Coconut Oil and Acne

Can you use coconut oil on acne? Will it make pimples disappear and give you healthy acne-free skin?

If you've ever had acne, you know how embarrassing it can be. There are a number of factors that may cause acne; genetics, diet, hormones, and stress may all play a part. Having very dry skin and not moisturizing may also trigger acne.

Research proves that virgin coconut oil can cure dry skin. Its natural oils are readily absorbed to moisturize dry, cracked skin.

If this is the case, could you use this plant oil to help balance and treat your acne breakouts?

While there are no documented studies on coconut oil and acne, there are a number of testimonials from people that used coconut oil on acne at Dan Kern's popular acne website, acne.org.

Testimonials from users using coconut oil on acne listed the following:

• It had excellent moisturizing and skin softening effects.
• The oil seemed to help soften acne scars and cystic acne.
• Using too much oil can make the skin greasy.
• Some people experienced a temporary increase in whiteheads after the first few applications of oil. Some users believed this is part of the 'cleansing process' that coconut oil will do the skin.
• A small sample of people found coconut oil made their acne worse and stopped using it.

Based on these testimonials, it appears this tropical oil may be a possible acne treatment for some people.

I experienced similar positive results when I tried using coconut oil on my acne; it initially made my skin greasy and then I found it really softened my skin in the problem areas. Coconut oil also reduced the redness and dryness that I would get from using Oxy-5.

I don't suffer from cystic acne, so I don't know how well coconut oil would work for that particular type of acne. For treating uncomplicated acne, I think virgin coconut oil appears to be an effective natural treatment.

Give this natural oil a try and see if it works for you. Everyone's skin is different so you may get some excellent results from this healthy oil. Remember to use only virgin coconut oil so you benefit from a completely organic product.

You can also use other healthy oils to treat your acne, such as fish oils, tea tree oil and flaxseed oil. See the links below for more information.