Salicylic Acid

Our database includes 1127 products that contain Salicylic Acid.

Community rating: Liked

What it is

BHA
Preservative

Benefits

Acne
Good for Oily Skin
Brightening
Large Pores

Concerns

Dry Skin
Irritation
Eczema

Salicylic Acid (also known as beta hydroxy acid or BHA) is one of the most well-known ingredients for treating skin that struggles with blackheads and acne. It helps to exfoliate the skin's surface and pores, and also acts as an anti-inflammatory agent.

Unlike AHAs which are water soluble, Salicylic Acid is oil soluble. This means that it's able to exfoliate the inside of pores and reduce blackheads.

Concentrations of 0.5-2% are recognized by the U.S. FDA as an over-the-counter topical acne product.

It can cause irritation and/or dryness if one's skin already has a compromised moisture barrier, so it's best to focus on repairing that before introducing a Salicylic Acid into your routine.

In general, Salicylic Acid is a great ingredient for oily acne-prone skin.

If you are looking for the ingredient called BHA or Butylated Hydroxyanisole, click here.

Salicylic Acid is a somewhat common cosmetic ingredient, with about 6.9% of the products in our database containing it.

Community Data

1194 people from our community have liked or disliked this ingredient.

Users who like it 💖

Often have the following skin types:

Oily Combination

Usually have one or more of the following skin concerns:

Oiliness • Acne • Texture • Hormonal Acne

Users who dislike it 💔

Often have the following skin types:

Sensitive Dry

Usually have one or more of the following skin concerns:

Sensitivity • Redness • Dryness • Dullness

Where it's used

Salicylic Acid is most often found as ingredient number 11 within an ingredient list.

Of the 137 products in our database that have a known concentration of Salicylic Acid, we've seen concentrations from 0.2% to 150% specified within their ingredient lists.

These are the categories of products that use Salicylic Acid the most:

CosIng Data

  • CosIng ID: 37595
  • INCI Name: SALICYLIC ACID
  • INN Name: salicylic acid
  • EC #:  200-712-3
  • Ph. Eur. Name: acidum salicylicum
  • All Functions: Antidandruff, Hair Conditioning, Keratolytic, Masking, Preservative, Skin Conditioning
What is CosIng?

CosIng is the European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients.

SkinSort uses CosIng to source some of it's data on ingredient names and functions.