Lauric acid: is it comedogenic? What it does in skincare

What it does

Fatty acid used to make soaps and foaming cleansers.

• Cleansing
• Emulsifying
• Surfactant

Lauric acid in plain English

Lauric acid is a fatty acid found in coconut and palm kernel oil, mostly used to make soaps and foaming cleansers. It rates fairly high on older comedogenic lists, though in a rinse-off cleanser it spends little time on skin. Its rating comes from old rabbit-ear tests of the raw ingredient, which can overstate what happens with a finished product on human skin.

Is lauric acid bad for acne?

It can be. Lauric acid has a moderate clog risk rating for acne-prone skin. In Fulton's 1989 rabbit-ear test it scored 4 out of 5 for clogging pores and 1 out of 5 for irritation. That test used the raw ingredient, so a small amount in a finished product may behave differently. If you break out easily, check where it sits on the ingredient list: the higher it appears, the more of it the product usually contains.

Why it is flagged: A fatty acid that rates fairly high on older lists. Common in soaps and coconut-based products.

Clean routine and still breaking out? The cause may be internal. See what is driving it

Also called

• Lauric Acid
• Dodecanoic acid

Related ingredients

• Lanolic acidModerate clog riskLanolin fatty acid used in cleansers and emulsions
• Laureth-23Moderate clog riskEmulsifier and mild cleansing agent
• Sodium laureth sulfateModerate clog riskFoaming cleanser, milder than SLS but can still irritate
• Sodium lauryl sulfateHigh clog riskStrong foaming cleanser that can irritate and dry skin
• Ammonium lauryl sulfateModerate clog riskStrong foaming cleanser, a close relative of SLS
• Coconut oilHigh clog riskRich plant oil that softens skin but rates high for clogging pores