Jojoba Wax
This is a jojoba derivative, rated separately. Plain jojoba oil: jojoba oil. Every jojoba entry is on one table with its rating.
Jojoba wax is rated 2 on our list, in the low band, and that number is unconfirmed: we have not traced it to a published study (what unconfirmed means).
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.
Is jojoba wax comedogenic?
Jojoba Wax is rated 2 on the comedogenic scale, which is the low band.
The solid, hydrogenated form of jojoba used in lip balms and solid skincare products.
- 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
- Unconfirmed. We could not trace this rating to a study we have read; the section on who rated it says what we checked.
- Composition
- Waxes
- 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 wax near the top of a label matters far more than jojoba wax 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
We could not trace the 2 on our list to a paper we have read. Neither paper we could read tests anything called jojoba wax. Fulton 1989 grades jojoba oil and sulfated jojoba oil, and our list does not say whether jojoba wax means either. The list does not say where its numbers came from, so treat this number as unconfirmed rather than as one we can tie to a table.
Similar names, rated separately
These share a source with jojoba wax 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.
Others in the same family
Fungal acne
Jojoba Wax 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 wax comedogenic?
- Jojoba Wax is rated 2 on the comedogenic scale, which is the low band. We have not found a published study that grades it, so treat this number as unconfirmed.
- Is jojoba wax non comedogenic?
- Not exactly. Jojoba Wax 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 wax's comedogenic rating?
- 2 out of 5 on our list. It is classed as Waxes. We have not found a published study that grades it, so treat this number as unconfirmed.
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.
- 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.”