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By the Salute team · Last updated: 16 July 2026
Most natural body care sounds alike: botanical, kind to skin, nothing nasty. We’re one of those brands, so this article could comfortably say the same.
Instead we went and read the dermatology research on the oils that fill products like ours. It turned out more complicated than we expected, and olive oil — the one everybody loves — has the least comfortable evidence behind it.
This guide covers what the trials found on olive and coconut oil, why an oil’s fatty acid profile predicts how your skin reacts, what Vitamin E is doing on the label, and what “vegan” does and doesn’t tell you. It matters here more than most places: we moisturise year-round in humid heat, coconut has been a household oil for generations, and olive oil arrives with Mediterranean prestige attached. Some of this is awkward for us. We think it’s still worth knowing before you buy anything — from us or anyone else.
Source video: Dr Dray on YouTube
QUICK ANSWERNo. “Natural” describes an ingredient’s origin, not its effect on skin. Some plant oils help; at least one popular natural oil has been shown to weaken the skin barrier. Origin and evidence are separate questions, and only one of them predicts results.
The word carries a lot of quiet weight. It suggests gentleness and safety, though neither is contained in the word itself. Poison ivy is natural. Petrolatum, which the American Academy of Dermatology lists among the ingredients to look for, is not.
The researchers behind the most-cited study in this area were direct about it. Their findings, they wrote, “challenge the unfounded belief that all natural oils are beneficial for the skin.” That study is about olive oil, and we will get to it.
This matters because “natural” is doing the job evidence should be doing. If you are choosing body care in the Klang Valley heat, the useful question is not where an ingredient grew, but what happened when someone put it on skin and measured the result.
“Natural” is a sourcing fact, not a performance claim. Ask what the trials measured, not where the plant grew.
QUICK ANSWERLess than its reputation suggests. In a randomised trial, four weeks of neat olive oil significantly reduced skin barrier integrity and caused mild redness — in people with and without any eczema history. A 2019 review concluded olive oil may make dry skin and eczema worse.
Researchers at the University of Sheffield ran a forearm-controlled trial on 19 adults. Volunteers applied six drops of olive oil to one forearm twice daily, and sunflower seed oil to the other. Then they measured what happened.
| Measure | Olive oil | Sunflower seed oil |
|---|---|---|
| Barrier integrity | Significantly reduced | Preserved |
| Redness (erythema) | Mild redness induced | None |
| Hydration | Not improved | Improved |
| Affected eczema-free skin too | Yes | — |
Source: Danby et al., Pediatric Dermatology 30(1):42–50, 2013. Randomised, n=19 adults, 4 weeks, neat oil.
The authors’ recommendation was direct: the use of olive oil for treating dry skin and for infant massage “should therefore be discouraged.”
A later review from Columbia University reached the same place. Looking across olive, coconut and sunflower seed oil, the authors found that “currently available evidence suggests that olive oil may exacerbate xerosis and atopic dermatitis” — xerosis being the clinical word for dry skin.
Neat olive oil isn’t the kindest thing to offer dry skin, however natural it feels. Two independent teams reached the same conclusion.
QUICK ANSWEROleic acid disrupts the skin barrier; linoleic acid supports it. Olive oil is roughly 78% oleic and only 7% linoleic — the worst possible ratio. Coconut oil sidesteps the problem entirely with a different fatty acid profile built on lauric acid.
The Columbia review notes skin irritancy falls when the oleic-to-linoleic ratio is reversed. Look at what each oil is made of and the trial results stop being surprising.
| Fatty acid | Olive oil | Coconut oil |
|---|---|---|
| Oleic (barrier-disrupting) | 78% | 7% |
| Linoleic (barrier-supporting) | 7% | 2% |
| Lauric (coconut’s main acid) | trace | 48% |
| Saturated overall | 12% | 90% |
Source: Portland State University, adapted from Gunstone, Fatty Acid and Lipid Chemistry (1996). Typical values; composition varies by harvest and processing.
Olive oil is 78% oleic acid against 7% linoleic — an 11-to-1 ratio in the unhelpful direction. Sunflower seed oil, which came out well in the trial, runs the opposite way. That’s chemistry rather than opinion.
Olive oil’s difficulty is structural rather than incidental. Its oleic-heavy profile is the composition that unsettles the barrier.
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QUICK ANSWERYes, and unusually for a natural oil, there are randomised trials behind it. Virgin coconut oil beat mineral oil on eczema severity and moisture loss in a 117-patient trial, and matched it for dry skin in adults. It remains comedogenic, so keep it off acne-prone areas.
