Is Squalane Comedogenic?
Squalane is rated 1/5 in published comedogenicity lists — rated low on published lists.
Contested Source: Fulton 1989. Published values disagree or depend on grade and vehicle — the note says which value is shown and why. How we rate
What it is
Squalane is squalene that has been hydrogenated — the double bonds are saturated, turning an oxidation-prone natural lipid into a light, completely stable emollient. Modern squalane is mostly fermented from sugarcane (or derived from olives); every source shares the same INCI name and the same molecule.
Why it's rated 1/5
The original Fulton 1989 table graded squalane 1, and modern compilations cite 0–1 — either way, the bottom of the scale. It's worth keeping the pair straight: squalene — with an e — is the unsaturated original, a natural component of sebum that rates 2 largely because it oxidizes. Squalane, the saturated form on most modern labels, does not oxidize and stays at the bottom of the scale.
On the label
Appears as Squalane, often near the top of facial-oil and serum labels at high percentages — one of the few ingredients where a first-position listing and a bottom-of-scale rating routinely coexist.
When this rating can't be trusted
The 1/5 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 1/5 rating for Squalane be trusted?
Contested Published values for this ingredient disagree, or depend on grade and vehicle — the note on the row says which value is shown and why. The disagreement itself is the finding: expect different lists to give different numbers. Source: Fulton 1989.
A low number does not certify a product: a formula can still clog pores through its other ingredients or their combination. Full reasoning and bibliography.
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.
Related ingredients
- 1/5Aloe ButterAloe extract in a coconut-derived base, cited 0–1; higher kept.
- 1/5Babassu OilGraded 1 in the original Fulton 1989 table (some later unattributed lists cite 2).
- 1/5Beta CaroteneColorant/antioxidant, rated low.
- 1/5Black Currant Seed OilLinoleic-rich, cited 0–1; higher kept.
- 1/5Blueberry Seed OilCited 0–1; higher kept.
Check your whole product
Paste the full ingredient list to see every flagged ingredient at once.