Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil
Explained
Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil is regular cottonseed oil that has been treated with hydrogen. This process turns it from a thin liquid into a soft, waxy solid and why you'll see it in balms, sticks, and rich creams.
As an emollient, it sits on the surface of skin to slow water loss.
The process of hydrogenation also swaps most of the unsaturated fats for saturated ones, mainly palmitic and stearic acid. This makes it more stable and less prone to going rancid as well.
Concentration data shows formulas containing up to ~21% and none were irritating/sensitizing in clinical testing; products in the 10.6-29.86% range came back clean so anything from 1-20% is realistic depending on how solid the product needs to be.
Allergy risk is low as well; cottonseed allergy is a reaction to cottonseed proteins and refining strips those out for cosmetic use. Though people that are hypersensitive to cottonseed proteins did not react to cottonseed oil in skin prick testing.
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review considers this ingredient safe as provided as long as residue limits are respected at the cosmetic-grade level.
This ingredient shows up on a lot of "pore-clogging" lists but there's no real evidence behind that. It doesn't even have a comedogenic rating from an actual study; the numbers you'll find online come from blogs citing other blogs.
Just remember finished products made with so-called comedogenic ingredients often turn out not to be comedogenic at all. Some people still find this ingredient breaks them out. So if that's you, definitely trust your skin.
Because this ingredient is made up of saturated fatty acids in exactly the range the Malassezia yeast can metabolize, it may not be fungal acne safe.
See all 105 products with Hydrogenated Cottonseed Oil
