Non-comedogenic products, checked ingredient by ingredient

Is Your Skincare Product Safe for Your Skin? “Non-comedogenic” on the front of a bottle is a marketing word with no legal definition behind it. The back of the bottle is where the answer is. Type an ingredient and read what this site publishes about it, or paste a whole ingredient list.

Skincare Ingredient Checker

285 rated ingredients · 173 of them in the 4–5 band · 123 traced to a paper we have read · the other 162 marked unconfirmed

Look up one ingredient

Scale 0 Non-comedogenic 1–2 Low 3 Moderate 4–5 High

This tool is for informational purposes only. It screens an ingredient list against the 285 ingredients published on this site’s own A–Z list, and it does not test the product. Comedogenicity can vary by concentration and formulation. Consult a dermatologist for personalised advice. How a rating gets here.

What the checker looks for

Even products labeled "clear skin" can contain ingredients rated high on the comedogenic scale. This pore clogging checker reads an ingredient list against the ingredients on this site's list and shows the rating each one carries, so you can see what is in a product before it touches your face.

Complete List of Pore Clogging Ingredients

Why use a pore clogging ingredients checker?

An acne ingredient checker shows which ingredients in a product carry a comedogenic rating. Some "luxury" or "natural" products contain ingredients rated high on the list. Our non comedogenic checker reads the label against the list and gives the rating for every match.

What Are Pore-Clogging Ingredients?

Pore-clogging, or "comedogenic," ingredients are substances that have a high tendency to block the openings of your hair follicles. When these ingredients mix with your natural sebum and dead skin cells, they form a "plug" or comedone

**Blackheads (Open Comedones)** Formed when the plug is exposed to air and oxidizes.

**Whiteheads (Closed Comedones)** Formed when the pore remains trapped under the skin.

How Does the Comedogenic Checker Work?

Not all ingredients are created equal. Our comedogenic ingredient checker shows each ingredient's rating on the 0–5 comedogenic scale, which grades how much a raw ingredient plugged follicles in a rabbit-ear test:

Rating 0: Non-comedogenic (no plugging in the test).
Rating 1–2: Low.
Rating 3: Moderate. Rating 4–5: High.

By using this acne ingredient checker, you can vet your moisturizers, foundations, and sunscreens in seconds.

0 Non-comedogenic: No increase in follicle plugging in the rabbit-ear test.
1–2 Low: Little plugging in the rabbit-ear test. Fulton 1989 counts 0 to 1 as not significant and 2 as borderline.
3 Moderate: Borderline plugging in the rabbit-ear test. Worth a look in a leave-on product.
4–5 High: Clear plugging in the rabbit-ear test. The first band to check in a leave-on product.

Read where the 0–5 scale came from

Find Your Perfect Non-Comedogenic Routine

Once you’ve used the non comedogenic checker to filter out the bad stuff, explore our curated guides to build a routine:

Best Non-Comedogenic Products

Skincare Routine

The research on the scale

Kligman AM, Mills OH Jr. “Acne cosmetica.” Archives of Dermatology, December 1972;106(6):843–850. (opens in a new tab) The paper that named cosmetic acne and started the search for which ingredients cause it.
Fulton JE Jr, Pay SR, Fulton JE 3rd. “Comedogenicity of current therapeutic products, cosmetics, and ingredients in the rabbit ear.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, January 1984;10(1):96–105. (opens in a new tab) Rabbit-ear ratings of ingredients one by one. It is behind a paywall and we have not read it, so no rating on this site is attributed to it.
Draelos ZD, DiNardo JC. “A re-evaluation of the comedogenicity concept.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 2006;54(3):507–512. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1058 (opens in a new tab) Found that animal-model results did not reliably predict what happened on human skin, and that a rating for a single ingredient does not tell you how a finished product will behave.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “Cosmetics Labeling Claims”. (opens in a new tab) States that the FDA does not keep a list of approved or accepted cosmetic claims; a label must simply be truthful and not misleading. There is no FDA definition of “non-comedogenic” for a brand to meet.