Comedogenic Ingredient Checker
Are pore-clogging products behind your breakouts? Find out with our comedogenic ingredient checker, built on our unique ingredient philosophy.
Pore-Cloggers: Expanded
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Just like our own cells use niacinamide to fuel cell activity, so do bacterial cells. While studies show niacinamide can benefit acne-prone skin, certain skin types may be sensitive to niacinamide due to microbiome shifts.
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Studies show hyaluronic acid can be broken down by acne-causing bacteria, creating hyaluronic acid fragments that trigger skin inflammation and fuel bacteria growth, potentially exacerbating breakouts.
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Ascorbic Acid, aka vitamin C, is an important antioxidant and skin nutrient that supports healthy collagen production. However, in high concentrations, ascorbic acid flips from an antioxidant to a pro-oxidant, exacerbating inflammation and free radical damage in acne-prone skin.
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Fragrance is a catch-all ingredient name for many different fragrance ingredients. As a result, a product with Fragrance (or Parfum) may contain potentially comedogenic or irritating fragrance compounds hidden behind the Fragrance name. Patch test any products formulated with fragrance, especially if they’re leave-on (moisturizer, serum, SPF).
Just like our own cells use niacinamide to fuel cell activity, so do bacterial cells. While studies show niacinamide can benefit acne-prone skin, certain skin types may be sensitive to niacinamide due to microbiome shifts.
Studies show hyaluronic acid can be broken down by acne-causing bacteria, creating hyaluronic acid fragments that trigger skin inflammation and fuel bacteria growth, potentially exacerbating breakouts.
Ascorbic Acid, aka vitamin C, is an important antioxidant and skin nutrient that supports healthy collagen production. However, in high concentrations, ascorbic acid flips from an antioxidant to a pro-oxidant, exacerbating inflammation and free radical damage in acne-prone skin.
Fragrance is a catch-all ingredient name for many different fragrance ingredients. As a result, a product with Fragrance (or Parfum) may contain potentially comedogenic or irritating fragrance compounds hidden behind the Fragrance name. Patch test any products formulated with fragrance, especially if they’re leave-on (moisturizer, serum, SPF).
These are ingredients that may contribute to pore congestion for some skin types when used in high concentrations, but are harmless in low concentrations. Instead of screening these out with our tool (which would screen out too many products), we encourage you to keep an eye out for products that have these ingredients in high quantities and monitor your skin’s reaction. Select an ingredient to learn why it may be problematic.
Why remove pore cloggers?
Put simply: all breakouts are caused by clogged pores.
When pores get clogged, it restricts oxygen flow into the pore. A low oxygen environment is the perfect place for acne-causing bacteria to grow. If this bacterial overgrows significantly, an immune response occurs, leading to inflammation and swelling. This is what causes the bumps and redness that characterizes pimples.
Even if bacteria doesn't overgrow substantially, clogged pores can still create flesh-colored bumps, called closed comedones. Closed comedones don't necessarily contribute redness or inflammation, but they do contribute to texture.
So, what causes clogged pores?
Internal factors
In acne-prone skin, changes to hormonal balance, low-grade skin inflammation, and free radical damage alter the dynamics of our skin tissue, causing excessive skin cell proliferation and changes to oil production. When skin cell production overwhelms our skin's natural exfoliation mechanisms, it leads to skin cell build up and, eventually, clogged pores.
External factors
Pore-clogging ingredients can have the exact same effect. Instead of internal changes impacting the skin, these pore-cloggers impact the skin externally, either by changing skin cell dynamics, influencing the skin microbiome, or physically blocking pores.
How do we prevent clogged pores (and breakouts)?
A great skincare regimen helps to balance skin tissue on a cellular level, altering the skin microenvironment to prevent future pore clogs. When our skin is balanced, it becomes an environment conducive to clear, vibrant, healthy skin.
But, while this is arguably the most important part of addressing breakouts, to truly achieve clear skin, we have to remove all contributors of clogged pores.
This includes potential pore-clogging ingredients in every product we apply topically: all skincare, SPF, and makeup.
This philosophy is what inspired our Triple Comedogen Screened™ process, creating intentional skincare formulas that are beyond non-comedogenic.
Skin detox: removing comedogenic ingredients from your routine
To help you ensure all of your products, including makeup and SPF, are free of pore-clogging ingredients, we built this ingredient checker.
Our screening process is rigorous -- we don't just track proven pore-clogging ingredients, we also include data from years of in-house testing ingredients and formulas as well as ingredients that may impact microbiome health.
As a result, you might find that there are many products that are flagged as potentially comedogenic in our tool.
All skin is different and formulas we consider to contain comedogenic ingredients may not cause you issues.
However, if you're dealing with stubborn breakouts, it's always good to start with a clean slate (what we consider a skin detox) and then slowly reintroduce products to properly understand what may be contributing to your breakouts.
Our tool is designed to help you do exactly that: reset your routine to a clean slate for healthier, clearer, more vibrant skin.
