziness.
I have been using the tamanu oil about a week now and have already seen some awesome improvement, even with scars.
You can use the oil straight and all you need is a tiny drop for your whole face (pea size or less). I mix it with my daily lotion so it’s not so “oily”!
I have fairly dry skin and a little bit of acne. I’d like to try extra virgin coconut oil but frankly after hearing all the reviews about the turn outs I’m a bit scared..My mom says that it should work but I don’t want to take any chances with it on my face! But it is great for a moisturizer on the rest of my body;) I love it!
I actually use olive oil mixed with salt or sugar and scrub my face in the shower then just rinse with a light layer of body wash and use bb cream for foundation now instead and my breakouts disappeared.. not sure if that would work for all but my skin was really bad during and after my pregnancy. This seemed to help.
update: I’ve stopped using e v coconut oil more than a week ago, and now I’m really breaking out. I came to this blog more than a year ago because I thought I still had acne, but I actually only had a pimple here and there and was picking too much. but now?? I don’t know if it has to do with the coconut oil, my skin now looks worse than in a long time and while a was still using it, I really feel I’m losing control right now one pimple after the other popping up in my face, hello?? I don’t know where to start again. I’m only using roswater on my skin at the moment, no tap water, no oil, my skin is suddenly super oily, although it was dry before and my mind is racing to find the cause. maybe it’s just a major die off reaction. oh man..
this reaction is caused by the cleansing properties of the coconut oil:
the first few days your skin looks and feels better, but in a week or so some people with more toxin buildup deep in the skin start to break out. but dont freak! the first few days the oil cleaned out your top layers of skin, but it started to soak deeper into the skin and pull out the toxins built up there. if you hang in there and keep applying the oil, it should get better as your skin gets detoxed and starts to clear up. google ‘healing crisis with coconut oil’ for articles and forums to read if you’re still not convinced.
hey thanks for your reply, but if you read above you can see that I was using extra virgin coconut oil for more than 6 weeks. first my skin got worse, then after two or three weeks it got much better, but after 6 weeks it got really awful. so I already stopped using it a week ago and won’t go back to it. I don’t wanna have a ‘healing crisis’ every month. I read all articles I could find and I know, some people have amazing results when they stuck with it, but for me it was too much in the end. also pimples kept on coming back in the same spot over and over, how many times does a pore need to get the toxins out?
The main reason why many oils seem to dry the skin and clog the pores after a while is generally because you’ve been using them “pure”. They trick the skin into producing less sebum, and are not properly absorbed at the same time. You cannot “dilute” oils, but you can emulsify them temporarily with water or anything liquid.
Personally, I’m very satisfied with my oil-based cleansing method, and it basically consists of using little oil on dripping wet skin, massaging thoroughly and keeping adding more water in to make sure oil and water “emulsify” a bit, so that the oil is not too heavy on my skin.
By the way, I use coconut oil.
In fact, pure oil alone will never moisturise properly, since it only greases the skin; water alone can’t moisturise properly either, since it evaporates in no time. As far as I know, the best way should be to emulsify them, so that water makes sure the oil gets absorbed better, and the oil makes sure the water (=hydration) gets “locked” in the external skin cells.
My personal experience is that “mixing” them directly on the skin with a little massage is perfectly fine for me, but I’ve heard other people say that the only stable and effectively mosturising (thus non-clogging) emulsion is the cream-like one, where the liquid phase and the fat phase are stably emulsified thanks to an emulsifier agent.
As always, it’s a matter of tastes and skin types, I suppose
Hope it helped!
Hi tracy!
So I would love to experience the benefits of coconut oil in cooking, but the problem is, I hate the taste (and smell) of coconut. I’ve tried it in cooking before, but i just can’t stomach it. As there probably aren’t any other oils out there that have as many benefits and can still be used for cooking, i was wondering if there are any other cooking oils with high smoke points?
Thanks much
Also, does butter have a low smoke point?
