Database/Hair Dyeing/Basic Violet 3
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Basic Violet 3 natural?

Mostly not. Synthetic triarylmethane hair dye supplied as a salt. Only the chloride counter-ion counts as natural origin under the site's mineral counter-ion convention; every carbon in the coloured cation is petrochemical.

INCI nameBasic Violet 3
CAS548-62-9
FunctionHair Dyeing
FeedstockPetrochemical aromatic amines and couplers assembled into the…

How we scored it

Basic Violet 3 (crystal violet) C25H30ClN3 408.0 Da: chloride counter-ion Cl 35.5 Da is mineral-derived (natural); the triarylmethane dye cation 372.5 Da is built entirely from petrochemical aromatic intermediates → 35.5/408.0 = 0.09.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Petrochemical aromatic amines and couplers assembled into the dye cation, isolated as its salt.

In plain English

A synthetic purple dye (commonly known as crystal violet) used in hair colouring products. It's manufactured entirely from petrochemical raw materials.

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Structure

2D structure of Basic Violet 3

PubChem CID 11057 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Basic Violet 3. PubChem CID 11057. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3BASIC VIOLET 3. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4BASIC VIOLET 3. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=BASIC%20VIOLET%203