Home
Browse products by Category
Browse products by Popular Ingredients
Brands
Community Collections
Compare Products
Cosmetic Analyzer
What's new on SkinCarisma
My Ingredient Notes
No personal ingredient notes, learn more about saving ingredients to your profile here
EWG | CIR | Ingredient Name & Cosmetic Functions | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1
|
B
|
C13-16 Isoparaffin
(Solvent) |
i have dry skin and was looking for something i could combine with my usual moisturizer/lotion to add more hydration. honestly i was originally planning on getting regular squalane, but the store only had hemi-squalane in stock. asked the salesperson what the difference was and they said "it's squalane oil but lighter". so i figured it wouldn't hurt to try.
uhm... after doing a bit more research online, it seems that they are not quite the same thing. i tried this hemi-squalane out in my routine for about a week, mixing 1-2 drops in my moisturizer every day. unfortunately it caused a lot of closed comedones for me and made my skin texture very bumpy. i stopped using it and my face smoothed out within 24 hours. it does not seem to work for me.
it did seem to make my face more moisturized. i tried to use it on its own in lieu of moisturizer, but it was not enough for my dry heckin face. this is my first time using a dry oil, and i didn't really like it personally... i'd still like to try regular squalane oil sometime, because i heard that works better for some people. will update if that ends up working for me instead.
for now, i think i will keep the bottle and use it up in my hair... i read online that squalane oil doesn't really absorb into hair follicles, but it can coat the strands and make your hair feel more smooth (like silicone-based conditioner does). i wash my hair with water usually and only shampoo a couple times a week, so i've been applying this oil on my damp hair on my no-poo days and it makes my hair feel soooo soft. =)
definitely a dry oil, absorbs immediately & leaves no occlusion but perfect light moisture when added to my aloe gel layers nicely under sunscreen etc
the one oil i'm sure has never broken out my overly reactive skin. it's unlikely to be enough on its own but very solid addition
This page needs a major correction. Hemi-Squalane is Chain 13-16 Fatty Acids, fungal acne feeds on Chain 11-24. If fungal acne is your concern, skip this and use The Ordinary Squalane instead. My fungal acne got worse with this product. If fungal acne is not and never will be your issue, then this oil is very cosmetically elegant for oilier skin types. It is probably the lightest, driest "oil" that I have ever used. It sinks in instantly, feels almost like an light oil based serum.
Related Products
More from The Ordinary