Dunaliella Salina Extract
Explained
This is an extract from a tiny green algae that lives in super salty water. It survives the blazing sun by pumping out huge amounts of carotenoids, which is exactly why the cosmetics industry became interested in it.
The first thing to know: this one INCI name covers different materials; some versions are water or glycerin extracts, some are orange beta-carotene oleoresins, and some are purified CO2 extracts where the colored stuff is stripped out and only the colorless carotenoids (phytoene and phytofluene) are left.
All the research on is it the last kind and it's usually sold as "Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil + Dunaliella Salina Extract". So a product having this on the label doesn't guarantee it's the version that was studied.
In cosmetics, it's a skin conditioning agent sold as an anti-glycation and antioxidant active for sun care.
The main study behind it: 25 women used a cream with 1% of the extract on one side of the face and placebo on the other for 8 weeks during a Portuguese summer with daily beach-level sun.
The active side had fewer wrinkles, fewer red spots, lower glycation scores, and calmer reactions to a histamine challenge compared to the placebo side.
Lab tests on skin explants back this up with less inflammatory signals and less of the glycation marker.
Just know this is one small study done by the supplier, so take it as promising rather than proven for now.
Tolerance data looks good: a 50 person repeat insult patch test showed no sensitization at all and 48 hour patch tests came back with zero reactions. There are also no allergy case reports.
Typical use is ~1%.
Acne
No comedogenicity testing has been published for this ingredient so nobody can give you a real rating.
The extract itself is used at around 1% and carotenoids are not known comedogens. The variable is the carrier; the colorless-carotenoid version ships in jojoba seed oil or hydrogenated polydecene.
So the question of whether it will clog pores is really about the finished formula, not this ingredient.
See all 369 products with Dunaliella Salina Extract
