Mineral Oil is refined liquid petroleum (crude oil). It is colorless, transparent, odorless and tasteless. It is an occlusive oil, which means that when used in skin care formulations it sits on the surface of your skin. Because it sits on the surface- your skin only “feels” smoother. If poorly refined it can clog pores.
Some premium skin care lines choose not to use mineral oil because they believe it is not beneficial for daily skin care use. It may be disruptive to normal skin functions and may hinder delivery of beneficial ingredients deeper into the skin.
Instead of mineral oil, many lines choose to use natural oils that have moisturizing and conditioning properties such as jojoba, almond and wheat germ that do not have extreme occlusive properties.
How to Spot Mineral Oil in a Product? You can detect it by its aliases, "petrolatum," "petroleum jelly," "isoparraffin," and "parraffinum liquidum”.
