How we decide
This is an independent checker for one question only: how likely a product’s ingredients are to clog pores (comedogenicity). We don’t sell the products we judge, and we don’t claim scientific authority — comedogenicity has thin, contested evidence. What we offer instead is a transparent, opinionated read with its confidence shown on every call.
What each rating means
Every rated ingredient gets one of three editorial ratings: Clogging (commonly linked to clogged pores), Caution (mixed or concentration-dependent), or Clear (no comedogenic concern on record). Ingredients we recognize but haven’t rated show as “recognized — no concern on record,” which is neutral to the verdict.
Confidence comes from the evidence
Confidence is derived from the strongest evidence behind a rating, never set by feel: a human or clinical study gives High confidence, dermatological consensus gives Moderate, and a legacy lab assay alone gives Low. The old 0–5 comedogenicity scores you may have seen elsewhere come from rabbit-ear assays that poorly predict finished-product behavior; we record them for transparency but never let them drive a verdict.
The verdict rule
The verdict is set by the single worst ingredient, then softened by its confidence. A Clogging ingredient with High or Moderate confidence makes the product Avoid. A Clogging ingredient backed only by a low-reliability legacy assay, or any Caution ingredient, makes it Caution. If everything recognized is Clear, it’s Safe — which we word as “no flagged ingredients found,” not a guarantee. We deliberately ignore how many flagged ingredients there are and where they sit in the list, because neither is reliable from an ingredient list alone.
When sources disagree
Source lists often conflict. When they do, we flag it with a “sources disagree” badge that’s independent of confidence, and we explain the disagreement in the ingredient’s details. That conflict signal is a feature, not a hedge.
Recognized vs. not recognized
Every result shows how many ingredients we flagged, recognized, and couldn’t recognize. If we can’t recognize anything you pasted, we say so plainly rather than calling it “Safe” — that’s an input problem, not a clean product. Tokens we can’t place are logged anonymously (the ingredient string only, never your full paste) so common ones can be added over time.
Sources & attribution
Ratings are our own arrangement of facts drawn from multiple public lists — acne.org, CosDNA, Face Reality, and Sofie Pavitt — with peer-reviewed studies as a tie-breaker where they exist. Each rated ingredient lists its contributing sources. Ingredient-name recognition uses the EU CosIng database. INCI names © European Union, reused under CC BY 4.0.
Not medical advice
This tool is informational only and not medical advice. Whether an ingredient actually causes breakouts depends on its concentration and the finished formulation, which an ingredient list can’t reveal. If a product matters for your skin or health, talk to a dermatologist.