A pore clogging ingredient checker compares an ingredient list with published comedogenic ratings. Those ratings run from 0 to 5 and mostly come from a 1989 rabbit ear study of raw ingredients, not finished products, so a flag is a reason to look closer, not a verdict. Pay most attention to flagged ingredients near the top of the list, and ask a dermatologist about breakouts that worry you.
Pore Clogging Ingredient Checker: Read Any Ingredient List
Paste the ingredient list from any skincare or makeup product and this pore clogging ingredient checker shows you, ingredient by ingredient, what our reference list says, where that rating came from, how debated it is and where the ingredient sits in the list. It also tells you how much of the list it recognized, so you know how complete the answer is.
It never names products or brands, and it never tells you a product is fine or not fine for your skin. It gives you the evidence in plain words so you can decide, or take it to a dermatologist.
Check an ingredient list for pore cloggers
Paste any ingredient list. You’ll see which ingredients are on our reference list of comedogenic ratings, where each rating comes from, how far up the list it sits and how much of the list we recognized. No brands, and your list never leaves your device.
Safety first: Education, not medical advice. A flag means an ingredient appears on a reference list, not that a product will or will not suit your skin. Concentration, the full formula, and your own skin all matter, and a result with no flags is not a safety guarantee. If you have breakouts that worry you or do not improve, ask a dermatologist.
“Copy link with my list” puts your ingredient list inside the link, so anyone you send it to can read it.
Your privacy: Everything you enter stays on your device. This page does not send, save, or share your answers, and you do not need an account or an email address.
This page is general beauty education. It is not styling, cosmetic, dermatological, or medical advice.
How the pore clogging ingredient checker works
Paste a list, press Check the list, and the checker splits it into single ingredients, tidies up spelling, percentages and symbols, and matches each name exactly against our reference list, including common alternative names. It never guesses. If a name is close to one we know, it offers a “Did you mean” suggestion, but it never swaps the name for you.
The results start with four numbers: how many ingredients it found, how many it recognized, how many are on our reference list at your chosen rating, and how many it didn’t recognize. The coverage percentage matters. A list where we recognize 95 percent of the names tells you far more than one where we recognize 40 percent, and a name we don’t recognize says nothing either way about that ingredient.
You can change the rating that counts as a flag. The default is 2, which shows anything the original study rated borderline or higher. Set it to 4 to see only the ingredients that produced a clear reaction in that study, or to 1 to see almost everything with a rating.
What comedogenic ratings are and where they came from
“Comedogenic” means likely to block pores and form comedones, the small bumps known as blackheads and whiteheads. The best-known ratings come from the rabbit ear assay. Researchers applied a raw ingredient, usually diluted to 10 percent, to the inside of a rabbit’s ear five days a week for two weeks, then measured how much the follicles thickened and graded the result from 0 to 5.
The largest published table, from James Fulton in 1989, covers well over a hundred ingredients and is still the source behind most comedogenic lists you’ll find online. On its own scale, 0 to 1 was not significant, 2 to 3 was borderline and 4 to 5 was a reproducible reaction. Our reference list uses those published grades, read directly from that paper, and shows the grade, the range when the paper gave one, and a note when the result depended on the raw material source or dropped for a refined oil.
Why a flag is not a verdict
The rabbit ear is far more sensitive than the skin on your face, and the paper itself says so. The tests were also run on raw ingredients at high strength, not on finished products where an ingredient may be a tiny fraction of the formula and blended with others that change how it behaves. Fulton found that the same red pigment scored differently depending on what it was mixed into.
A 2006 study in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology tested finished products on people prone to breakouts and concluded that finished products using comedogenic ingredients are not necessarily comedogenic. That’s why every rating here is labelled as debated. Use a flag as a reason to look more closely at a product, especially if it’s high in the list, rather than as proof that it will cause breakouts.
It works the other way too. A list with no flags is not a promise. Your own skin, how often you use a product, what you layer it with and how you take it off all play a part.
