What a —/5 rating means
Because no dependable rating exists, judge PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil by how your own skin responds rather than by a number. The absence of a score is not the same as a zero — it simply means the ingredient has not been reliably tested on the classic comedogenic scale.
About PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
It is an emulsifier, the ingredient that keeps a product's oil and water phases from separating. An ethoxylated castor derivative used as the workhorse solubiliser for fragrance and oils in otherwise water-clear toners, micellar waters and mists. It is named on the AcneClinicNYC pore-clogging ingredient list, but that list does not publish a 0-5 comedogenic score for it and no Fulton-derived table we cite carries one. We therefore leave it unrated rather than invent a number — treat the listing itself as the signal.
On a label it can read as Peg-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Peg 40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Peg-40 Hco, Cremophor Rh 40 — worth knowing when you scan an ingredient deck.
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil in makeup and skincare
It quietly stabilises most cream foundations, lotions, and moisturisers.
If you deal with fungal acne (malassezia folliculitis) rather than ordinary clogged pores, note that PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil is among the fatty-acid or ester-type ingredients that community sources commonly avoid — a separate concern from its comedogenic score, and one with weaker evidence behind it.