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INCI ingredient

Citral

Also listed as: Citral), Citral'

A lemon-scented fragrance allergen that EU labels must declare by name.

What it triggers

  • Vegan originYesno animal source
  • FragranceYescounts as fragrance
  • ParabenNonot a preservative of this family
  • SulfateNonot a sulfate surfactant
  • SiliconeNonot a silicone
  • AlcoholNonot a drying alcohol

If a product lists Citral, its fragrance-free answer is No. Nothing else changes.

What it does

Citral is the molecule behind the smell of lemongrass and lemon peel. It reaches a product through a perfume blend or through citrus and lemongrass essential oils. CosIng lists it as perfuming and flavouring.

EU rules make brands print it on the label once it passes a set concentration, so seeing it means the product is scented and the fragrance-free answer is no.

Functions: fragrance, declared allergen

Products with Citral

in 1,241 products

Showing 24 of 1,241 products with this ingredient, most scanned first.

In the EU ingredient database

Functions listed by CosIng
  • fragrance
  • perfuming
  • flavouring
  • fragrance: Imparting an odour or taste. Creating a perceivable pleasant smell and/or masking a bad smell.
  • perfuming: Used for perfume and aromatic raw materials.
  • flavouring: Imparting taste and/or flavour to a cosmetic product.

CAS 5392-40-5 · EC 226-394-6

EU regulation

Not on a restricted-substances annex. Listed as an allowed cosmetic ingredient.

CosIng records a perfuming function for this ingredient.

Source: CosIng, European Commission. Informative, no legal value; the regulation text is the reference.

Fragrance-free instead

Classification from the INCI name; product lists from Open Beauty Facts.Report a mistake