Coconut oil makes the point nicely. It isn’t good because it’s natural — it’s good because someone tested it.
The strongest evidence comes from a double-blind randomised trial in Manila — a tropical climate much like Malaysia’s, rather than a European winter.
| Measure | Virgin coconut oil | Mineral oil |
|---|---|---|
| Eczema severity (SCORAD) | −68.2% | −38.1% |
| Moisture loss (TEWL) | 26.7 → 7.1 | 24.1 → 13.6 |
| Skin capacitance (hydration) | 32.0 → 42.3 | 31.3 → 37.5 |
| Excellent response | 46% | 19% |
Source: Evangelista et al., International Journal of Dermatology 53(1):100–108, 2014. Randomised, double-blind, n=117 paediatric patients, Manila.
Two caveats keep this honest. That trial was in children with eczema, not adults with ordinary dry skin. And a separate adult trial found virgin coconut oil was as effective and safe as mineral oil for mild dry skin — a good result, but a tie rather than a win.
The Columbia reviewers were more reserved than the headlines, saying further studies are needed before firm recommendations on coconut oil. Encouraging evidence is not the same as settled evidence. Where an oil sits in your routine matters too — our guide to layering body care covers the order.
Coconut oil earns its place on evidence, not on vibes — but it’s comedogenic, so it belongs on your body, not your face.
QUICK ANSWERThe olive oil studies tested neat oil — six drops, straight from the bottle, twice a day for weeks. A finished cream where an oil is one component among many is a different thing. That difference is real, but it is not a blank cheque.
This is the point where a brand would normally reassure you. We’d rather be careful.
The Sheffield study applied undiluted oil directly to skin. That’s a different exposure from an emulsion containing a percentage of the same oil alongside water, humectants and occlusives. Concentration matters, and so does what it’s combined with.
That argument has real limits, though:
So the honest position is a narrow one: if you have eczema-prone or already-compromised skin, the evidence gives you a reason to be cautious about olive-oil-forward products, and a reason to prefer coconut, sunflower, or one of the ingredients dermatologists actually recommend. If your skin is healthy and a product suits you, the trial evidence on neat oil doesn’t automatically transfer to it.
“It’s formulated, so it’s fine” is plausible, but it hasn’t been tested. A reason for nuance rather than a reason to stop asking.
QUICK ANSWERUsually less than the marketing implies. Vitamin E (tocopherol) is mainly an antioxidant that stops the oils in a product going rancid. That’s a formulation job, not a skin treatment — and it’s a recognised contact allergen for a minority of people.
Vitamin E appears on almost every natural label, implied to be doing something restorative. Its most reliable job is duller: protecting the product.
Plant oils oxidise. Left alone they go rancid, and rancid oils irritate more than fresh ones. Tocopherol slows that. A useful ingredient — useful the way a good lid is useful.
Our own description of it says exactly this: a familiar antioxidant used to help keep our formulas fresh. We’d rather say that than imply it repairs anything.
Vitamin E on a label usually means “this product will stay fresh”, not “this will transform your skin”.
QUICK ANSWERIt tells you one thing precisely: no animal-derived ingredients. It says nothing about whether a product works, how gentle it is, or whether it suits your skin. It’s an ethical specification, not a performance one.
We are a vegan-friendly brand and we think that matters. It’s also routinely oversold, so it’s worth being exact.
Vegan means no animal-derived ingredients. It rules out lanolin and beeswax — and lanolin is on the AAD’s list of ingredients worth looking for. Choosing vegan means giving up an option dermatologists rate. A legitimate trade on ethical grounds, but a trade, not a free upgrade.
Equally, vegan doesn’t mean fragrance-free, doesn’t mean non-comedogenic, doesn’t mean clinically tested, and doesn’t mean cruelty-free — that last one is a separate claim about testing, not ingredients. You can find more about how we think about our formulas if that matters to you.
Vegan is a precise ethical claim and a silent one about performance. Both are true at once.
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QUICK ANSWERIngredients are listed in descending order by weight, so the first five matter most. Check them against what dermatologists actually recommend, then check for fragrance — the single most common cause of irritation on dry skin.