Hi Erin, I use animal fats from healthy, pastured animals. If you can find raw fat from a farm (from a pig or cow), you can render it yourself and then a jar of it lasts forever. (google instructions for rendering lard, or rendering tallow). The other option is ghee, which is clarified butter. Butter consists of mostly dairy fat with a little bit of milk solids (the proteins), which is the part that burns. Make ghee and it becomes the pure fat which then has a high smoke point and is very stable and healthy.
Here’s my video about making ghee:
http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3976/how-to-make-ghe/
I didn’t use much when I tried it as a moisturizer, and my face broke out the next day. I had clear skin beforehand too after I had switched to washing my hair w/ BS and ACV because market conditioner was clogging my pores.
Hi everyone..
I highly recommend vco!!
I consume virgin coconut oil (vco softgel) everyday. 2 capsules per day. I also apply vco pure oil on my skin (face & lips) and leave it for 20 min to half an hour before rinse with warm water. works the best for my skin & my body can feel the benefits too; since I consume it
cost cheaper than whatever oils u ever heard! u should give a try!
i bought them here:
http://www.facebook.com/sumihafrizonlinestore
it’s Malaysian product (Asia). that’s why its cheaper with dollar
I’ve been using coconut oil on my face for about two weeks and just stopped today. It was great for a week and now I have horrible cyclic acne all over my chin and temples. I’m thinking of switching to grapeseed oil. Anyone have any experience using it?
Isn’t the common ingredient “phenoxyethanol” derived from coconut oil? If so, this would be another ingredient to look out for in skincare products. I have had a recent experience with severe skin blockage and it seems to coincide with a product that included this ingredient.
Hi Tracy
Is unrefined or refined better to injest internally?
I say unrefined, but many health folks say it really doesn’t make a huge difference with ingesting coconut oil as to whether it’s unrefined or not
I use coconut oil every night before bed and whole day on weekend when I’m home. It soften my skin and fading the pigmentation and freckles. But the best way to use it on your face is apply it after shower when ur face is wet. The water help to spread the coconut oil evenly and that will avoid thick layer of oil on the face which can end up clogging the pores. So the key is moderation!
Coconut oil made my skin feel wonderful at first but then slowly clogged my pores. It also took me months to recover. Recently, I tried Emu oil as moisturizer and same thing happened. I knew it was the oil because I rubbed some on 1/2 of my chest and broke out. The other half was clear. I decided my skin just doesn’t like oil as a moisturizer.
I’ve been using coconut oil as a moisturizer for about 6 months now and I LOVE it! I used to use harsh acne cleansers but decided to try an all natural approach. I incorporate coconut oil into almost everything I use on my skin including my face wash, deoderant,and makeup remover. It’s helped my acne so much and it’s by far my favorite oil to use. I guess it just depends on what skin type you have.
I have been using coconut oil for about 2 years now on my face & chest. These areas are where i get the most acne. As soon as i started using it, it cause me to break out sorta bad because its bringing everything to the surface. After day 2/3 of using it every night my face was clear and i havent had anymore acne! i get a few break outs here there because i forget to use it but it works great for me, my sister mom and a lot of my friends use it also! REMEMBER, at first you will break out because its detoxing your skin and bringing everything to the surface!!!!
I have just started using coconut oil on my face. I wash and moisturise with it and my skin has never looked better!! Everyone is different but don’t be affraid to try anything that is natural. Fijian women use it all the time and there skin is more than radiant.
I’ve only just started using CO both topically to acne and cooking. It is very early days (1st week), but I’ve found it certainly brings cyst-like pimples on my chin to the surface, which previously didn’t want to budge!! As for a body moisturiser, my skin feels softer and more radiant! I am also testing it out on random scars to see if it help diminish these…. Keep you posted! Wish me luck! Scary but anyone suffering from adult acne will understand the measures you are willing to take!!
What do you think about coconut oil as part of a face wash rather than just using it on its own? I have come across a number of cleansers that include coconut in some form (oil, “coconut fatty acid”) and am scared to try them because of it. For example I have heard great things about African Black Soap, but it contains coconut oil. I’m looking for a natural cleanser I can use with my Clarisonic, as pure oil doesn’t work the greatest for that!
