Coconut Oil
In plain terms
A rich plant oil that is a very effective moisturizer for dry skin, the body, and hair, with trials showing it eases eczema and dryness. The catch is the face: it is high on the pore-clogging scale, so for acne-prone skin it tends to cause breakouts.
What the evidence shows
Coconut oil is one of the better-studied natural emollients, and for dry skin the evidence is solid. Randomized trials found it works as well as mineral oil for xerosis and cut eczema severity scores in children more than mineral oil did, while improving the skin's barrier and lowering water loss; it also has mild antibacterial activity against staph. That is the case for using it on the body, hands, hair, and dry patches. The face is a different question. On the comedogenic scale dermatologists use, coconut oil rates a 4 out of 5, near the top for clogging pores, and a clinical test on acne-prone skin found it produced microcomedones, the seeds of breakouts, across the board. Natural does not mean non-comedogenic, and refining does not fix it, because the pore-clogging traces back to the fatty acids themselves, not to impurities. The split is the whole story: a useful, well-tolerated moisturizer for most skin and most of the body, and a likely trigger if you are acne-prone and putting it on your face. Allergy to coconut oil, by contrast, is uncommon and separate from the clogging issue.
On the label
Listed as coconut oil or Cocos Nucifera Oil, and as a cooking oil in the kitchen. On dry or body skin it is a fine moisturizer; if your skin is acne-prone, keep it off your face and scan for it near the top of facial-product ingredient lists, where higher amounts make congestion more likely.