We are always on the lookout for the perfect tanning products, something that will not only help darken our skin, but it will also help to moisturize and give it a beautiful glow. For many, having a natural option is best, and one of the natural products commonly used in the tanning market is cocoa butter.
Does cocoa butter work for tanning, and how do you use it? Cocoa butter is more effective when used for the maintenance of the tan, rather than helping to develop a darker tan. Cocoa butter works to moisturize the skin, which in turn helps to replenish and radiate the skin, which creates a golden glow that helps to show off a darker tan. A simple massage of cocoa butter on the skin daily will keep your skin healthy and hydrated.
Cocoa butter might not help to give you a darker tan while under the sun, but it will help your skin remain moisturized and hydrated, which is key to ensuring that your tan glows and looks as gorgeous as possible!
How to Use Cocoa Butter For Tanning
Cocoa butter is great to use to prevent and treat dry skin and is included in many different skincare and beauty products, to give skin an extra boost.
More and more self-tanners, summer lotions and sun tanning oils are incorporating cocoa butter into their formulas, and this does take the products to the next level, helping to keep skin hydrated and glowing when under high heat situations.
There are good reasons why cocoa butter is so beneficial to use in tanning products or to use before and after tanning. Cocoa butter has wonderful moisturizing benefits. The oils within the butter work to lock water in close to the skin, allowing the skin to remain hydrated all day.
Before Tanning
Applying cocoa butter to your skin before tanning helps to prevent skin from drying out from the heat of the sun, and does a lot to ensure that skin holds a tan well and does not begin to flake or peel from the tan.
It is important to remember that you will need to use additional tanning products when heading out into the sun, and the cocoa butter should just be used as a base.
Additional products should be applied to the skin before tanning to give your skin some extra protection, and to encourage the darkening of the skin further.
Cocoa butter can be used for tanning in the sun or a self-tanning bed.
After Tanning
For those who choose to tan in the sun, flaking skin is a common problem. The sun does a great job at drying out skin, and this can really ruin a tan, and cause some serious damage to the skin as well.
Cocoa butter helps to prevent the flaking of the skin and helps to give the skin the hydration it needs, locking the moisture in for a long period of time, allowing the skin to replenish the moisture that it has lost.
Moisturized skin holds a tan much better than dry skin, and your tan will remain even and glowing on the skin that has been kept properly hydrated.
What Makes Cocoa Butter Great For Tanning
Cocoa butter is one of nature’s greatest gifts. Cocoa butter is a pure, stable fat that is pressed out from raw cocoa beans. Apart from what the name suggests, cocoa butter does not contain any dairy.
It is able to retain its solid state at room temperature, making it fairly easy to use, especially to lather on your body when it is time to tan or to maintain your golden glow.
Cocoa butter is popular in the beauty industry thanks to its composition. The high amount of saturated fats are great to rejuvenate the skin, and the antioxidants work to protect skin even further. With the addition of flavonoids and antioxidants, cocoa butter works to remedy wrinkles, blemishes, acne, and scars.
This formulation and the rich nutrients in cocoa butter allow it to be the perfect companion to other tanning products, taking care of protecting the skin against damage from UV rays.
The Two Types Of Cocoa Butter
When purchasing cocoa butter on its own, and not mixed in with tanning products already, it pays off to know the difference between the two types that you can buy, with one being more effective to use for tanning.
One type of cocoa butter sold is heated cocoa butter. This is heated to a high temperature during the manufacturing process, and this does cause it to lose some of its fats and nutrient-rich content.
The second type is raw cocoa butter. This is usually considered pure cocoa butter and has not been heated to high temperatures during the manufacturing process. It is not highly processed, which means it is healthier compared to heated cocoa butter.
Raw cocoa butter also possesses a high healthy fat content, which is great to provide the skin with the right nutrients it needs to heal and remain healthy.
Raw cocoa butter is by far the better option to use for tanning, both before and after exposure to the sun.
What Cocoa Butter Can’t Do
There is a misconception that cocoa butter will make you tan faster when applied to the skin before heading into the sun or tanning bed. This really isn’t true, and you should not rely on cocoa butter to quickly develop a tan.
Instead, applied to the skin before or after tanning, cocoa butter makes an already-developed tan look amazing. This is thanks to its incredible moisturizing abilities, that keeps skin hydrated and glowing, enhancing the golden glow you already have.
How Often Should You Apply Cocoa Butter
The natural cocoa fats in cocoa butter help to lock in water into the skin for a really long time, and it can keep skin hydrated all day long.
For daily maintenance, you should apply cocoa butter once a day, preferably after a shower, as your skin will have some excess moisture, and the cocoa butter will help to make the most of this.
If you have been tanning in the sun or a salon, your skin will be drier than normal. You will also want to make the most of the tan you have spent so much time achieving, so you should look to apply the cocoa butter to your skin twice daily, once in the morning and once in the evening before bed.
The cocoa butter might feel slightly greasy on your skin, so try to apply it to your skin a few minutes before getting dressed, or a few minutes before getting into bed.
For your face, you might prefer to look for a beauty lotion that is infused with cocoa oil or cocoa butter, as cocoa butter is comedogenic. It might end up clogging pores, which is why it is best used on the rest of the body, but not on the face.
Those who battle with oily skin should not use cocoa butter on their face, as it could clog up pores and cause an excess of oil production, and block in sebum and other materials, which could then lead to a breakout.
For the rest of the body, cocoa butter is perfect to use, and it is widely available in most stores, and it is fairly affordable as well compared to other beauty products.
Related Questions
Are cocoa butter and shea butter the same?
Cocoa butter and shea butter come from different sources. Shea butter is extracted from nuts found on the shea tree, while cocoa butter comes from cocoa beans.
However, both are commonly used in cosmetics, creams, lotions, and soap. Shea butter is not as hard as cocoa butter and melts easily when it comes into contact with the skin. Shea butter has a vanilla aroma, and cocoa butter has more of a chocolatey smell.
Cocoa butter is better to use for tanning, as it does contain some ingredients that shea butter does not.
Does cocoa butter help with stretch marks?
Cocoa butter does help to reduce the appearance of stretch marks and even helps to make them less visible when you are applying a self-tanner at home. Stretch marks need some extra moisture to not stand out as much with self-tanners, as they need some hydration to hold on to the product.
You can also check out these self-tanners that are best to use with stretch marks.
Using cocoa butter, the stretch marks will be more moisturized and will be able to pick up and develop the color to appear more even with the rest of the skin. The rich fatty acids in cocoa butter also work to reduce the appearance of stretch marks overall.
Conclusion
So, you can’t rely on cocoa butter to help you develop a dark tan, but you can use it before and after tanning, to give your skin much-needed hydration to protect it from drying out and flaking.
Tanned skin which has been treated with cocoa butter glows, and it is worth it to give your skin a radiance that makes your tan stand out. Your skin will be healthier, nourished, and absolutely gorgeous when using cocoa butter in your daily skin-care routine.