How to read an ingredient list
In the United States, cosmetic ingredients are listed in descending order of amount, down to the ingredients present at 1 percent or less, which can then be listed in any order. So the first five or so ingredients usually make up most of the product, and an ingredient flagged in those places deserves more attention than one near the end. The checker points out any flagged ingredient in the first five positions for this reason.
A few other parts of a label are worth knowing. Fragrance or parfum can stand for many ingredients that don’t have to be named individually, so no reference list can check it. Makeup ranges often finish with “may contain” or “+/-” and a list of colors that appear only in some shades; the checker sets those aside. Products such as sunscreens can list active ingredients separately from the rest, and the checker keeps those apart too.
Using the pore clogging ingredient checker for makeup
A comedogenic checker isn’t only for skincare, because breakouts linked to products aren’t only about moisturizers. The original studies also tested ingredients found in foundations, blushes, sunscreens and hair products, including pomades and conditioners that can touch the forehead and hairline. You can paste a foundation, primer, setting spray or hair product list here just as you would a cream.
If you’re planning makeup for a wedding or an event, it’s sensible to check your foundation and primer a few weeks ahead and wear them for a full day before the event, rather than trying something new on the morning itself.
Using an acne ingredient checker alongside a dermatologist
An acne ingredient checker can help you spot a pattern, for example the same flagged oil or ester in several products you’ve been reacting to. It can’t tell you what’s causing your breakouts. Hormones, genetics, stress, medicines and how you look after your skin all matter, and breakouts that look like acne can have other causes.
When to ask a dermatologist
See a board-certified dermatologist if breakouts are painful, deep, leaving marks or scars, affecting how you feel, or haven’t improved after a few months of changes. The same goes for sudden breakouts after starting a new medicine, or bumps that itch. A dermatologist can work out what’s going on and recommend what to use, which no ingredient list can do.
Take your results with you if they help. Copy them or print them, so you can show which ingredients appear in the products you use.
Frequently asked questions
What is a pore clogging ingredient checker?
It compares an ingredient list with published comedogenic ratings and shows which ingredients have a rating, where the rating came from and where they sit in the list. It’s a reading aid, not a verdict on a product.
Are comedogenic ratings accurate?
They’re a rough guide. Most come from rabbit ear tests of raw ingredients at high strength, and a later study found that finished products using those ingredients weren’t necessarily comedogenic.
What does “non comedogenic” mean on a label?
It’s the maker’s claim that a product was put together not to block pores. How that was tested varies from brand to brand, so it’s worth reading the ingredient list too.
Why didn’t the checker recognize some ingredients?
Our reference list only includes ingredients with a published source we could check. A name we don’t recognize isn’t good or bad; it simply isn’t covered.
Is my ingredient list stored anywhere?
No. The check runs on your device. Your list only leaves it if you press “Copy link with my list” and send that link to someone.
Can Reign Beauty Collective avoid certain ingredients for my wedding makeup?
Yes. Tell your artist at your trial which ingredients or products you avoid, and we’ll plan your base around them.
Sources
Every comedogenic rating on our reference list comes from the original rabbit ear study below, read from its published tables, and the 2006 study is why we call the ratings debated. The label order rule comes from the FDA.
- Comedogenicity and irritancy of commonly used ingredients in skin care products, Fulton JE Jr. Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists, 1989;40(6):321-333. library.scconline.org/v040n06/13 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
- A re-evaluation of the comedogenicity concept, Draelos ZD, DiNardo JC. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, 2006;54(3):507-512. doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1058 (retrieved 2026-10-10)
- Cosmetics Labeling Guide, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (content current as of February 25, 2022). www.fda.gov/cosmetics/cosmetics-labeling-regulations/cosmetics-labeling-guide (retrieved 2026-10-10)
Last reviewed October 10, 2026 by the Reign Beauty Collective artist team, Tampa, Florida.
This page is general educational content from Reign Beauty Collective in Tampa, Florida. It is not professional, medical, or financial advice, and results vary. Please talk with a licensed professional about your own situation.