Borage Oil
Plant oil · INCI: Borago Officinalis (Borage) Seed Oil
Reviewed by Elysiana Aguilar, master esthetician
How we read it
Known to clog pores. If you break out easily, this is the one to skip.
Is Borage Oil comedogenic?
Yes. Borage Oil is a known pore-clogging ingredient, and we read it as highly comedogenic. If you're acne-prone, it's worth avoiding, especially when it sits near the top of an ingredient list.
Why we read it this way
Borage seed oil is prized for its gamma-linolenic acid and shows up in barrier-repair and anti-inflammatory formulas. It also appears consistently on the pore-clogging references we curate against, so we read it as one to keep off acne-prone facial skin.
The nuance
The benefits and the flag are both real here. Plenty of people use it on the body or in a rinse-off without trouble; the concern is a leave-on facial product.
Names we read the same way
- Borage Seed Oil
- Borago Officinalis Oil
Related ingredients
One ingredient rarely tells the whole story. The acne ingredient checker reads everything in a product at once, the pore-clogging ingredients list has the rest of what we flag, and there is more on what comedogenic means. Also in the guides: What acne actually is.