Know Your Environment. Protect Your Health.
EWG Home EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning EWG’s Food Scores Healthy Living App Open menu

EWG's Skin Deep®
Find products and ingredients Learn how Skin Deep® works Meet our experts Discover EWG VERIFIED™
GET UPDATES DONATE
Score legend
HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES Learn more About EWG VERIFIED™

Data: Fair

Castor Oil

IMAGE SOURCE: PubChem

SEARCH PRODUCTS

Other Concerns

Enhanced skin absorption and Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (moderate)

SYNONYMS

CASTER OIL, CASTOR OIL, CASTOR OIL (RICINUS COMMUNIS L.), CASTOR OIL; VEGETABLE OIL, CASTOR SEED OIL, RICINUS COMMUNIS (CASTOR) SEED OIL, RICINUS COMMUNIS OIL, and RICINUS COMMUNIS(CASTOR)

Castor Oil is extracted from the seeds of Ricinus communis, a castor oil plant.

Common concerns

See how this product scores for common concerns.

  • LOW
    Cancer
  • LOW
    Allergies & Immunotoxicity
  • MODERATE
    Developmental and Reingredientive Toxicity
  • LOW
    Use Restrictions

Ingredient concerns

  • CONCERNS
  • DATA SOURCES

Products with this Ingredient

Expand content Collapse content
lipstick690 products
lip balm503 products
lip gloss343 products
bar soap189 products
hair treatment/serum170 products
conditioner115 products
brow liner112 products
shampoo110 products
blush107 products
hair styling aide86 products
moisturizer65 products
recreational sunscreen65 products
lip balm with SPF63 products
eye liner61 products
mascara61 products
foundation59 products
facial moisturizer/treatment54 products
facial cleanser49 products
mask49 products
concealer48 products
exfoliant/scrub48 products
lip plumper47 products
eye shadow45 products
bronzer/highlighter43 products
beard care43 products
styling gel/lotion37 products
beard oil35 products
lip liner32 products
body wash/cleanser32 products
body oil31 products
serums & essences24 products
baby sunscreen22 products
hair color and bleaching20 products
diaper cream19 products
shaving cream (men's)19 products
antiperspirant/deodorant18 products
around-eye cream17 products
liquid hand soap17 products
daily use with SPF17 products
hand cream16 products
shaving cream10 products
bath oil/salts/soak10 products
glitter10 products
fragrance for women10 products
10 products
foot moisturizer9 products
detangler9 products
makeup primer8 products
makeup remover7 products
baby lotion7 products
nail treatment6 products
cuticle treatment6 products
hair removal waxes5 products
anti-aging5 products
hand sanitizer5 products
damaged skin treatment5 products
hair spray4 products
baby soap4 products
antiperspirant/deodorant (men's)4 products
beard cleanser4 products
bubble bath3 products
muscle/joint soreness2 products
body spray2 products
body firming lotion2 products
foot cleansing2 products
fragrance for men2 products
BB cream2 products
vapor rubs1 products
baby oil1 products
styling mousse/foam1 products
facial powder1 products
baby shampoo1 products
mouthwash1 products
hair-loss treatment1 products
toners/astringents1 products
nail glue1 products
tanning oil1 products

Enhanced skin absorption

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Penetration enhancerCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Human any irritant - strong evidenceCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments

Developmental/reproductive toxicity

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Limited evidence of reproductive toxicityOpen scientific literature

Ecotoxicology

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Uncertain environmental toxin and uncertain persistent or bioaccumulativeEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List

Data gaps

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Risk assessment method deficiencies and data gaps - Maximum reported "as used" concentration is basis of safety assessment by industry safety panel (Cosmetic Ingredient Review, CIR) - implicit safe concentration limit in productCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
Safety assessment was based on related chemicalCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
1871 studies in PubMed science library may include information on the toxicity of this chemicalNLM PubMed

Organ system toxicity (non-reproductive)

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Classified as not expected to be potentially toxic or harmfulEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List
Classified as a low human health priorityEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List

Persistence and bioaccumulation

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Not suspected to be persistentEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List
Not suspected to be bioaccumulativeEnvironment Canada Domestic Substance List

Multiple, additive exposure sources

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in foodFDA Everything Added to Food
Designated as safe for general or specific, limited use in foodFDA Food Additive Status

Informational

Expand content Collapse content
CONCERN REFERENCE
Industry or government recommendations for safe use: restrictions on concentration, impurities, product types, or manufacturing methods - anyCosmetic Ingredient Review Assessments
  • CIR (Cosmetic Ingredient Review). 2006. CIR Compendium, containing abstracts, discussions, and conclusions of CIR cosmetic ingredient safety assessments. Washington DC.
  • Open scientific/peer reviewed literature
  • EC (Environment Canada). 2008. Domestic Substances List Categorization. Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) Environmental Registry.
  • NLM (National Library of Medicine). 2012. PubMed online scientific bibliography data. http://www.pubmed.gov.
  • FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration). 2008. EAFUS [Everything Added to Food]: A Food Additive Database. FDA Office of Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
  • FDA (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) 2006. Food Additive Status List. Downloaded from http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/%7Edms/opa-appa.html, Oct 16, 2006.

Understanding scores

Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to be tested for safety before being allowed on the market. The Skin Deep® scoring system was designed to help the public understand whether a product is safe to use or whether it contains ingredients of concern.

Every product and ingredient in Skin Deep gets a two-part score – one for hazard and one for data availability. The safest products score well by both measures, with a low hazard rating and a fair or better data availability rating.

HOW WE DETERMINE SCORES

Hazard score

The Skin Deep ingredient hazard score, from 1 to 10, reflects known and suspected hazards linked to the ingredients. The EWG VERIFIED™ mark means a product meets EWG’s strictest criteria for transparency and health.

Score legend
WEIGHT-OF-EVIDENCE APPROACH

A product’s hazard score is not an average of the ingredients’ hazard scores. It is calculated using a weight-of-evidence approach that factors in all of the hazards or health impacts associated with the ingredients.

Data availability

The Skin Deep data availability rating reflects the number of scientific studies about the product or ingredient in the published scientific literature.

NONE LIMITED FAIR GOOD ROBUST
Low Availability
Moderate Availability
High Availability
NONE

Ingredients have not been assessed.

LIMITED-FAIR

There is only a modest volume of research.

GOOD-ROBUST

Ingredients have been studied extensively.

Can’t find your product?

Enter the ingredients in EWG’s Build Your Own Report tool to get an approximate score for that product.

BUILD YOUR OWN REPORT

News & updates

Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
RESEARCH
Big Market for Black Cosmetics, but Less-Hazardous Choices Limited
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
RESEARCH
K-Beauty Trends: Serums, Essences and EWG’s Best Bets
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
NEWS RELEASE
FDA Asks Women To Protect Themselves From Products The Agency Refused To Ban
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
NEWS RELEASE
Study Highlights Importance of Cosmetics Ingredient Safety Tests
READ ALL ARTICLES

EWG research
on the go

Find personal care, cleaning, and food products on the EWG Healthy Living app.

DOWNLOAD THE APP