Ingredient guide
“Comedogenic” on a blog usually means one number for everyone. Skin does not work that way. A rich butter can sit badly on oily skin and feel useful on dry skin. GlowCheck does not hand the ingredient a single clog score. It treats a set of heavier oils, butters, and esters as occlusive, then weights them against the skin type and goal you set.
This page lists the names the scorer actually looks for. It is not a medical list of ingredients that will clog your pores, and it is not proof that a cream is non-comedogenic because a name is missing.
On this page, comedogenic means a heavier oil, butter, or ester that GlowCheck treats as occlusive. The app does not give that ingredient one clog score for every face. The same name weighs more when you set oily skin or a pores goal, and less when you set dry skin.
The occlusion note goes high when three or more occlusive names appear on the list. It also goes high at two names when the profile is oily, or combination with a pores goal. On dry skin those names are still marked watch, with a smaller score drop.
| Profile | Occlusive hits | Occlusion note |
|---|---|---|
| Any | 3 or more | High |
| Oily, or combination plus pores | 2 or more | High |
| Dry | The same oils | Watch, smaller penalty |
These show up often in moisturizers, sunscreens, and makeup removers. On the label they look technical. In the scan they count as occlusive hits:
One of these on an otherwise light gel is not the same as four of them in a balm. The occlusion note goes up when several appear together. It goes up sooner when the profile is oily, or combination with a pores goal: two hits can already read as high. On dry skin the same names still show as a watch, but they pull the score down less, because a dry profile is allowed to want more occlusion.
The same occlusive group includes coconut oil and cocos nucifera, coconut alkanes, cocoa butter and theobroma cacao, shea butter and butyrospermum parkii, lanolin, petrolatum, mineral oil and paraffinum liquidum, wheat germ oil, algae extract, and babassu (orbignya). A jar that leads with shea and coconut will not get a “light gel” reading on an oily, pore-focused profile.
That is a formula pattern, not a ban. Petrolatum and mineral oil are common in barrier products. If you set dry skin, or you are not chasing pores, the penalty is smaller. If you set oily skin, the scan will say the texture is heavier for that profile. You still decide whether to use the product.
Old charts often score an ingredient from rabbit-ear tests or from a single concentration. Your bottle mixes that ingredient with others, at a percentage the INCI does not print. A name near the end of the list is usually a smaller share than a name near the start, except inside the under-one-percent group, where order is loose. GlowCheck can see the name. It cannot see the percentage unless the brand printed it.
It also cannot see how you use the product. A night balm on the body is a different decision from the same balm on an oily face. The scan only knows the list and the profile you entered.
Two moisturizers can share isopropyl myristate, shea, and coconut oil and wear different logos. GlowCheck is built to show that. When the match for your profile is weak, the result can offer a cheaper swap instead of telling you to buy a more expensive jar with the same occlusive pattern. Compare the watch tags, not the price on the shelf. The first scan is free so you can do that once before you pay €9.99 for lifetime access.
Open the INCI checker, set oily or combination if that is the profile you want judged, and photograph the ingredient panel. Look for the watch tags on the esters and butters above, and for the occlusion line. Then run the same photo with a dry profile if you want to see the weight change. The first scan is free.
If the match is weak, the result can suggest a cheaper swap from the formula rather than a more expensive jar with the same heavy tail. Related reading: oily skin ingredients, alcohol denat, and fragrance.