Coconut Oil for Acne

By Laura Ng

There had been some arguments over the use of coconut oil for acne, that is, some got glimmering flawless skin after using coconut oil to treat acne while some suffered from acne breakout — worse than before! What actually happened?

First of all, when using coconut oil for acne treatment, make sure you use virgin coconut oil ONLY as it is non-comedogenic (i.e. it doesn't clog your skin pores). If you use refined coconut oil especially one that has been hydrogenated, you can have your pores clogged up even worse.

Secondly, as coconut oil bears powerful anti-toxin components within its oil structure, you may experience what we commonly called the "healing crisis". For example in acne treatment, you may enjoy smoother skin in the first few days, but as the detox effect in coconut oil penetrates even deeper into your skin and push the toxins up to the surface, you may undergo an acne breakout, which could be worse than before you apply coconut oil to your skin.

Such unexpected "backfiring" could freak you out and make you think that coconut oil aggravates your acne problem, which in fact, coconut oil is proving its effectiveness in purging the toxins which have been built up underneath your skin for years.

The more toxins build up, the longer it'll take for your acne-prone skin to heal.

However, for people especially housewives or those working at home, they're smart enough to know about the healing crisis occurring in acne treatment with coconut oil, and moreover they can stay at home without showing faces outside, so they get to stick through to the end of healing crisis and wind up enjoying what virgin coconut oil promises — an acne-free and flawless skin.

Here are the 2 comments I extracted from a forum regarding the arguments over the breakout of acne after using coconut oil for acne treatment:

"The same thing happened to me with coconut oil. Started out with immediate improvement and then got terrible acne for about 4 weeks. I stuck with it and my skin is getting better every single day. I think I just had so much crap underneath my skin that it took a long time to purge it out. Now my pores are smaller than they've ever been and for the past 2 weeks I haven't had any new pimples and the ones I had are going away quickly." ~ Maja

"FYI. Unrefined, Organic Coconut Oil will not clog your pores. It actually opens them, releases, and cleanses your skin all of the toxins. Some of which has built up for years. Don't take the advice of others, do your own research, and never apply any skin product all over your face before testing on the inside of your elbow area first. While you're typing things into Google, type in "Healing Crisis" to understand why your skin has to get worse before it can get better when using unrefined VCO. It is simply healing, it is detoxifying, it is rejuvenating. But this is the part, as indicated in almost all previous comments, when people get scared and run back to commercial, store-bought products that will conceal, stifle, and continue storing and building up more toxins. I have acne-prone skin, i also suffer from Rosacea, and i, too, got plenty worse before getting to flawless youthful looking skin. But you have to be willing to go to the fire in order to get to the other side." ~ Becky

These are the real-life experiences for using coconut oil for acne treatment. And as what Becky suggests, it's wise to put a dab of coconut oil on the inside of your elbow area first to test for any allergic reaction. Wait for a whole day and observe for any unusual skin reaction. Allergy should take effect within a day.

Honestly, allergy to coconut oil is rare because coconut oil is classified as hypoallergenic (low allergy-risk) food. Many a time, a presumed coconut oil reaction like a skin rash is nothing more than the body expelling toxins, a cleansing reaction actually.

What I would recommend is, if you're working in an environment where meeting people is inevitable and you want to give coconut oil a natural shot to improve your acne problem, apply just a small amount every night before you sleep. Even if breakout, you won't get so much serious than many other people do. And of course, the toxin-purging effect will be slower and your skin will heal slower too.

In addition, while the oil is detoxifying your body, during this period, eat more fresh fruits and veggies that contain plenty of skin-beneficial nutrients to complement the healing process. Cut your meat intake totally as meat contains tons of toxins that may accumulate easily during the detoxification process and prolong the length of healing. Imagine when you're clearing the trash but yet someone is dumping more garbage into the trash, how fast do you think you'll empty the trash completely?

Also, include exercise as part of your skin detox to help sweat out those toxins so as to mitigate breakouts (if any). And keep your stress level as low as possible as stressful condition may trigger hormonal imbalance and lead to acne breakout too.

In other words, if you solely rely on coconut oil for treating acne but yet you're not executing any other supplementary actions to support the detoxification process, you'll probably suffer from a serious breakout that could last for weeks and delay your healing process.

Based on my personal experience with using coconut oil for skin care, coconut oil does perform very well at removing toxic build-up in my skin. The question is, are you game enough to leave your skin to coconut oil's care for a natural cleanse and detox where you might experience a breakout first before you get to enjoy beautiful, flawless and youthful skin? Think about it.

Coconut Oil for Acne

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