Pore Clogger Checker
4/5

Is Ethylhexyl Palmitate Comedogenic?

Ethylhexyl Palmitate is rated 4/5 in published comedogenicity lists — rated high on published lists.

Single-source Source: compilation. Only the reproduced compilation lists carry this number; not verified against the original table. How we rate

Also appears on labels as

What it is

Ethylhexyl palmitate (older name: octyl palmitate) is a synthetic ester of 2-ethylhexanol and palmitic acid. Formulators use it for silicone-like slip at low cost — it is one of the most common "dry emollients" in makeup, sunscreen, and primers.

Why it's rated 4/5

The classic ester tables are where the comedogenicity literature is at its most consistent, and ethylhexyl palmitate sits at 4 — in the same family as isopropyl myristate (5) and isopropyl palmitate (4). Light feel is exactly why these esters score high: they spread thin and penetrate follicles readily.

On the label

Appears as Ethylhexyl Palmitate or Octyl Palmitate — same material, two naming eras. Because it is a texture ingredient, it often sits in the first five positions of long-wear makeup and sunscreen lists, which is the high-exposure pattern worth checking for.

When this rating can't be trusted

The 4/5 describes the raw ingredient in a rabbit-ear assay, usually at 10% in propylene glycol. It cannot tell you how much is in your product (position on the label is the only clue), what the rest of the formula does to it, or how your skin responds. Finished products containing highly rated ingredients have tested non-comedogenic on human skin (Draelos & DiNardo, JAAD 2006).

Can the 4/5 rating for Ethylhexyl Palmitate be trusted?

Single-source This number comes only from reproduced compilation lists and has not been verified against the original table. Treat it as a screening signal from a copied list, not a measurement you can cite. Source: compilation.

A flag here means look closer — the AAD 1989 threshold for caution — not this product will break you out. Full reasoning and bibliography.

Non-comedogenic swaps

Picks are products labeled non-comedogenic; we don’t test or endorse.

Where the rating comes from

Ratings on this site come from published comedogenicity literature in the Fulton 1989 lineage — the 0–5 tables compiled from ingredient testing and reproduced across dermatology reference lists since. Where values disagree: a named primary source (Fulton 1989) outranks later unattributed lists, so its value is shown and the others are disclosed in the note; where only compilation lists disagree, the higher-caution value is shown. We never publish an invented number, and we never present one as more certain than its source: every rating carries a confidence tier — established (primary-source value, no disagreement on record), single-source (only the reproduced compilation lists carry it), or contested (published values disagree or depend on grade and vehicle; the note says which value is shown and why). Ingredients we cannot match appear as “not in our database” — unmatched, not cleared: no published list we hold rates them under that name, and that is not a pass.

Our flag threshold follows the American Academy of Dermatology's Invitational Symposium on Comedogenicity (J Am Acad Dermatol 1989): substances scoring 0–2 in the rabbit-ear assay are unlikely to clog pores in humans, while scores above 2 warrant more caution — which is why this site flags 3/5 and up. Read the full methodology and bibliography.

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