What is Shea Butter?
Chemically, Shea Butter (INCI name: Butyrospermum Parkii Butter) is a rich, semi-solid plant butter. Genuinely disputed: many dermatology sources rate shea butter 0-2 and consider it well tolerated, while several pore-clogging lists rate it as high as 4. Patch-test if you are very acne-prone.
You may see it on labels as Shea Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Butyrospermum Parkii, Shea, so it can hide under more than one name in an ingredient list.
Where Shea Butter shows up
Shea Butter is commonly formulated into body butters, rich face and hand creams, lip balms, and hair masks. Separately from clogging, its irritancy is rated 0/5 — low, so it's unlikely to sting or sensitise on its own.
Is Shea Butter bad for acne-prone skin?
A moderate rating means Shea Butter clogs some people and not others. If you're prone to congestion, patch-test a product that features it prominently before committing.
Worth flagging: Shea Butter'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: Shea Butter 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.
Non-comedogenic alternatives
If you're avoiding Shea Butter, these lower-risk ingredients serve a similar role and are gentler on pore-prone skin:
- Squalane — rated 1/5 (Low risk).
- Mango Butter — rated 2/5 (Low risk).