Myristic Acid
Fatty acid · INCI: Myristic Acid
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 Myristic Acid comedogenic?
Yes. Myristic Acid 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
Myristic acid is one of the saturated fatty acids in coconut oil, palm kernel oil and nutmeg butter, added to face washes and shaving creams for a dense, creamy foam. We read it as highly comedogenic, alongside several of the esters made from it.
The nuance
In a foaming cleanser it has usually been neutralized into soap and leaves with the rinse water. In a cream, foundation or powder worn all day it counts for more. Isopropyl myristate and myristyl myristate are separate ingredients, flagged in their own right.
Where it shows up
Cream-to-foam cleansers, shaving creams and soaps, where it thickens the lather. Its magnesium salt, listed as Magnesium Myristate, turns up in pressed powders, eyeshadows and mineral foundations.
Names we read the same way
- Tetradecanoic Acid
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.