Mangos are a delicious, tropical fruit that have a lot to offer the world of skincare. More specifically, the creamy mango butter that comes from the inner part of the fruit is a super-moisturizer for your skin and is packed with anti-aging properties, including dark spot-reducing benefits.
It’s really no wonder this all-natural ingredient has become more and more popular. It contains healthy fats that nourish your skin and a wide array of vitamins and other nutrients.
Here’s more on the amazing things mango butter can do for your skin- particularly dry, damaged, or aging complexions.
What Is Mango Butter?
When you think of mangos, you probably picture the orange, juicy flesh of the fruit. This is the part we eat, and it’s both delicious and very good for you.
Mango butter, on the other hand, is made from the seeds or kernels of the fruit. They come from the white pit you find when you cut open a mango. That’s why a more accurate name for the end product is ‘mango seed butter’ or ‘mango kernel butter,’ but you’ll often see it shortened to just ‘mango butter.’
Technically, mango butter is an oil made from the fat found in the kernels. It’s considered a butter because it is solid at room temperature and melts easily on contact with your skin.
Usually, mango butter is extracted by expeller or cold-pressing, but it can also be produced by solvent extraction (meaning a chemical method). The natural color of the final product ranges from creamy white to a yellowish hue. It typically has only a light, sweet scent and sometimes no scent at all.
Nutrients in Mango Butter
One of the best benefits of mango butter is how nutritious it is. Your skin needs certain nutrients, just like the rest of your body, and this tropical butter is particularly nourishing and smoothing.
To start with, mango butter is rich in some important skin vitamins: A, C, and E. It also has a good amount of antioxidants, including a special one known as mangiferin.
Fatty acids are another major component of mango butter. The four main ones present are oleic acid, stearic acid, palmitic acid, and linoleic acid. All of these fatty acids have their own benefits for skin and hair. They are also the reason the butter melts easily on contact with your skin but remains solid at room temperature.
As a bonus, mango butter is so nutritious that food-grade types of it can be eaten and even used as a substitute for butter or cocoa butter.
Of course, for radiant skin, applying it topically is still the best option.
Top Skin Benefits of Mango Butter
Moisturizes and Locks In Hydration
The rich, moisturizing properties of mango butter come from its fatty acid content.
Oleic acid, which is the main fatty acid in mango butter, is especially beneficial for very dry or aging skin. It’s able to penetrate into your skin, softening and hydrating as it goes and sealing in moisture. Oleic acid is also very stable and helps to protect some of the more delicate compounds in mango butter (like antioxidants) from degradation.
Stearic acid (the second highest fatty acid) is particularly good at binding water and oil together. This helps moisture stay in your skin for longer. It also acts as an emollient, meaning it smooths out dry and flaky skin, making it look more hydrated and vibrant.
The smaller amounts of palmitic and linoleic acid also provide moisture and help your skin to stay hydrated for longer.
All of these benefits make mango butter a refreshing addition to your skincare routine.
Helps Your Skin Look Softer and Smoother
Along with providing hydration, the fatty acids in mango butter also make your skin softer and smoother-looking.
This is particularly true if you have dry skin to begin with. That’s because emollients work by filling in open spaces around skin cells with lipids (fatty substances). When your skin is dry, it tends to crack and flake, leaving more of these open spaces to be filled.
Softer and smoother skin isn’t just good for how your complexion looks. It also helps your skin stay supple and elastic (not to mention less itchy and irritated). This will help it to stay younger-looking down the road.
Contains Vitamin C to Boost Collagen & Brighten Skin
One of the top anti-aging benefits of mango butter is its vitamin C content. Vitamin C is one of the best nutrients you can feed your skin for several reasons, including its wrinkle-reducing properties.
First, it boosts collagen production, which is key for keeping your skin young-looking. Collagen is the protein that makes up about 70% of your skin’s substance and works hard to keep it plump, thick, and wrinkle-free.
Collagen production naturally declines as you age, so feeding your skin ingredients that will boost it is important.
Vitamin C is also one of the best nutrients for brightening the appearance of skin. It helps to rejuvenate the natural glow of your complexion and has been shown to help fade hyperpigmentation (dark spots). It even has anti-inflammatory properties that can calm redness and even out skin tone.
If that weren’t enough, vitamin C can also help protect your skin from UV damage- a true anti-aging superpower.
Contains Vitamin A to Reduce Signs of Aging
Mango butter also happens to be rich in vitamin A, which is another powerful anti-aging nutrient, that reduces the signs of aging, making it an all-natural ingredient with a firming effect that is becoming increasingly popular in skincare products.
You may be familiar with vitamin A under another name- retinol. Retinol is one of the most frequently used and recommended anti-aging ingredients. It’s known to diminish many signs of aging, including wrinkles and dark spots. It also lightly exfoliates skin, improving texture and tone.
The problem with retinol and its derivatives is that they can cause dryness, redness, and irritation. Even worse, they may increase your risk of skin cancer, even though they are usually marketed as being skin-protective.
Now, the vitamin A in mango butter isn’t found in the same concentration as you would expect from a retinol product. But it’s still present and will be hard at work- in a form that won’t cause dryness, irritation, etc.
Contains Vitamin E + Antioxidants for Skin Protection
Antioxidants are incredibly important when it comes to protecting your skin from further signs of aging. Their major job is to keep free radicals in check so that they don’t cause damage to essential molecules in your skin.
