Is Shea Butter Comedogenic

Last updated: October 2026

Shea butter comedogenic rating: what the number means and where it comes from

No single fixed number. Shea butter has no single fixed comedogenic rating. Sources give it different numbers because the rating depends on how the butter is processed, what it is mixed into and the skin it is used on. A number on a list is a rough guide, not a promise.

Baraka's shea butter is unrefined shea butter, strained and filtered only, handmade by the women of the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana. Most published lists put shea butter between 0 and 2 on the 0 to 5 comedogenic scale, which is the low end, but the exact figure changes from list to list.

Whether shea butter actually blocks your pores in day-to-day use is a separate question, answered in Does Shea Butter Clog Pores. For everything else shea butter is used for, from hair to babies to DIY recipes, see Raw Shea Butter Benefits: Complete Guide to Skin, Hair, Baby, Pregnancy, and DIY.

What comedogenic and non-comedogenic mean

Comedogenic describes an ingredient's tendency to plug hair follicles and form comedones: the blackheads and whiteheads that can come before acne. Non-comedogenic means an ingredient is unlikely to do that under the conditions it was tested in. Neither word is a guarantee about your own skin, because a comedo forms from a mix of the product, the amount used, your oil production and your skin type.

Where the 0 to 5 scale comes from

From rabbit ears, in the 1970s and 1980s. The comedogenic scale grew out of the rabbit ear assay, a laboratory test in which an ingredient is applied repeatedly to the inside of a rabbit's ear and the follicles are then examined for plugging. The dermatologists Albert Kligman and Otto Mills described the problem of cosmetics causing comedones in their 1972 paper "Acne cosmetica" in the Archives of Dermatology, and James Fulton published a widely copied list of ingredient grades in the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists in 1989.

Fulton graded each ingredient from 0 to 5 by how much follicular plugging it caused in the ear, measured under a microscope. He read the grades like this:

Most online lists, including the ones that give shea butter its low number, descend from this kind of grading. Many of them repeat figures without naming the study they came from.

Why the number is weaker evidence than it looks

Four reasons, all from the researchers themselves. The people who built and used the rabbit ear assay were among the first to point out its limits:

• A rabbit ear is not a human face. The ear reacts more readily than human skin. In a 1996 paper, Kligman reported that petrolatum and mineral oils, once called comedogenic under the original rabbit model, turned out to be false positives when the assay was tightened and when they were tested on people with acne.
• Ingredients are tested neat but used diluted. Kligman and Mills found that most vegetable oils had low comedogenicity in the rabbit ear, and that all of them lost it when diluted to 25% in mineral oil, as Morris and Kwan later reported in the Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (1983).
• The base changes the grade. Fulton's own 1989 tables show the same red dye graded 3 in mineral oil and 0 in a polyethylene glycol base. What an ingredient is mixed into can matter as much as the ingredient.
• Laboratories disagree. Morris and Kwan described the test as lacking standardisation and found their grades for several substances conflicting with grades published by other laboratories. Different research groups have even used different scales, with some scoring from 0 to 3 rather than 0 to 5, as a paper in Acta Dermato-Venereologica noted.

Fulton himself wrote that materials which test non-comedogenic in the rabbit appear to be non-comedogenic in people, while it remained uncertain whether highly comedogenic results in the rabbit always carry over to human skin. In plain terms: a low grade is reassuring, a high grade is a warning to look closer, and neither is a verdict.

Why shea butter gets different numbers on different lists

Because "shea butter" is not one material. Unrefined shea butter keeps its natural colour, somewhere between cream, ivory and pale yellow, and its earthy, faintly smoky scent. Refined shea butter has been refined, bleached and deodorised, so it is white and odourless. A list that tested one and a list that tested the other are not describing the same thing.

The rest of the variation comes from the reasons above. One list may draw on a test of the neat butter, another on a cream that contains a little shea, and a third may simply copy a figure from somewhere else. Your own skin type then decides how any of those numbers plays out on your face.

How to use a rating when you choose a product

As one clue, never the whole answer. A practical way to read any comedogenic number:

1. Treat 0 to 2 as low. Shea butter sits here on most lists.
2. Look at the whole formula, not one ingredient. A low-rated butter in a heavy, oily base can still feel too rich for oily skin.
3. Check how much you are using: a thin layer of a low-rated butter behaves very differently from a thick one, as the next section explains.