Here’s the useful comparison nobody puts on packaging: what the AAD suggests looking for, against what “natural” body care usually leads with.
| Ingredient | On the AAD’s list? | Vegan? |
|---|---|---|
| Shea butter | Yes | Yes |
| Glycerin | Yes | Usually |
| Hyaluronic acid | Yes | Usually |
| Jojoba oil | Yes | Yes |
| Petrolatum | Yes | Yes |
| Lanolin | Yes | No |
| Coconut oil | Not listed — but trial-backed | Yes |
| Olive oil | Not listed — evidence is negative | Yes |
| Fragrance / parfum | Advised against | Varies |
Compiled from American Academy of Dermatology guidance and the trial evidence cited above. Vegan status is typical, not guaranteed — glycerin and hyaluronic acid can be animal-derived.
Two things stand out. Most of the AAD’s list isn’t glamorous — petrolatum and glycerin sell nothing. And the two oils that define “natural” body care aren’t on it at all.
Petrolatum will bother some readers, because natural beauty has spent years warning about it. The concern traces to crude, unrefined petrolatum containing impurities — not to the cosmetic-grade, fully refined material regulators permit, which dermatologists rate as one of the most effective and least allergenic moisturisers available. We don’t use it — a positioning choice rather than a safety one, and we’d rather say so plainly.
Nothing hidden on our labels
No undisclosed fragrance blends, no vague “botanical complex” — just what’s in the jar. Read more on skincare →
Read the first five ingredients and check for fragrance. That two-second habit outperforms any claim on the front of the pack.
QUICK ANSWERWe use olive and coconut in our body care, and we’ve just published the evidence that complicates one of them. We’d rather you knew and decided for yourself than found out from someone else.
There’s an obvious problem with a natural body care brand publishing this, and it would be strange not to name it.
Olive and coconut are the bases of our body care. The coconut evidence is good. The olive evidence isn’t, and no amount of writing around it changes that. We could have quietly left the Sheffield study out. We didn’t want to.
What we can honestly say is narrow. The trials tested neat oil, not our formulations. We don’t have data on our own products, so we’re not going to claim the finding doesn’t apply to them. If your skin is eczema-prone or already irritated, take the research seriously and patch test anything new, ours included.
This is what our “honest care” line is meant to mean — clear labels, genuine products, no empty promises. That’s easy to write on an About page. We’re trying to mean it here too.
We’d rather you decided with the evidence in front of you.
QUICK ANSWERJudge ingredients on evidence, not origin. Coconut oil has trials behind it; neat olive oil has trials against it. Check the first five ingredients, avoid fragrance on dry skin, and treat “natural” and “vegan” as facts about sourcing rather than promises about results.
The lesson isn’t that olive oil is bad and coconut oil is good. It’s that the two sit in nearly identical marketing language while their evidence points in opposite directions — and “natural” hides that completely.
Ask what was measured. If nobody can tell you, that’s worth knowing too. And if you have persistent dry or irritated skin that products aren’t settling, a board-certified dermatologist will help more than any ingredients list.
The evidence on neat olive oil is negative. A randomised trial found four weeks of undiluted olive oil significantly reduced skin barrier integrity and caused mild redness in adults with and without eczema history, and a 2019 review concluded it may worsen dry skin and eczema. Formulated products containing olive oil haven’t been tested the same way.
On current evidence, yes. Virgin coconut oil outperformed mineral oil in a randomised trial of 117 children with eczema and matched it for adult dry skin, while olive oil damaged the barrier in controlled testing. Coconut oil is comedogenic though, so it suits your body better than your face.
Eating and applying are different. Olive oil is roughly 78% oleic acid, which disrupts the skin barrier on contact, against just 7% linoleic acid, which supports it. That ratio makes it excellent food and a poor topical moisturiser. Nutritional value doesn’t transfer through skin.
No. Vegan means no animal-derived ingredients — an ethical specification, not a performance one. It rules out lanolin, which dermatologists actually recommend for dry skin. Vegan products can be excellent or poor; the label tells you nothing either way.
The American Academy of Dermatology suggests looking for shea butter, glycerin, hyaluronic acid, jojoba oil, petrolatum, lanolin, mineral oil or dimethicone, and choosing fragrance-free. Check the first five ingredients, since they make up most of the product by weight.
Clear labels, no empty promises
Salute makes vegan-friendly body care and beauty-from-within supplements using carefully selected natural ingredients. Read the label, ask us anything, decide for yourself. Free shipping on orders over RM60.
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Last updated: 16 July 2026 THE SHORT VERSION A body care routine in Malaysia should be built around your shower, not your aircon. Measured air-conditioned