Hi Lauren – I don’t know. It seems the consensus on coconut oil is a split. Many MANY people say coconut oil rocks for their skin and acne (and I’ve heard the same about African black soap). But others seem to break out from it, so it all just depends on your skin and whether it likes it or not. Check out this article for more ideas about what you can wash your face with: http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3477/14-natural-face-cleansing-alternatives/
Figured I’d share my experience with virgin coconut oil – it was recommended to me that I use VCO as a moisturizer on my body, where I’m most prone to acne. So I was applying it to my skin after I showered/bathed daily. After 1 week, all my acne had disappeared and my skin looked AMAZING. A week after that, I started breaking out again – first on my chest, then it spread to my shoulders and eventually my upper back. I figured it was a healing crisis so I tried to ride it out, but after two full months I still had the worst acne I’ve ever had on my body. I stopped using it about a month ago and now have gone caveman (well, I guess caveman lite – I still get water on my body whenever I shower, which is usually every other day). I’m definitely seeing improvements in my skin now that I’ve stopped using VCO but I think it will take at least another month for all the red spots to completely fade. I also noticed while using VCO that my body felt a little dry – not super dry, but it never seemed to be soft and smooth the way that many people who champion coconut oil said it would. I guess that should have been a warning sign that the VCO wasn’t working for me!
Hi y’all
I have VERY oily skin . So most of my products are to help treat that. Usually every couple weeks my oily area do get very dry because of everything I use. So, as I was doing an online search about coconut oil to try on my hair I also read that its a great moisterizer. So I said “what the heck” it worked great! The first two times and then I started getting these big zit like bumps on my face and I haven’t been able to get rid of them :/ at first I thought it might be because certain womanly “moments” had occurred. So I continued with the oil and the bumps got bigger and spread more…. coconut oil works AWESOME on hair and skin. Face I would advice not to try it
Even if i use shampoo with coconut oil in it my skin breaks out insanely. NOT for me
I imagine that there is a heavy oil build up occuring in te skin, and that a great way to.cleanse the build up would be adding tea tree oil mixed with water to a suspension and rinsing your face and acne prone areas. It is antibacterial and water soluble, I believe that would combat a lot of the break outs you are experiencing
I tried coconut oil myself about a year ago and it made my skin lackluster, clogged my pores, it was very drying, and made my acne worse. However, this is not the case for everyone. The article I just came across (link below) made a lot of sense out of what I had experienced and what others were experiencing.
http://coconut-oil-tips.com/beauty/does-coconut-oil-clog-pores/#
Oh thanks for linking to that article… good to hear that someone has a reason for why it may or may not work for you instead of all this chance
Coconut oil is AMAZING!!!! you need to injest it and use it topically and i only use it after cleansing before bed…….I am 29yrs old and nothing else has worked like this for me EVER! I stress take it internally aswell as using it topically. You may think its breaking you out at first…..ITS NOT…..it is pulling out all the blockages and blackheads to the surface and you will experience the breakout come to the surface dry out and then clear like you’ve never been clear before. I urge anyone with acne to try this and stick with it this stuff is truely amazing!! You definetly want organic virgin coconut oil not refined versions and don’t be fooled by the hype there is no such thing as extra virgin its all a marketing ploy! organic virgin is what you want! Remember BE HAPPY and I mean truely happy and comfortable in you’r own skin, its a major key in getting clear, love yourself, you are beautiful!!!
So.. I don’t use it as a face mask, however I use it as an exfoliant for my face by adding one part oil and one part baking soda. It’s very mild on the skin but takes off all of that dead unwanted skin but moisturizes like NO OTHER.. I have a break out here and there.. I use topical vitamin C (all organic) at night and I used to have fairly bad acne and also redness and it has REALLY changed my skin. You just have to find the right combo for YOU! Vitamin C is amazing in it’s own right.
I have acne prone combination oily/super dry skin. I used in on my face for 4 days & had to IMMEDIATELY stop but it caused a massive break out.
I tried it – just for a few days and then stopped. A few days later my face broke out. I’m so glad I only used it a few days…hoping my face clears up soon.
