Stearic Acid
Fatty acid · INCI: Stearic Acid
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 Stearic Acid comedogenic?
Sometimes. Stearic Acid 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
Stearic acid is a saturated fatty acid used to thicken creams and give them body. It sits in the middle of our references, flagged but not at the top, so we read it as one to use with caution rather than avoid outright.
The nuance
It is very common in cleansers, where it is reacted into a soap and rinsed away. That is a much smaller concern than the same ingredient in a leave-on cream.
Names we read the same way
- Octadecanoic 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.