But the joke is on us, because while “oil-free” is a meaningless claim, it may mislead consumers into buying products that can actually clog pores. There are plenty of ingredients that don’t sound like oils but that can absolutely aggravate breakouts. On the other hand, not all oils clog pores. Meanwhile, many cosmetics (anything that is in a lotion or cream form) contain waxlike thickening agents that may clog pores. When any product looks like a cream or a lotion (as opposed to a fluid), the ingredients that give it that consistency may clog pores. Despite the problems these ingredients can cause, they show up in lots and lots of so-called “oil-free” products.
Above and beyond the products that claim to be oil-free, label after label promises that the product is “noncomedogenic” or “nonacnegenic.” Most of us have bought products with this assurance, only to find that they did cause breakouts. I wish I could say otherwise, but the truth is you can’t trust any product that makes the claim that it’s not comedogenic because there is no approved or regulated standard for that assertion. What many women already know from experience is that trying to guess how their skin will react based on a product’s promises, especially when it comes to blemishes, is truly a lost cause—or at the very least a difficult problem with no easy, slam-dunk answers.