I used coconut oil, and it was not good on my face, it moisturized at the beginning, then dried it out, n eventually gave me a lot of pimples, I love the scent, but dont want to use it again, I am currently using jojoba oil from an organic store, and my skin has never been better, I also mix a drop of tea tree oil for my chin where I break the most, due to Im always touching it . It has helped greatly,I still break out but they r tiny n go away fast, I was recently reading that there are two kind of jojoba oil, clear and yellow, and im really wondering which one is best, or at least which one I should void, also the website says it will clog pores!, so Im little confused, any comments greatly apreciated it. the web is:http://www.newdirectionsaromatics.com/jojoba-clear-deodorized-organic-carrier-oil-p-1228.html
Check out this article: http://www.thelovevitamin.com/3028/choose-good-jojoba-oil-acne/
I had to stop taking birth control about 8 months ago for medical reasons and ever since i’ve had worse acne then ever!(I’m 29). Upper back, chest, face and neck. FRUSTRATING! I’ve been taking primrose oil(which i read can help), and just started this regimen after store bought cleansers were not helping. I will see if this helps. First steam bath to open pores, then a mixture of honey/lemonjuice/cinnamon/bakingsoda. let sit on face 10minutes. Rinse. Follow with witch hazel toner to close pores. Then coconut oil to moisturize. Any thoughts on this? That’s for my face, as for the rest of my problem areas i have no idea…..
I use primrose oil topically, as I just commented below. I can’t seem to find it local as just an oil so I have tweezers next to my bottle just to pop a little hole in the capsule & I rub it on my face at night. I always wake up with super smooth skin!
Hi there,
Great article. I have acne-prone skin. Is this okay to be used for oil pulling or will it make my skin worse? x
If you want to oil pull with coconut oil, it shouldn’t affect your skin
I’m 25 and for the greater part of my life have suffered from all kinds of different acne throughout my face. Pills and creams and scrubs never did the trick, and I would try them for large amounts of time to make sure I was getting past the “initial detox” period. Anyway, coconut oil never helped my acne, but I do use it on the rest of my body, though here in Florida it tends to almost be TOO much.
For those of you with the acne issue, I have been putting on a mixture of apple cider vinegar & tea tree oil on my face every night, followed by (alternating) primrose oil (balances out hormones) and vitamin A oil as a moisturizer. In the day I use a regular organic moisturizer. After a couple months I was even able to go off birth control (as it’s been the only thing to help my skin in any way shape or form for years). I have never been able to go out in public without covering up with some organic concealer of some sort but now I can! I know everyone is different, but those oils are great for your skin regardless, especially if you don’t get them naturally in your diet. I also try and stay away from dairy as often as possible
Hope this helped.
I’m so glad to have stumbled across this – I have been battling my skin for years and years. Last year had great success with clean eating. Saw a HUGE improvement with my skin after cutting out white flour, sugar and processed foods. But fell off the wagon a little and went on a sugar detox at the beginning of January. Saw no skin improvement, so when that was done, started eating paleo. I was using the OCM and coconut oil as a moisturizer and my face is a DISASTER zone. It’s never been so bad. It looks awful and I refuse to “ride it out” I quit the OCM but now i’m not sure what to use for a moisturizer that doesn’t have a lot of chemicals in it?
RIght now I’m using Dr Bronners soap, a diluted ACV tonic and tea tree oil for spot treatment until I find something else to try.
I’ve recently started using coconut oil to remove my eye make-up, but it has made me break out around the top of nose and eyebrow area.
Also, I used it as a hair mask at the weekend and let it sit while I was in the bath… the oil must have rolled down my back, because now I have a massive breakout there!
I’ll be more cautious about using it topically again!
[...] natural skin care bloggers Tracy from The Love Vitamin actually wrote an article discussing coconut oil and acne. Check it out, as well as some of her other articles. Her blog is very informative, and it’s [...]
Hi Tracy! As you can see from the trackback above, I recently wrote an article on my blog about coconut oil and how it’s affected my skin. I’d love for you to take a look at it and let me know what you think! Anyway…
Add me to your list of people that coconut oil does NOT work for. My hair loves coconut oil, but my face despises it. I’m so disappointed that coconut oil didn’t work for me, but I’m even more upset about what it’s done to my skin. I don’t think my acne has ever been this bad…but, like you, I’m determined to clear my skin the natural way so, I’m going to try jojoba oil now.
