Ingredient · surfactant

Laureth-4

Laureth-4 is a surfactant: it lifts oil and dirt so water can rinse them away, which is how cleansers clean. Pori's ingredient rules flag it for caution on oily and combination skin.

Laureth-4 at a glance

FunctionSurfactant
Comedogenic rating5/5
Irritation potentialMild
Also listed asNone
How commonOn 399 of 21,918 product labels in Pori's copy of Open Beauty Facts

Is Laureth-4 good for my skin type?

These ratings come from the same fixed rules Pori's ingredient scanner uses, applied to a typical profile for each skin type. Your own result in the app also weighs your scan results and concerns.

Skin typeRatingWhy
NormalNeutralSurfactant
DryNeutralSurfactant
OilyAvoidHighly comedogenic (5/5)
CombinationAvoidHighly comedogenic (5/5)
SensitiveNeutralSurfactant

Is Laureth-4 comedogenic?

It has a comedogenic rating of 5 out of 5 in Pori's ingredient database, so people prone to breakouts may want to watch it. Ratings like this come from older tests on single ingredients, and a finished product with it isn't necessarily pore-clogging. A 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology found that finished products made with comedogenic ingredients were not necessarily comedogenic, so treat the number as a hint, not a verdict.

How do I check a product with Laureth-4?

Scan the barcode or photograph the ingredient list with Pori's ingredient scanner (a Pro feature). It rates every ingredient for your skin type, flags fragrance, pore-clogging and irritating ingredients, and gives the product an overall match score. It's a guide to ingredients, not a diagnosis, so see a dermatologist about any reaction.

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Ingredient data from Pori's ingredient database; product counts from Open Beauty Facts (ODbL). General information, not medical advice.