No, You Should Not Use Coconut Oil On Your Face

By Katie Martin

This past Christmas, my aunt gifted each of her sisters a jumbo jar of coconut oil because she loves it so much. She keeps a jar in the kitchen (it’s her favorite way to make light and airy stovetop popcorn) and a jar in the bathroom, where she slathers the coconut oil on her skin instead of regular lotion.

Despite my aunt’s enthusiasm, my mom—who has notoriously sensitive skin—was skeptical about using coconut oil, especially when I told her I used it to treat my dog’s seasonal eczema with mixed success. Still, she tried it one night instead of her favorite nighttime facial moisturizer. The next morning, my mother woke up with a rash of angry, red bumps all over the lower part of her face and neck.

My mom is far from the only one to suffer this same fate, which is why, to put it bluntly, I’m completely flummoxed by the fact that coconut oil continues to be touted as a great natural facial skincare solution.

We talked to dermatologists to find out why you shouldn’t use coconut oil on your face. Here’s what they had to say.

Coconut oil is comedogenic.

“Coconut oil has one of the highest comedogenic ratings, which means that it could be a big problem for sensitive or blemish-prone skin,” explains dermatologist Paul Dean, MD, creator of Skin Resource.MD. “This means coconut oil can’t penetrate the pores and actually can suffocate your skin and will clog your pores because it sits on top of the skin.”

What is a comedogenic rating? Essentially, beauty products are rated on a scale of 1 to 5 based on their pore-clogging potential, with 1 being the least likely to clog your pores, and 5 being reserved for the worst offenders.

The scale doesn’t mean that every single product that’s considered highly comedogenic will clog your pores and cause breakouts, though. A lot of factors—like pore size and how oily or dry your skin is—also affect how your face will react to comedogenic products.

But a higher rating does increase the likelihood that a comedogenic ingredient, like coconut oil (which scores a whopping 4 out of 5 on the scale!) will cause a negative reaction.

Coconut Oil for Your Face: Debunking the Myths

A quick Google search reveals that many people believe coconut oil is basically facial skincare magic. Even dermatologists (skincare experts, no less!) have hopped on the coconut-oil-for-your-face bandwagon.

So do these purported claims have any merit? Here’s what our experts have to say.