What is Laureth-7?
Laureth-7 is an emulsifier that helps oil and water mix. A lauryl alcohol ethoxylate used as a mild emulsifier and solubiliser. Its close relatives on this grid diverge sharply — laureth-4 rates 5 and laureth-23 rates 3 — so chain length matters a great deal in this family. It is named on the CLEARSTEM pore-clogging ingredient list, but that list does not publish a 0-5 comedogenic score for it and no Fulton-derived table we cite carries one. We therefore leave it unrated rather than invent a number — treat the listing itself as the signal.
You may see it on labels as Laureth 7, Laureth-7, so it can hide under more than one name in an ingredient list.
Where Laureth-7 shows up
You'll most often find Laureth-7 in almost any lotion or cream, where it keeps the oil and water phases blended.
Is Laureth-7 bad for acne-prone skin?
Because no reliable comedogenic score exists for Laureth-7, judge it by how your own skin responds rather than by a number.
Worth flagging: Laureth-7's rating is disputed. Credible sources land on different numbers, which is why we show a range rather than a single score — and why your own experience is the best tiebreaker.
Note for fungal-acne (malassezia) sufferers: Laureth-7 is commonly avoided in fungal-acne routines, since it falls into the fatty-acid or ester families the yeast can feed on. The evidence there is looser than for comedogenicity — see our fungal-acne checker for context.