Olive Oil
Plant oil · INCI: Olea Europaea Fruit 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 Olive Oil comedogenic?
Yes. Olive 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
Olive oil is pressed from the olive fruit and is mostly oleic acid, which gives it a slow, heavy feel on skin. It works as an emollient and as a base for soaps and cleansing oils. We read it as highly comedogenic on acne-prone skin.
The nuance
Olive oil is known as a gentle, natural oil, and we flag it all the same. Squalane made from olives and the olive emulsifiers, cetearyl olivate and sorbitan olivate, are read on their own, and we do not flag them.
Where it shows up
Olive oil shows up in cleansing oils and balms, bar soaps, body oils, hand creams, hair treatments and rich creams sold as natural.
Names we read the same way
- Olea Europaea (Olive) Oil
- Olive Fruit 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: The types of acne lesions.