Cocoa butter has an unusual property, and, as opposed to what happens with most vegetable and seed oils, (and obviously to animal fats), it is solid to the temperature of the environment but it melts on body temperature. This grants it a whole series of specific pharmaceutical applications. Active ingredients can be added to cocoa butter, which is previously deodorized in an empty condition; it constitutes for example, the base of the most commonly used for pessary contraceptives.
The cosmetic industry also finds this property extremely valuable. Cocoa butter is an excellent emollient, as it is indissoluble in the water while at the same time a repellent. When it is mixed with other ingredients, it is possible to produce a cream that in a jar has a firm consistency but when it is applied on the skin it becomes soft and extends easily and uniformly over the skin. Cocoa butter therefore constitutes the base for a number of hydrating creams as well as after sun creams, while at the same time being used for lipsticks and hydrating balsamic chap sticks for the lips.
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