I’ve learned so much from your blog, Tracy, you’re really very inspiring. I’ve already switched over to using manuka honey as a facial cleanser, so I’m hoping the jojoba oil will work for me too.
Thanks for all of your great articles and advice!
Thanks Emily! I did look over your blog post, I thought it was very informative! Big love!! xoxo
Also, check out this article for advice about making personalized oil blends for your skin type: http://www.thelovevitamin.com/7917/oil-blends-for-acne/
I’ve been using coconut oil, virgin and organic, as a facial moisturizer for the past two weeks. Like the gal you mentioned it seemed to be a miracle. My skin cleared up and was looking really healthy. Then a few days ago I woke up to a whole face breakout. I stopped with the oil but more blemishes keep surfacing. I think it clogged my poors big time and my skin is trying to purge. This all started because I get a monthly cystic acne breakout and read that I should stop using commercial products. I don’t suggest ANYONE attempt using coconut oil on the face.
As far as I know, the only proof of coconut oil being good or bad is hearsay, there hasnt been any regulated testing on the long term effects, and the amount of saturated fat surpasses most oils. Personally. I use it every day and night and it has worked wonders for my acne prone skin. I also use almond oil, which I like better because of the consistency, but I like that coconut oil is solid to begin with and smells so yummy! I had awful acne and swapped my proactive for coconut oil, honey, yogurt and baking soda. Not only do I scarcely break out but my acne scars are fading really well. So I can’t claim how good it is for you. I understand and appreciate that it’s been along for a long time but there are not enough regulated studies on the long term effects for my liking.
I am so happy to have stumbled upon this conversation. I am 27 and ever since stopping birth control to consider having children I have been suffering with the worst acne of my life. After reading nearly everything on the web related to natural acne treatments, I have come to only one conclusion… Everyone is different!!
I tried using a combination EVOO and Castor oil face wash in December with very poor results while my friend loves this combo and continues to use this daily.
I then tried using honey face masks daily for about two weeks and saw no improvement.
I am no in a’no touch’ phase b/c I realized that my breakouts become much worse during times where I allow myself to pick.
I have decided that during the ‘no touch’ I will try using coconut oil for moisture as needed and I have started alternating honey and cinnamon masks and apple cider vinegar as a toner. I also take some nights off where I only use Aveeno facewash and Aveeno moisturizer. So far, the combination appears to be working, but I am attributing most of the change to NOT TOUCHING MY FACE. I know that this sounds liek a simple solution, but I think that many of us who suffer from acne have moments where we pick and stop caring about all of the warnings about this making things look worse. I have also fallen in love with the ACV, but I would not use this daily as it seems like daily use will be too harsh for my face. I will post back with results in a week or two, but I am already seeing some improvement!
Thanks for starting this conversation… It is always reassuring to find some support!
Hi Julie,
.. you’re right about the no picking!!! You might also want to check out a few of these articles that might help you with your skin. Vitex is a natural supplement that really helps people with their hormones (and thus their acne) after coming off birth control:
I’m sorry to hear you’ve been struggling with post Birth Control acne
http://www.thelovevitamin.com/6855/treat-female-hormonal-acne/
http://www.thelovevitamin.com/769/can-you-wean-off-the-birth-control-pill/
Thanks for the additional advice. I have been considering going back on a birth control to calm things down a bit. Something that I could stop as needed once we set a plan for children. I will look more into taking a supplement before doing that, but for the moment “NO TOUCH” is what I keep saying to myself
I don’t know if anyone has mentioned Herxheimer reaction yet, this could be why some of you had good results for a while and then had bad reactions. http://biovedawellness.com/2010/02/the-herxheimer-reaction-feeling-worse-before-feeling-better/ check out this website about Herxheimer, it might be what you are experiencing. I’m about to begin using coconut oil on my 29 year old acne prone skin, so I’ve been scouring the Internet for information. Hope this helps someone.
cheers!
