How we scored it
Natural isoprenoid hydrocarbon from fish liver, olive, amaranth or sugarcane-fermentation sources; no petrochemical route used commercially → 1.00.
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
Traditionally extracted from shark liver oil; today mostly from olive oil deodoriser distillate, amaranth seed, or sugarcane-based yeast fermentation. All commercial cosmetic routes are natural-feedstock-derived.
In plain English
A lightweight oil naturally found in skin, olive oil and fish liver, used to soften and condition. Modern cosmetic-grade squalene mostly comes from olive oil or plant fermentation rather than sharks.
CosIng definition: Squalene is an unsaturated branched chain isoprenoid hydrocarbon found in fish and plant oils. It conforms to the formula:
Structure
(6E,10E,14E,18E)-2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyltetracosa-2,6,10,14,18,22-hexaene
References
- 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.
- 2Squalene. PubChem CID 638072. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- 3SQUALENE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 4SQUALENE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=SQUALENE