Ingredient file · Labelled

Is citral banned or restricted in cosmetics?

Q: What does EWG Skin Deep say about citral?

EWG Skin Deep scores citral 2 to 4 out of 10 with limited data, and lists use restrictions as none listed. Read 23 October 2026.

Neither banned nor capped, but labelled: the EU requires citral to be named in the ingredient list when its concentration exceeds 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products (Annex III, entry 70). California, the EU and FDA's named list, read 23 October 2026, with EWG Skin Deep's score.

SlipperSkin finding

Read on 23 October 2026, citral is neither banned nor capped in the EU but named for labelling (Annex III); EWG Skin Deep scores it 2 to 4 out of 10.

From the California statute, the EU Cosmetics Regulation as consolidated on 1 May 2026, FDA’s page and EWG’s ingredient page, read 23 October 2026. We report what each says; we do not rate the ingredient.

Is citral banned in cosmetics?

Neither banned nor capped, but labelled: the EU requires citral to be named in the ingredient list when its concentration exceeds 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products (Annex III, entry 70). California does not list it. FDA's named list does not include it. EWG Skin Deep scores it 2 to 4 out of 10 (data: limited).

Citral: where it standsread 23 October 2026

Filled red marks a ban, blue a restriction, pale an ingredient that list does not name. FDA's page names 11 entries and none is citral. The EWG row marks its score; a bar shows a range.

What does the EU require for citral?

The EU neither bans nor caps citral; Annex III requires it to be named in the ingredient list above the thresholds printed below, as consolidated on 1 May 2026.

Citral: EU capspercent; consolidated 1 May 2026

Each bar is one figure printed in an annex entry (#321 means entry 321); where an entry prints several, the table below shows which product type each applies to.

Citral in the EU Cosmetics Regulation, found by CAS number 5392-40-5
Where	Annex	Cap, threshold and product type	Condition
Annex III, entry 70 as printed: 3,7-Dimethyl-2,6-octadienal	Restricted substances	labelling thresholds, not a cap all products	The presence of the substance or substances shall be indicated as ‘Citral’ in the list of ingredients referred to in Article 19(1), point (g), when the concentration of the substance or substances exceeds: - 0.001 % in leave-on products - 0.01 % in rinse-off products.

Is citral on California's banned list?

No. It is on neither list (a), in force since 1 January 2025, nor list (b), in force from 1 January 2027, of California's Health and Safety Code section 108980.

What does EWG Skin Deep say about citral?

EWG’s page gives citral a hazard score of 2 to 4 out of 10 with limited data. Its concerns line reads, in part: Irritation (skin, eyes, or lungs) (high) and Contamination concerns (high). The use-restrictions concern is none listed. The score is a hazard score on EWG's own scale; it is not a regulatory status.

Where is this read from?

More ingredient files: Linalool · Limonene · Geraniol · all 66 ingredient files

Method: California's section 108980 and the EU's annexes were read in Chrome on 23 October 2026; EU lookups are by CAS number (5392-40-5) across Annexes II, III, V and VI; EWG's page was kept only if its name matched exactly; the PubChem link is the compound the CAS number resolves to. Statutes change and EWG revises pages, nothing here is a safety verdict, and an ingredient that is not on a list is not endorsed.