Hey Sarah. I read the info on the link you provided and I gotta say, its not an exact science and you really have no way of telling if your body is in fact detoxifying, or if you are just having a really bad reaction. And in the article there was no mention of massive acne breakouts being an indicator of detoxification. In fact repeatedly throughout the article the indicators are outlined as “flu like symptoms”. I don’t know about you, but I don’t get acne when I get the flu. So to me, enduring pizza face and hoping that its a symptom of healing is a roll of the dice. One that I’m not willing to wager. But that’s just my opinion. I’m vain lol.
I’ve used it, and it doesn’t seem to help or hinder. Great for moisture and removing makeup, but that’s about it. That’s my experience with it.
Hey all. Thought I would drop in and give you an update. So if you look back, you will see that on March 8th I left a comment about an acne breakout from coconut oil. Todaymy face is ffinally cleared up. A few tiny bumps and discolorations still remain, but nothing I can’t hide with a dusting of mineral foundation. Anyway, the point is that it has taken 17 days to clear up that mess! Even when I get cystic acne its gone in a week. I will NEVER use coconut oil on my face again. But I will continue to cook with it so I can get the internal benefits.
I use only coconut oil on my skin. I do have breakouts and find that it neither helps or hurts my skin. I do swear by it though for sunburns. I’m very fair skinned and burn easily. Coconut oil makes my burn go away and helps me develop a nice tan.
Sad to say I had Normal skin at the time and one blemish then two days later had super tight dry skin with about 6 huge cists and about 20 little red dots ;(
Now I don’t know what to do to clear my face .
CO for hair -I used it as told apply on wet hair after shower leave it on over night wash it out in the morning well I found that while rinsing a ton of my hair was falling out I tried it twice same results .
Hey Cj, for your hair try Caviar hair treatmrnts, shampoos and conditioners, made by Alterna. You can get them at Sephora, pricey, but my hair has done a complete 180° since I started using it. My hair is fuller, bouncier, and looks like the hair of a 20 year old instead of the mid thirties straw hair I was cursed with. Good luck!
I’m an esthetician and I always look things up before I try, but my friend kept raving about using coconut oil as a mask at night. I tried it all over my body and face and woke up with every single pore clogged. I don’t get blackheads, but there were tiny blackheads all over my chest and neck and every pore was clogged on my face. I have oily skin so they say the bigger the pores you have, the more comedogenic coconut oil is. So to fix, I did extractions, a scrub, a clay mask and then a TCA chemical peel. The next day it was gone.
I have a small comment to add; had this weird thing going on with my face, mostly my chin, where it has been so dry and unwilling to absorb a moisturizer.
I have had a moderate acne problem on my chin for a few years (am 27, it started when I was about 22) off and on, and have recently ( in the last few months) stopped taking antibiotics after trying it for about two years.
In any event, it is pretty calm at this point, but my chin has been so oddly red and dry and I was at my wit’s end. I tried unrefined shea butter, but that didn’t work and may have only made it worse, same thing with jojoba oil (sorry, maybe it is good for some people or some conditions) and finally emu oil recommended by the practitioner at my local natural pharmacy (yes, it comes from an emu and no, there is no happy ending for the emu, but I was desperate) which also did not really work.
But, I found some info online about a condition called “facial dandruff,” which sounds incredibly disgusting but really it’s when patches on your face look red and/or bumpy and very dry, and the patches do not get better with moisturizer. The creator of the website recommended oregano oil, which is apparently “king of oils.”
I have been trying it for a few days and it has been helping a lot; I don’t imagine that my face will look perfect but the redness and dryness is receding. In any event, YOU MUST DILUTE OREGANO OIL if you’re going to put it on your face. I am using coconut oil as a dilutor.
The oregano oil is called “Oreganol” and it is “wild source hand picked” P73, from the coop or health food store. It was super expensive, about $30 for a tiny bottle, but it will last at least until the expiration date. First I tried a dilution of 1 drop to 9 drops coconut oil–way too strong because it burned. Then I found another recommendation of 1 drop oil to 1 teaspoon coconut and that has been the one to use.
