What is Babassu Oil?
Babassu Oil (INCI name: Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil) is a plant- or seed-derived oil. A light, fast-melting palm-family oil from the Brazilian babassu nut, often sold as a lower-grease substitute for coconut oil. Its fatty-acid profile is lauric-rich, much like coconut oil, which is why it draws the same scrutiny. It is named on the CLEARSTEM and AcneClinicNYC pore-clogging ingredient lists, but neither publishes a 0-5 comedogenic score for it and no Fulton-derived table we cite carries one. We therefore leave it unrated rather than invent a number — treat the listing itself as the signal.
You may see it on labels as Babassu Oil, Orbignya Oleifera Seed Oil, Orbignya Speciosa Kernel Oil, so it can hide under more than one name in an ingredient list.
Where Babassu Oil shows up
You'll most often find Babassu Oil in facial oils, cleansing balms, moisturisers, hair products, and many products marketed as natural.
Is Babassu Oil bad for acne-prone skin?
Because no reliable comedogenic score exists for Babassu Oil, judge it by how your own skin responds rather than by a number.
Worth flagging: Babassu Oil's rating is disputed. Credible sources land on different numbers, which is why we show a range rather than a single score — and why your own experience is the best tiebreaker.
Note for fungal-acne (malassezia) sufferers: Babassu Oil is commonly avoided in fungal-acne routines, since it falls into the fatty-acid or ester families the yeast can feed on. The evidence there is looser than for comedogenicity — see our fungal-acne checker for context.