Pore-clogging ingredients / Palmitic Acid
Is Palmitic Acid comedogenic?
Mildly. Most skin tolerates this ingredient without breakouts.
- Comedogenic rating
- 2/5
- Mildly comedogenic
- Evidence confidence
- moderate
- Most published lists include this ingredient, with ratings that vary by about one point.
- Also appears as
- No common label aliases
What is Palmitic Acid?
A saturated fatty acid abundant in palm oil and in skin's own sebum. It thickens and opacifies creams and adds lather to cleansers; most sources treat it as low-risk.
What to do if you're acne-prone
Source lists disagree on this one, which is why we flag it with a low rating rather than ignore it. Only the most reactive skin needs to avoid it outright.
Where this rating comes from
Our ratings consolidate two lineages: the original rabbit-ear comedogenicity assays published by James Fulton and colleagues (Fulton, Pay & Fulton, Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 1984; Fulton, Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, 1989), and the pore-clogger lists maintained by acne-specialist estheticians in the Face Reality lineage that refine those assays with decades of client observation. This ingredient appears across both lineages with ratings that vary by about one point; we show the consensus value.
Last reviewed 2026-08-15 by the PorePass editorial team.
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Comedogenicity ratings come from published ingredient studies and esthetician-compiled lists. They are imperfect and formulation-dependent, and this page isn't medical advice. Reactions vary by skin, concentration, and the rest of the formula.