A little known fact about free radicals is that they actually contribute to the breakdown of collagen and elastin. Collagen we’ve already discussed as an important anti-aging skin protein, and elastin is equally as vital. It’s what helps your skin to bounce back after being stretched and keep its firm, youthful shape.
The reason free radicals can be detrimental to collagen and elastin is because they induce two enzymes known as collagenase and elastase. These enzymes are responsible for breaking down collagen and elastin, which is a problem if their formation gets accelerated.
Fortunately, mango butter is packed with antioxidants, like mangiferin, that fight free radical damage.
Antioxidants can also help protect your skin from UV damage, which can make your complexion look prematurely old. Vitamin E, for example, offers powerful photoprotection, especially when combined with vitamin C. These two work synergistically together to limit damage caused by UV rays.
Mango butter contains both vitamin E and vitamin C, which is another reason it has anti-aging benefits.
Improves Skin Repair
Mango butter is especially beneficial for damaged skin because it aids skin repair.
Part of this comes from the vitamin C in mango butter. This powerful nutrient is known to aid wound healing because it’s needed for collagen synthesis.
The moisturizing and emollient properties of mango are also soothing for damaged skin. They nourish dry skin (which is more likely to suffer damage) and provide a protective barrier for your skin so that it can recover.
As an example of how powerful it can be, one small clinical study evaluated the effects of a cream made with mango butter. It was tested on volunteers who had areas of cracked and worn skin. All of the participants experienced complete repair of the cracked areas as well as smoother and more hydrated skin overall.
That’s pretty impressive!
Also, unless you have an allergy, the calming effect of mango butter is very soothing for sensitive skin, even helping to protect it from irritation.
Has Antimicrobial Properties
One of the antioxidants in mango butter, magniferin, has antimicrobial properties that could be beneficial for your skin. Other research has also discovered antibacterial properties of polyphenols extracted from mango seed oil.
When it comes to skin health, not all microbes or bacteria are bad. Your skin actually has its own microbiome of beneficial bacteria, much like your gut. However, if this gets out of balance or microbes that cause problems multiply, you can end up with acne and other skin conditions.
It’s not known yet exactly how the antimicrobial nature of mango butter works against microbes that may cause skin problems, but it’s definitely a plus.
Has a Light, Non-Greasy Texture
With all its moisturizing properties, you might think that mango butter would be heavy or pore-clogging- but that’s not the case.
It actually has a lighter texture than many other oils and butters. When you apply it to your skin, it quickly melts into an oil and does not leave a greasy feeling behind. When used in a cream or lotion, it adds a silky texture and easily absorbs into your skin.
Mango butter is also considered non-comedogenic, so you don’t have to worry about it clogging your pores. It really is fantastic for dry and/or aging skin but can benefit any skin type.
What to Look for in Mango Butter
If you want to enjoy all of the benefits of mango butter for your skin, it’s important to use the right kind. As with any natural ingredient, how it’s grown and processed really affects the end result.
Here are a few things to look for in the best quality mango butter.
Cold-Pressed and Unrefined
Cold-pressing mango seeds is the best way to extract mango butter without chemicals. It leaves all of the good nutrients intact and doesn’t add any toxins to the end product. Make sure to look for the description ‘cold-pressed’ on the label.
Refining is a process that happens after mango butter has been extracted. Some manufacturers will bleach and/or deodorize the butter to create a white, scentless final product. Unfortunately, this can destroy some of the more sensitive nutrients in mango butter and is usually done with chemicals.
Look for butter that is labeled ‘unrefined’ or ‘raw’ so that you know it’s as close to its original state as possible.
Organic
Many people are aware of the danger of pesticides on food, but it’s also an important factor to keep in mind for your skin.
Every natural skincare ingredient goes through a growing process that often involves chemical sprays and fertilizers. You really don’t want to be applying even traces of these chemicals to your skin because they have the potential to be absorbed and enter your bloodstream.
Look for mango butter that has the USDA Certified Organic seal (or the equivalent in other countries). Anything labeled ‘natural’, ‘pure’, or even ‘organic’ can’t be verified as chemical-free unless it has the official USDA stamp.
High Quality Skincare Products
While you can get the benefits of mango butter by using it as is, it’s often even more effective when used as part of a skincare product. This way, it gets combined with other ingredients that make it lighter and even more absorbable. It can also be paired with other antioxidant- and nutrient-rich ingredients for even more anti-aging benefits.
Also, as a rich and moisturizing oil, mango butter makes a really excellent base for skincare products. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can even make your own- or turn to the experts who have already formulated them for you.
So, if you’re looking for a way to achieve age-defying beauty made easy, look no further than mango butter benefits for skin!
Nourishing Cream for Age-Defying Skin
If you are searching for skincare that is deeply nourishing and anti-aging, look into the
Age-Defying Dream Cream from Purity Woods. It uses nutrient-rich mango butter as a key base ingredient and combines it with 20+ highly effective plant extracts.
The entire formula, including the mango butter, is USDA Certified Organic, which means no chemicals and nothing artificial or synthetic. What you will find are pure botanicals, like maple leaf extract and Indian gooseberry, that boost collagen and elastin to quickly erase signs of aging.
Learn more about the Age-Defying Dream Cream here and start benefiting from the tropical power of mango butter.
