What is Brazil Nut Oil?
Brazil Nut Oil (INCI name: Bertholletia Excelsa Seed Oil) falls into the oil category — a plant- or seed-derived oil. A rich, selenium-containing nut oil used in body and hair products for its heavy, cushioning slip. 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 Brazil Nut Oil, Bertholletia Excelsa Seed Oil, Brazilian Nut Oil, so it can hide under more than one name in an ingredient list.
Where Brazil Nut Oil shows up
As a plant- or seed-derived oil, Brazil Nut Oil typically appears in facial oils, cleansing balms, moisturisers, hair products, and many products marketed as natural.
Is Brazil Nut Oil bad for acne-prone skin?
Because no reliable comedogenic score exists for Brazil Nut Oil, judge it by how your own skin responds rather than by a number.
Worth flagging: Brazil Nut 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: Brazil Nut 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.