Coconut Oil

Your skin will either love coconut oil, or it will hate it. My skin hated it, and it was hell. Here's the story: I had originally bought the "Vitamin E" product from my local Trader Joe's for healing hyperpigmentation. I did NOT know that 'coconut oil' was listed as an ingredient. Coconut oil is HIGHLY comedogenic. While it may work for some, it can be absolutely detrimental to others, myself included. My skin had its spotty days, but was never severe. I was actually sailing into a nice clear streak and had become interested in keeping myself clear and healing my hyperpigmentation. I was (unknowingly) using coconut oil for a couple weeks. The break out was immediate. It was a spread of cysts all over my cheeks, chin, and forehead. The cysts were so bad and so painful I could not sleep on either side of my face. They became so pressured and so engorged (and interconnected, I might add) that they began to purge themselves on their own. It was a nightmare that lasted for almost 6 months and I am still dealing with the repercussions now after 9 months. I could not possibly begin to express the amount of regret and the amount of suffering I've endured for such a careless mistake. Bottom line: if you are particularly acne-prone or do not know how your skin will react, PLEASE do not make the mistake I did, and PLEASE be careful as to what you put on your face. If you're looking for a good moisturizing oil that is non-comedogenic, I suggest jojoba as an alternative. It helped me through my nightmare break-out. I know this was a scary review, but if I can save someone from what I had to go through, it's worth it.

I've had moderate acne for 20+ years that has been, until now, well controlled with BP and glycolic acid. In attempt to step away from harsher methods, I researched more natural approaches and decided to give extra virgin, unrefined coconut oil, 2x a day, a try. My face broke out with little white pustules on Day 3. Within the week, my entire face (including places that generally weren't active) was covered with what could be described as a carpet of black and whiteheads. Hoping this was simply the "healing crisis" I had read about, I continued for an additional 3 weeks. That was a huge mistake. My face was so swollen and active with acne that it actually hurt to wash it. The good news: A few days after stopping the coconut oil, the generalized swelling went down. The bad news: The carpet of little bumps is taking forever to go away, even with the reintroduction of BP and glycolic acid. In addition, I have developed ~ for the first time in my life ~ painful, deep, cystic acne. It has been a full 6 weeks since I've stopped applying coconut oil, and my skin is still a mess, with dark marks from old cysts lingering and brand new, huge bumps popping up next to them. Please be careful if you decide to give CO a try. If you think it's making your acne worse, then STOP! Do not continue like I did with blind faith and desperate hope for clear skin. (If you find yourself stuck with a giant jar of the stuff, it's great for baking, and it is an effective deodorant.) I will come back and leave an update on my "recovery" from this for those of you who are curious or may be going through the same thing. Take good care, and I hope you find what works for you!

First I want to say that I love coconut oil as a multipurpose product. I'll never be without a jar in my house. I use it as a pre-shampoo hair mask, for shaving my legs, moisturizing my elbows and knees when they're extra dry, and for DIY body scrubs. There are a million uses for it and I love it for that. However, that being said, I will rate it accordingly for facial care as I only feel that is fair. It's rated a 4 out of 5 on a comedogenic scale and I am adding myself to the list of many who have broken out from it. Less than a week of using it nighly caused papules and pustules around the areas I tend to break out (my cheeks). It also seems to take longer to absorb on the face than it does on the rest of my body. I honestly don't recommend giving it a shot because it is the rare acne-prone individual who has good luck with it, but if you do try it, proceed with caution.

I read all the fantastic reviews and was stoked (I ignored the few reviews that warned against using it). I attributed the initial breakout to the "purging," only the purging didn't stop. I even emailed the author of "coconut cures" when I started to get concerned. His wife responded saying to keep with it... and so I did (I was still hopeful). Finally, a month later (I used it three-ish months) I accepted the reality that this highly comogenic stuff was not purifying my skin... oh no. It was clogging it in the worst possible way. Fast forward two months and I am still dealing with this nightmere. I have officially gone from "mild" to severe. All in all, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

I read all they hype about this oil and so I bought the best one -- organic, etc. etc. Epic fail. It made my skin worse. Recently I looked on zero zits list of comedogenic ratings and this got a higher rating. Wish I'd known that before I tried it. I would NEVER do this again. There are better oils for your face, like sunflower oil.

I used coconut oil to moisturize + remove makeup and a few weeks later my skin was not only clogged but the texture was rough, my skin looked darker than my own complexion, and it looked dirty. I started breaking out even more and decided to add tea tree oil into the mix to help acne ... I was wrong it made it worst. After I stopped using oils to moisturize my skin (Months ago) my skins texture is back to normal, my complexion is even and my skin is glowing. Don't use coconut oil on your face if you have Combo-oily skin! I recommend Neutrogena oil free moisturizer I have been using it for 2 months and I see a huge difference.

I used this oil for about three months. At first, it seemed to help. However, after about a month I started getting breakouts - more than I had been experiencing with my adult hormonal acne. I thought this might be purging, so optimistically kept applying coconut oil to my face every night after a steamy shower. Unfortunately, my acne got worse. In addition to the usual breakouts associated with my menstruation cycle, I got whiteheads all month long. So, was the oil expelling existing impurities, a process that would eventually clear all acne? Or was it blocking my pores and causing pimples that never would have been had the oil not been applied? After a faithful three-month trial, my vote is for the latter. This oil is not good for my skin, but I believe it is a very healthy oil and will use what I have leftover in my cooking.

Broke me out even more. Depends on the type of skin you have......

Coconut oil has done nothing but make my acne WORSE. I used coconut oil as my makeupn remover, thinking it would be a great alternative for virgin olive oil (which is very expensive in my country). It tooks months of cystic acne before I realized that it was the coconut oil causing it. So naturally I stopped. I've been under acne treatment for almost two months now, and my skin has been gettig clearer. But then two weeks after I started using a new bb cream, my cystic acne started coming back! I even began getting cystic acne on my forehead, which has been clear for months! When I checked, one of the ingredients of the bb cream was, you guessed it, COCONUT OIL. The bb cream was not cheap, so of course I'm bummed that now I have to toss it because of one ingredient. For all the rave reviews of coconut oil here, acne prone people BEWARE still. Many, many sites state that coconut oil is HIGHLY comedogenic. A rating of 4! So while it might work wonders on some, acne prone people should still be careful before using this.