Is shea butter comedogenic?

It depends. Shea butter is often described as non-comedogenic, but ratings differ between sources and vary with processing, formulation and skin type. A small amount goes a long way, and Baraka's shea butter is unrefined, strained and filtered only.

On the comedogenic scale itself shea butter sits at the low end, as the section above sets out. What decides the answer for you is how you use it. Shea butter can make your skin feel oily if you use too much of it at once, so a thin layer works better than a thick one.

If your skin is prone to breakouts, use a small amount on the face, or try applying it to the body and letting it soak in overnight. When used like this, shea butter helps keep the skin soft. For a fuller guide to face use by skin type, see Is Shea Butter Good for Face.

What shea butter does for your skin

There are many benefits to using shea butter. Shea butter is traditionally used on dry skin, lips, hands, feet and hair. You can use it as a moisturizer, facial mask, massage butter and lip balm, and it contains vitamins A and E naturally.

Shea butter moisturizes

Shea butter is a natural moisturizer. It absorbs into the skin and helps keep it hydrated all day long, and it works best on dry and chapped skin.

Shea butter softens dry skin

Using shea butter for dry skin is a traditional way to keep it soft. It is solid at room temperature and melts on contact with skin. Shea butter can be applied directly to the skin or mixed with other creams and lotions, and that holds for every use on this page.

Shea butter and acne-prone skin

Ratings for shea butter vary, so use a small amount if your skin is acne-prone. Shea butter can be added to a moisturizing cream rather than used on its own. Shea butter is not a treatment for acne; ask a dermatologist about acne itself. Read more about shea butter and acne scars.

Shea butter and scarred skin

Scars are caused by injuries to the skin, and they are a reminder of how strong the human body really is. Shea butter is traditionally used to keep the surrounding skin soft and moisturized. See a doctor about burns or wounds.

Shea butter and rosacea-prone skin

Rosacea is a chronic condition that causes inflammation and redness of the skin. It can occur on any part of the body, but it most commonly affects the face, with a flushed appearance, enlarged blood vessels and broken capillaries. Shea butter is not a treatment for rosacea, so check with your dermatologist before using it.

Shea butter on lips

Shea butter is traditionally used on dry lips. Because it is solid at room temperature, it works well as a simple lip balm on its own.

Shea butter lifts scales

Shea butter is traditionally used to soften rough, scaly patches, and many people report smoother skin and a radiant glow after using it regularly.

Shea butter keeps your hair healthy

Shea butter is traditionally used on hair to keep it healthy-looking. It can be applied directly to the scalp and the lengths.

Shea butter and pores

Pore size is one of the first things people notice about their skin, and large pores can make skin look dull and uneven. Pore size is mostly set by skin type, so use a small amount of shea butter if you are concerned about oiliness.

Shea butter and sensitive skin

Sensitive skin is often irritated and dry. Patch test first if your skin is sensitive. Shea butter can be used on sensitive skin as a moisturizer, facial mask, massage butter and lip balm.

Shea butter non comedogenic: what the label can and cannot promise

Often called it, never guaranteed. Shea butter is often called non-comedogenic, but the rating is not fixed and no source can promise how your skin will respond. It depends on the processing, the formulation and your skin type. Baraka's shea butter is unrefined, made by hand by women's producer groups at the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Wa, Ghana.

"Non-comedogenic" on a jar is a description, and it rests on the same rabbit-ear and human tests described above, with the same limits. Fulton's advice to formulators was that every new formula should be tested as a whole, because combining ingredients can change the result. A label is most useful when the maker can tell you which test sits behind it.

What shea butter is made of, and why processing matters

Shea butter is made from the nuts of the Vitellaria paradoxa tree, also called the karite tree, which grows wild across the savanna of West Africa. Its fat is rich in oleic, stearic, linoleic and palmitic acids. Shea butter is also often described as non-comedogenic, though ratings vary, and shea butter is often used on stretch marks to moisturize the skin.

Processing is where butters part ways. Baraka's shea butter is traditionally processed: the nuts are cracked, roasted, milled to a paste, kneaded with water and boiled so the fat separates, then cooled and filtered. No solvent, alkali, bleaching earth or deodorising is used at any stage, which is why it keeps the colour and scent that refining removes. There are many benefits of using shea butter in this unrefined form, and it keeps 2+ years when stored properly, away from heat and direct sun.

