Database/Hair Dyeing/HC Blue No. 8
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is HC Blue No. 8 natural?

Mostly not. Synthetic aminoanthraquinone 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 nameHC Blue No. 8
CAS22366-99-0
FormulaC18H20ClN3O2 · 345.8 Da
FunctionHair Dyeing
FeedstockPetrochemical aromatic amines and couplers assembled into the…

How we scored it

HC Blue No. 8 hydrochloride C18H20ClN3O2 345.8 Da: chloride counter-ion Cl 35.5 Da is mineral-derived (natural); the aminoanthraquinone dye cation 310.4 Da is built entirely from petrochemical aromatic intermediates → 35.5/345.8 = 0.10.
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 dye used in semi-permanent hair colour products to impart a blue shade. It is a lab-made anthraquinone dye, not derived from plants.

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Structure

2D structure of HC Blue No. 8

1-(3-aminopropylamino)-4-(methylamino)anthracene-9,10-dione;hydrochloride

PubChem CID 19704561 ↗

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. 2HC Blue No. 8. PubChem CID 19704561. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3HC BLUE NO. 8. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4HC BLUE NO. 8. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=HC%20BLUE%20NO.%208