Is squalane comedogenic?
Squalane has no published comedogenic rating on this site, so the checker reports it as not on the list. Squalene, spelled with an e, is a different ingredient, and our list rates it 3. On a label the two are one letter apart.
Squalane is usually sold as a light face oil, and our guide to non-comedogenic oils sorts the oils that do carry a rating, from lowest to highest. This page explains what separates squalane from squalene, and what the studies on squalene found.
Squalane vs squalene
Squalene is an oil made by plants and animals, and it is part of the oil your own skin makes. Its structure has six double bonds, and those are where it reacts with oxygen. Exposed to air and light, squalene oxidises.
Squalane is squalene with hydrogen added to those double bonds. With none left, it does not oxidise the same way, which is why it keeps longer in a bottle. Chemically it is a close relative. For pores it may behave quite differently, because of what the squalene studies found.
| Ingredient | Rating | Published as |
|---|---|---|
| Squalene | 3 Moderate risk | An unstable, heavy oil used for hydration. Squalane, its hydrogenated form, has no published rating on this list. |
What the rabbit-ear studies found
1983: squalene was mild, oxidised squalene was not
Motoyoshi tested squalene, oleic acid, isopropyl myristate, squalane, liquid paraffin and tetradecane on the rabbit ear, with and without UVA light. Squalene itself was scarcely comedogenic. Its peroxides, the products of oxidation, were highly comedogenic. The paper's summary gives no separate result for squalane, and we have not seen the full text, so we do not quote one.
2000: the first product of UVA
Chiba and colleagues isolated squalene monohydroperoxide, the first thing that forms when squalene is exposed to UVA. On the rabbit ear it was more comedogenic than well-known comedogenic cosmetic ingredients. Squalene itself was less so.
Together they point at oxidation, more than squalene itself. Squalane has nothing left to oxidise in the same way. That is a reason to expect it to behave better, and it is still short of a published rating.
Reading the label
- Check the spelling. Squalane ends in -ane, squalene in -ene.
- Paste the full list into the ingredient checker. It matches names exactly and does not treat one as the other, so squalene comes back rated and squalane comes back as not on the list.
- Look at the rest of the formula. A squalane oil is often blended with other oils, and those carry ratings of their own.
Not on the list means no rating is published here, and this page explains why that is different from a 0.
Common questions
Does squalane clog pores?
This site holds no comedogenic rating for squalane, so the checker reports it as not on the list. That is different from a rating of 0. Squalene, spelled with an e, is a separate ingredient and our list rates it 3.
What is the difference between squalane and squalene?
Squalane is squalene with hydrogen added. Squalene has six double bonds in its structure, which is where it reacts with oxygen. Squalane has none, so it does not oxidise the same way.
Why does squalene matter for breakouts?
In rabbit-ear studies from 1983 and 2000, squalene on its own produced few comedones, but squalene that had oxidised, including squalene exposed to UVA light, was strongly comedogenic.
See oils with a low rating
The oils guide sorts every oil on our list by its published rating, so you can see which sit in the low band.
More questions about breakouts
Sources used on this page
- Motoyoshi K. “Enhanced comedo formation in rabbit ear skin by squalene and oleic acid peroxides.” British Journal of Dermatology, August 1983;109(2):191–198. (opens in a new tab) Rabbit ear. Squalene itself was scarcely comedogenic but its peroxides were highly comedogenic; oleic acid and its peroxides produced fairly large comedones. Squalane and liquid paraffin were among the substances tested.
- Chiba K, Yoshizawa K, Makino I, Kawakami K, Onoue M. “Comedogenicity of squalene monohydroperoxide in the skin after topical application.” Journal of Toxicological Sciences, May 2000;25(2):77–83. (opens in a new tab) Rabbit ear. Squalene monohydroperoxide, the first product when squalene is exposed to UVA, was more comedogenic than well-known comedogenic cosmetic ingredients; squalene itself was less so.
- 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 that produced most of the 0–5 numbers still quoted today.
- Fulton JE Jr, Pay SR, Fulton JE 3rd. “Comedogenicity of current therapeutic products, cosmetics, and ingredients in the rabbit ear.” Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, January 1984;10(1):96–105. (opens in a new tab) The published ingredient-by-ingredient ratings that most comedogenic lists, including this one, trace back to.
- 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) Found that animal-model results did not reliably predict what happened on human skin, and that a rating for a single ingredient does not tell you how a finished product will behave.