Baraka has worked directly with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region for over 15 years, and you can see the whole process in How Handmade Shea Butter is Made. Baraka's products are tested periodically by the Ghana Standards Authority in ISO-accredited laboratories, the certificate of analysis for a batch is available on request, and the wider results of the work are set out in Baraka's Social and Environmental Impact Report.

Non comedogenic butters: how shea compares with other butters and oils

Baraka's handmade shea butter, made by the women of the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana, is often listed low on comedogenic scales, though no butter comes with a guaranteed non-comedogenic rating. Lighter oils such as rosehip seed oil and sunflower seed oil are also often suggested. Ratings vary with processing, formulation and skin type, so start with a small amount.

Because the numbers are rough, texture is often the more useful way to choose. A heavy butter used thinly can suit skin that a light oil used heavily does not. This table compares the butters and oils people most often weigh against shea:

Where the comedogenic question decides between two butters, the side-by-side guides go further: Cocoa Butter vs Shea Butter covers the harder butter used in balms and bars, and Mango Butter vs Shea Butter covers mango butter, another butter often weighed against shea. You can browse every butter Baraka sells on the Butters page and the lighter options on the Oils page.

Shea butter

Shea butter is often described as non-comedogenic, and it is the butter most people start with. If you want the butter this page is about, Baraka's Raw Shea Butter is the unrefined, handmade shea butter described above: strained and filtered only, with its natural colour and scent, so you know exactly what is going on your skin.

Rosehip seed oil

Rosehip seed oil is often suggested as non-comedogenic. This oil is derived from the seeds of the rose hip, the fruit of the rose bush. The oil is rich in essential fatty acids, mainly linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid, and contains natural tocopherols (forms of vitamin E) and carotenoids, according to published analyses in the Italian Journal of Food Science (2020) and Grasas y Aceites (2018). Ratings differ between sources.

Sunflower seed oil

Sunflower seed oil is often suggested as non-comedogenic. This oil is extracted from the seeds of the sunflower plant, and it is a good moisturizer for the skin. Ratings differ between sources.

Choosing a butter for your skin

The best way to choose a moisturizer is to find one that works for your skin type. Shea butter is a natural moisturizer, so start with a small amount. Used that way, shea butter will keep your skin soft, supple and healthy-looking all year round, and the DIY Starter page has simple ways to build it into your own creams and balms.

What We Know and How We Know It

The history and limits of the comedogenic scale come from published research: Kligman and Mills, "Acne cosmetica", Archives of Dermatology (1972); Morris and Kwan, "Use of the rabbit ear model in evaluating the comedogenic potential of cosmetic ingredients", Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (1983); Fulton, "Comedogenicity and irritancy of commonly used ingredients in skin care products", Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (1989); Kligman, "Petrolatum is not comedogenic in rabbits or humans: a critical reappraisal of the rabbit ear assay and the concept of acne cosmetica", Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists (1996); and a paper on scoring the rabbit ear assay in Acta Dermato-Venereologica. The low 0 to 2 range for shea butter is the figure most published lists give, not the result of a single agreed test. The composition of rosehip seed oil comes from Mannozzi and colleagues, Italian Journal of Food Science (2020), and Turan and colleagues, Grasas y Aceites (2018). How shea butter is traditionally used on skin, lips and hair comes from traditional use and common practice in the home-making community, and what Baraka says about its own shea butter comes from Baraka's product documentation.

Disclaimer

The information on this page is for general education. It reflects traditional use, reported experience and, where noted, published research. It has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or Health Canada. Baraka products are cosmetics and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease or medical condition. Always patch test a new ingredient, keep products away from the eyes and out of reach of children, and speak to a qualified healthcare provider about any skin or health condition. Individual results vary.

About the Author

Wayne Dunn is the founder of Baraka Impact and a former Professor of Practice in Sustainability at McGill University. He holds an M.Sc. in Management from Stanford and has spent over 15 years working directly with the Konjeihi Women's Enterprise Centre in Ghana's Upper West Region to source traditionally made shea butter and natural oils. He shares DIY skincare recipes and ingredient guides designed to be made at home with real ingredients — and sourced with full transparency about where they come from.