You know how some things are so luscious and delectable that you just want to take a bath in them? Or eat them up with a spoon? Cocoa butter is one of those rare treasures with which you can do both. It’s what gives chocolate its tempting flavor and aroma and it’s the secret ingredient in some of the most luxurious skincare products.
We know this because it’s the not-so-secret ingredient in our ocean clay cleansing bar. As one of our signature “soothing seven,” cocoa butter lends a creamy, dreamy quality that gets us into a little bit of an excited lather. Here’s why.
Why Cocoa Butter Is a Dream Moisturizer
We probably don’t have to tell you that cocoa butter is intensely moisturizing. But do you know what exactly it is about this clean beauty wonder ingredient that nourishes skin on such a deep level?
In a nutshell, it’s because cocoa butter creates a protective layer between your skin and the surrounding environment. This allows your skin to hang onto its moisture and prevents it from drying out. This barrier also helps keep out those environmental irritants that you don’t want hanging around on — or being absorbed into — your skin.
Another big bonus is that cocoa butter can actually improve certain kinds of skin damage. It cools down inflammation and may even reduce the appearance of scars. Plus, it does all this while also lending a subtly sweet scent to your skin.
How Cocoa Butter Takes Soap to the Next Level
Natural beauty lovers (ourselves included) go absolutely crazy for cocoa butter because not only is it a skincare all-star, it’s also a secret weapon for soap makers.
Like shea butter (another one of our “soothing seven”), cocoa butter helps harden soap, which is a huge deal when it comes to soap quality and longevity. A lot of soaps melt away super fast in the shower because they simply don’t have the strength or sturdiness to go the distance. Castile soaps and glycerin-based soaps are notorious for this. One or two showers are enough to whittle them down to a fraction of their full size.
When crafting the formulation for our ocean clay cleansing bar, we knew we wanted to make something that would last. So, naturally, we turned to cocoa butter to help us create a long-lasting soap that also lathers up like a dream.
How We Use Cocoa Butter in Our Ocean Clay Cleansing Bar
Like any good green beauty devotees, we go for organic, unrefined ingredients over their lower-quality, highly processed counterparts. Which is why our formulation uses cocoa extracted from the beans of the Theobroma Cacao plant.
We also take the quality and potency of our soaps one step further by “superfatting” them. This means that we leave a portion of the ingredients unreacted, which keeps them in their raw state in the final soap — and you get to experience all of their amazing benefits at full strength. It also means that they don’t have quite the same shelf life as drugstore brands. We recommend enjoying our soaps within one year of purchasing them to get the maximum benefit out of them.
Want to know more about how we pack all that goodness into one little bar? Check out our Ocean Clay Cleansing Bar page.