You melt the coconut oil first, I am using Trader Joe’s, by putting some in a clean glass or jar and resting it in another container w/very hot water, then find some small clean jar or other container to store the final product in, and just make as much as you believe you need, I think I did 5 teaspoons’ worth.
Other advice is don’t go nuts with it, just use a very conservative amount–I have been using a q tip to take out just as much as will stay on it and use that for my whole face. PS: I have very sensitive skin.
I originally read about coconut oil in a Mimi Kirk raw food book, but couldn’t bring myself to use it because I’ve always had sensitive, oily, & acne prone skin. It seemed counter productive to add oil to my already oily skin. I’ve used witch hazel, rubbing alcohol, lemon juice, Proactive, salicylic acid, benzoyl peroxide, blah, blah, blah. It’s always been a battle against blemishes.
Aound a month ago I began using organic extra virgin coconut oil on my face. I wash with Tom’s of Maine soap in the shower. Then after getting out, before I do anything else, I slather the coconut oil on my face and around my eyes. I just scrape it out of the jar while it’s in solid form & it liquefies in my palm because of it’s low melting point. Anyway, the first week I still had pimples. Then my face started to dry out and there were some dry patches on my cheeks and above one eye. Then my skin cleared up & it’s silky, smooth, and blemish free. I keep touching my face to feel the smoothness & even that’s not making it break out. I ate dairy every single day this week, drank pop, (and it’s PMS week!) yet there still aren’t any blemishes.
I’ve had the worst eczema for years, not as bad as google images but you get the point. I’ve been using ezcema creams prescribed by my doctor for like a decade and it just made my skin worst by thinning it. Coconut oil on the other hand was a miracle, it made my face soft again and didn’t go rancid like olive oil did. Just recently, I’ve noticed lots of bumps on my face that doesn’t seem to go away, they looked hideous in specific lightings and I kept looking in the mirror saying to myself “What in the world is causing this?” That’s how I found about this site. The coconut oil indefenitely caused my pores to clog. I’ve been using it to the extreme, I even used it on my face when I go to bed. My brother kept telling me that oil clogs pores but I didn’t think organic virgin coconut oil would do the same, it all makes sense now. I’ll probably be using jojoba oil from now on as recommended.
Unfortunately, my experience with using coconut oil topically has been a mixed bag. After trying just about every product under the sun to treat my moderate adult acne (natural and not so natural), I read about some of the benefits of coconut oil for the skin. A couple of the articles I read touted the extra virgin variety as being non-comedogenic, so I didn’t think I could really be any worse off for trying it. Ever since I went off birth control a few years ago my skin has been problematic, and I’m really starting to feel desperate. And while I’m willing to settle for anything that works (to prevent scarring and future issues when my collagen production slows), I would much rather find a natural solution. I tried substituting coconut oil for my regular body lotion and facial moisturizer after showering. The oil absorbs fairly well and the first morning my skin looked great which I thought was a good sign. Also it makes a nice moisturizer after shaving. Now though, a few days later, I’m having a horrible breakout (mostly whiteheads) and the pores on my face, neck, and chest are worse off than when I started. I don’t really think this is so much a detox symptom as it is my pores being too large and the coconut oil behaving more as a comedogenic oil on my skin. So disappointing. My husband read an article where the blogger talked about using a steam bath oil of oregano and tea tree oil to open the pores, so I’m going to try that, but I am still at a total loss as to what type of cleansing system to try next. My skin is combination oily/dry and I am starting to see the slightest hint of lines forming around my mouth and eyes. I never thought I would be trying to fight acne and wrinkles at the same time! I know a lot of you ladies must be going through similar issues, so any advice or suggestions are appreciated.
It pulls bacteria out of your face, it is a natural antibacterial. So if you have a face full of backed up acne it will cause a breakout. If you continue with it it will clear it up and if you keep using it you WILL NOT HAVE ACNE AGAIN. I have suffered many years with acne and even the pricest treatments didn’t work. This is the only thing that has worked. Moisturising with coconut oil and washing with baking soda. Its a miracle! It cures your acne scars with continued use. Dont you want all the bacteria out of your skin!?