Coconut oil is one of those ingredients everyone seems to love — but the labels can get confusing fast.
Cold-pressed, virgin, refined, fractionated… it starts to feel like you need a chemistry degree just to buy a jar of fractionated coconut oil.
The good news is it’s simpler than it looks.
Most of the confusion comes from one mix-up: people treat “cold-pressed” and “fractionated” as if they’re competing options, when really they describe two completely different things.
Let’s clear it up.
“Cold-pressed” is about how the oil is extracted
Let's clear it up.
“Cold-pressed” is about how the oil is extracted – Cold-pressing is a method.
Fresh coconut is pressed to release its oil without using heat or chemical solvents.
Because nothing is scorched or stripped out in the process, the oil keeps more of its natural character — its scent, its richness, and the nutrients that come along with it.
This is the oil most people picture when they think “natural coconut oil“: creamy, solid at room temperature, and melting the moment it touches warm skin.
There’s good reason behind why it’s so well loved. It’s lovely stuff, but it has a couple of quirks. It can feel heavy, it has a noticeable coconut smell, and for some skin types it sits a little too richly and can clog pores.
"Fractionated" is about what happens next
Fractionating is a step that can be done after the oil is extracted. During fractionation, the heavier, long-chain fats are gently separated out, leaving behind only the lighter medium-chain oils — the part often called MCTs.
What you’re left with is a coconut oil that behaves very differently from the jar in your kitchen cupboard:
• It stays liquid at room temperature.
• It’s featherlight and fast-absorbing, so it sinks in rather than sitting on top.
• It’s odourless, which makes it a dream for blending with other ingredients.
• It’s far less likely to clog pores, making it friendlier for breakout-prone skin.
• It’s naturally long-lasting, with a much longer shelf life and excellent stability.
The trade-off is that fractionating removes some of the heavier components — so you lose a little of the richness (and the coconut smell) in exchange for a cleaner, lighter feel.
How is coconut oil fractionated?
It sounds technical, but the idea behind it is simple — and importantly, it’s a physical process, not a chemical one.
Coconut oil isn’t a single thing. It’s a blend of different fats, each a slightly different size and weight. Some are heavier and turn solid at warmer temperatures — these include lauric acid, the fat that makes a jar of coconut oil set hard on your shelf.
Others are lighter, medium-chain fats that stay liquid.
Fractionation simply separates the two. Using temperature to gently coax the oil apart, the heavier fats are draws off and the lighter, medium-chain oils are kept.
Nothing synthetic is added, and nothing foreign is introduced — it’s the same coconut oil, sorted by the size of its fats so that only the featherlight part remains.
That’s the secret behind how it behaves. Because the heavier components — the ones that thicken, cling to the skin, carry the strong coconut scent and eventually turn rancid — have been left out, what remains stays liquid, feels weightless, blends invisibly and lasts remarkably well.
So which one is better?
Here’s the honest answer: neither is better across the board — it depends on what you want from it.
Reach for virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil when you want something rich and nourishing: think dry hair masks, body butters, or a heavy overnight treatment. It’s full-bodied and comforting.
Reach for fractionated coconut oil when you want something light, clean, and easy to wear: facial care, carrier oils for serums and roller blends, daily moisturisers, and anything you’d rather not smell or feel sitting on your skin. It’s the more practical choice for everyday use and for skin that doesn’t get along with heavier oils.
Is fractionated coconut oil still real, natural coconut oil?
It’s a fair question — and the answer is yes.
Fractionating doesn’t add anything, and it doesn’t turn the oil into something synthetic. It’s a simple physical process: the whole coconut oil is gently separated, the featherlight part is kept, and the heavier fats are set aside. No chemicals, no solvents, nothing foreign introduced.
What you’re left with is the very same plant — Cocos nucifera, the coconut — just its lightest, most skin-friendly fraction. So it’s every bit as natural as the jar in your cupboard. It simply behaves better on skin.
Here's the difference at a glance:
| Cold-Pressed (Virgin) Coconut Oil | Fractionated Coconut Oil | |
|---|---|---|
| Texture | Rich, creamy, solid at room temp | Featherlight, liquid, fast-absorbing |
| Scent | Noticeable coconut aroma | Virtually odourless |
| On the skin | Can feel heavy; may clog pores | Light; far less likely to clog pores |
| Shelf life | Shorter | Long and very stable |
| Best for | Rich treatments, hair masks, body butter | Everyday skin, facial care, blends, daily wear |
What to look for on a label
A few quick things worth checking:
• Food-grade tells you the oil meets the standards required for food, which is a reassuring baseline for anything going on your skin.
• Extraction and processing tell you how gently the oil was produced.
• Free from additives means you’re getting the oil and nothing tagged on.
If a product is clear about all three, you’ve got a good idea of exactly what you’re buying.
Fractionated coconut oil: your questions answered
Is fractionated coconut oil the same as MCT oil?
Essentially, yes. MCT stands for medium-chain triglycerides — and those medium-chain fats are exactly what’s left behind once the heavier ones are fractionated out. So fractionated coconut oil and MCT coconut oil describe the same
lightweight oil.
Will fractionated coconut oil clog my pores?
It’s far less likely to than virgin coconut oil, which is often rated high on the comedogenic (pore-clogging) scale.
Because the heavier, richer fats have been removed, the lighter fractionated oil is a friendlier choice for skin
that’s prone to breakouts.
Does fractionated coconut oil go off?
It’s exceptionally stable, with a long shelf life — one of its biggest practical advantages. The components that turn
rancid first are the heavier ones, and those are precisely the parts that have been left out.
Can I use fractionated coconut oil on my face?
Yes — its lightness is exactly why it suits facial care so well. It absorbs quickly, won’t sit greasily on the skin,
and is far less likely to clog pores than a heavier oil. As with any new product, a quick patch test first is always
sensible.
Does it smell of coconut?
Barely, if at all. It’s virtually odourless — which is why it blends so beautifully with other ingredients and never
competes with the scents you actually want to wear.
The BCH Naturals approach
At BCH Naturals, we deliberately chose the fractionated, featherlight form of coconut oil — and it was a considered choice, not a shortcut.
For skin, and for the easy everyday wear our oils are made for, light and clean beats rich and heavy. Our oil absorbs quickly rather than sitting on top, it won’t clog pores, it has virtually no scent to get in the way, and it stays stable and fresh for far longer.
It’s food-grade, naturally derived from 100% coconut, and free from unnecessary additives — just the lightest part of the coconut, and nothing it doesn’t need.
In other words: a genuinely natural starting point, in the easy-to-use form your skin will actually thank you for.
Curious to feel the featherlight difference for yourself?
Our coconut-based oils are made with exactly this — the light, clean, fast-absorbing kind.
Coconut has its own story to tell. For the real benefits, the common myths, and the honest facts, read Coconut Oil as a Natural Lubricant: Benefits, Myths & Facts – bchnaturals.com
Know someone who prefers things natural? This one’s worth sharing.