Is Coconut Butter Comedogenic?
Coconut Butter is rated 4/5 in published comedogenicity lists — rated high on published lists.
Established Source: Fulton 1989. Primary-source value (original rabbit-ear tables). Still a raw-ingredient test — concentration and formulation change real-world behaviour. How we rate
Also appears on labels as
- cocos nucifera seed butter
What the rating describes
As comedogenic as the oil.
A comedogenicity rating is a 0–5 score assigned in published ingredient testing. A 4/5 places Coconut Butter in the higher part of those tables. The score describes the raw ingredient as tested — not a finished formula, where concentration, the rest of the ingredient list, and how the product is used all differ.
Position on a label matters too: ingredients listed near the front are usually present in larger amounts than those near the end.
When this rating can't be trusted
The 4/5 describes the raw ingredient in a rabbit-ear assay, usually at 10% in propylene glycol. It cannot tell you how much is in your product (position on the label is the only clue), what the rest of the formula does to it, or how your skin responds. Finished products containing highly rated ingredients have tested non-comedogenic on human skin (Draelos & DiNardo, JAAD 2006).
Can the 4/5 rating for Coconut Butter be trusted?
Established This number is the primary-source value and no published disagreement is on record — as solid as a comedogenic rating gets, which is still a screening signal, not a verdict on any product. Source: Fulton 1989.
A flag here means look closer — the AAD 1989 threshold for caution — not this product will break you out. Full reasoning and bibliography.
Non-comedogenic swaps
Picks are products labeled non-comedogenic; we don’t test or endorse.
CeraVe PM Facial Moisturizing Lotion
Oil-free niacinamide moisturizer, labeled non-comedogenic.
Shop at UltaPaula's Choice CLEAR Oil-Free Moisturizer
Made for breakout-prone skin; low-rated ingredient list.
Shop at Paula's ChoiceEltaMD UV Clear SPF 46
The classic labeled-non-comedogenic facial sunscreen.
Shop at Dermstore
Where the rating comes from
Ratings on this site come from published comedogenicity literature in the Fulton 1989 lineage — the 0–5 tables compiled from ingredient testing and reproduced across dermatology reference lists since. Where values disagree: a named primary source (Fulton 1989) outranks later unattributed lists, so its value is shown and the others are disclosed in the note; where only compilation lists disagree, the higher-caution value is shown. We never publish an invented number, and we never present one as more certain than its source: every rating carries a confidence tier — established (primary-source value, no disagreement on record), single-source (only the reproduced compilation lists carry it), or contested (published values disagree or depend on grade and vehicle; the note says which value is shown and why). Ingredients we cannot match appear as “not in our database” — unmatched, not cleared: no published list we hold rates them under that name, and that is not a pass.
Our flag threshold follows the American Academy of Dermatology's Invitational Symposium on Comedogenicity (J Am Acad Dermatol 1989): substances scoring 0–2 in the rabbit-ear assay are unlikely to clog pores in humans, while scores above 2 warrant more caution — which is why this site flags 3/5 and up. Read the full methodology and bibliography.
Related ingredients
- 4/5Acetylated LanolinModified lanolin, strongly comedogenic.
- 4/5Acetylated Lanolin AlcoholGraded 4–5 in the original Fulton 1989 paper, attributed to its cetyl acetate content.
- 4/5AlginAlgae-derived thickener, rated high in classic lists.
- 4/5Bacuri ButterCited high in butter compilations.
- 4/5Carrot Seed OilCited 3–4; higher kept.
Check your whole product
Paste the full ingredient list to see every flagged ingredient at once.