Jojoba Oil / Butter
Jojoba oil, which our list names Jojoba Oil / Butter, is rated 2 on our list, in the low band, and the number is traced: Fulton 1989 graded it 0 to 2, varying with the supplier.
Like every rating here, it is for the raw ingredient tested alone, and a label does not print how much of it a product holds.
Our list rates 3 jojoba derivatives separately, each with its own number. See every jojoba entry.
Is jojoba oil comedogenic?
Jojoba Oil is rated 2 on the comedogenic scale, which is the low band.
Technically a liquid wax rather than an oil, made mostly of wax esters; stable and used as an emollient.
- Comedogenic rating
- 2 out of 5
- Band
- Low: Little plugging in the rabbit-ear test. Fulton 1989 counts 0 to 1 as not significant and 2 as borderline.
- Where the number comes from
- Traced to Fulton 1989. The section on who rated it prints each grade.
- Composition
- Liquid Wax
- Also written as
- No common variants recorded
What a 2 means in practice
One and two are the low band. In the rabbit-ear test, Fulton 1989 counted 0 to 1 as not significant and 2 as borderline. A low grade on a rabbit's ear, which reacts more readily than human skin, is weak evidence of a problem on a person.
Two things change what this number is worth. Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration, so jojoba oil near the top of a label matters far more than jojoba oil at the bottom. And the rating describes the raw ingredient on its own. A 2006 review in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that a rating for a single ingredient does not reliably predict how a finished formula behaves on human skin. The full story of the scale is here.
Who rated it
Our list gives jojoba oil 2. These are the figures the published rabbit-ear studies we have read give it, as printed in each paper's table.
| Paper | Grade | Tested as |
|---|---|---|
| Fulton 1989 | Grade 0 to 2, varying with the supplier | Tested as Jojoba oil |
Arquette and colleagues 1998 put refined and pure jojoba oil on the backs of 25 people under a patch for 28 days: 2.40 and 1.84 microcomedones per 2 square centimetres, against 2.72 for a blank patch and 5.32 for Acetulan, no significant difference from the blank patch; one author is from the American Jojoba Oil Association.
Our list's figure is within what these papers report.
Similar names, rated separately
These share a source with jojoba oil or carry it in their name, and each has its own rating on our list. The 2 on this page does not carry over to them, so check the exact name on the label.
Where jojoba oil comes up on this site
Fungal acne
Jojoba Oil matches rule 2, ester of a C12 to C24 fatty acid , on the fungal acne checker. Jojoba is a liquid wax, made of esters of C20 and C22 fatty acids and alcohols. The rule comes from lab studies of what Malassezia yeast can feed on, and it is not a verdict on any product.
Common questions
- Is jojoba oil comedogenic?
- Jojoba Oil is rated 2 on the comedogenic scale, which is the low band.
- Is jojoba oil non comedogenic?
- Not exactly. Jojoba Oil is rated 2, which is the low band rather than 0. Low and non-comedogenic are different things, and only a 0 means the second one.
- What is jojoba oil's comedogenic rating?
- 2 out of 5 on our list. It is classed as Liquid Wax.
Sources we checked this rating against
- Kligman AM, Kwong T. “An improved rabbit ear model for assessing comedogenic substances.” British Journal of Dermatology, June 1979;100(6):699–702. (opens in a new tab) The rabbit-ear assay behind published 0 to 5 comedogenicity grades.
- Fulton JE Jr. “Comedogenicity and irritancy of commonly used ingredients in skin care products.” Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, November/December 1989;40(6):321–333. (opens in a new tab) Rabbit ear. Each ingredient at 10 percent in propylene glycol unless stated, applied five days a week for two weeks, and graded 0 to 5 from the width of the follicles, measured by micrometer and under the microscope. The paper counts 0 to 1 as not significant, 2 to 3 as borderline and 4 to 5 as positive. Some grades depended on the supplier of the raw material, and some oils were also tested refined.
- Arquette DJ, Bailyn EM, Palenske J, Devorn Bergman D, Rheins LA. “Non-comedogenic and hypoallergenic properties of jojoba oil and hydrogenated jojoba oil.” Journal of Cosmetic Science, November/December 1998;49(6):377–383. (opens in a new tab) Human back skin, not the rabbit ear. Twenty-five people wore each oil under a patch for 28 days, and microcomedones were counted by follicular biopsy; there is no 0 to 5 grade. One author is from the American Jojoba Oil Association.
- 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) Tested finished products on the backs of six people and concluded that “Finished products using comedogenic ingredients are not necessarily comedogenic.”