Database/Hair Dyeing/Ultramarines
100% natural origin · ISO 16128

Is Ultramarines natural?

Yes. Sodium and aluminium are natural metal-ion fragments; the silicate and polysulfide cage trace to silica and mineral sulfur, mineral-origin under ISO 16128.

INCI nameUltramarines
CAS1302-83-6
FormulaAl6Na6O24S8Si6 · 1108.9 Da
FunctionHair Dyeing
FeedstockManufactured by calcining kaolin clay with sulfur, soda…

How we scored it

Na (metal-ion, natural) + Al (metal-ion, natural) + sulfosilicate cage (Si/S/O, mineral-derived) form a complex aluminosilicate; every element is mineral-origin regardless of manufacture route. 1.0.
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

Manufactured by calcining kaolin clay with sulfur, soda ash and silica at high temperature to recreate the aluminosilicate cage of natural lapis lazuli. CosIng calls the process 'synthetic', but every atom traces to mineral feedstocks, matching the convention already used for titanium dioxide and iron oxides.

In plain English

A blue, green, pink, red or violet pigment made by fusing clay, sulfur, soda and silica at high temperature. Although manufactured, it's built entirely from mineral raw materials, recreating the historic lapis lazuli pigment.

CosIng definition: Ultramarines (blue, green, pink, red and violet) are synthetic pigments composed of complex sodium aluminum sulfosilicates having a typical formula Na(AlSiO)S with proportions of each element varying with each colour. To identify the colorant allowed for use in the European Union (EU), the INCI Name CI 77007 must be used.

Structure

2D structure of Ultramarines

hexaaluminum;hexasodium;bis(tetrathietane);hexasilicate

PubChem CID 91667813 ↗

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. 2Ultramarines. PubChem CID 91667813. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3ULTRAMARINES. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4ULTRAMARINES. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=ULTRAMARINES