Soybean Oil
Plant oil · INCI: Glycine Soja Oil
Reviewed by Elysiana Aguilar, master esthetician
How we read it
Clogs pores for some people. Fine for many, worth watching if you're mid-breakout.
Is Soybean Oil comedogenic?
Sometimes. Soybean Oil is potentially pore-clogging, so we read it as one to use with caution. Plenty of people use it without trouble; if you're actively treating acne, it's worth watching.
Why we read it this way
Soybean oil is an inexpensive, mid-weight oil extracted from soybeans, used as an emollient and often as the carrier that plant extracts and vitamins come dissolved in. We read it as one to use with caution.
The nuance
As the carrier for an extract it is usually a small amount near the end of a label, a different thing from a body oil built on it. Lecithin, often made from soy, is a separate ingredient we do not flag.
Where it shows up
Soybean oil sits in body washes, bath and massage oils, body lotions, lip products and makeup removers, and is the base of many botanical extracts.
Names we read the same way
- Glycine Soja (Soybean) Oil
- Soybean
- Glycine Max
- Soya Oil
- Soya Bean 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 causes acne.