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Cosmetic ingredient dictionary

Glycolic Acid in cosmetics: what it is and what it does

Glycolic Acid is a cosmetic ingredient that keeps the product's acidity steady. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 89 products, most often face care.

By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check

What does Glycolic Acid do in a product?

In a cosmetic product, Glycolic Acid keeps the product's acidity steady. The EU’s CosIng database lists this job for it: buffering.

buffering

What other names and numbers does Glycolic Acid have?

CAS number
79-14-1
EC number
201-180-5
CosIng reference
34147

Which products contain Glycolic Acid?

Open Beauty Facts finds Glycolic Acid in the ingredient lists of 89 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often face care, hair care and skincare.

  • Face care8
  • Hair care6
  • Skincare4

Products with it, by country of sale: United States 20 · Germany 16 · Turkey 14 · Australia 10.

Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Glycolic Acid turns up, not how much of the market it is.

Bravoora reads this ingredient for everyone you shop for: an allergy or intolerance, a vegan or vegetarian diet, a calorie or protein goal, and the labels on supplements and skincare too. Build a profile · For dermatologists, dietitians and doctors

Sources

The job, the description and the EU annex entry are CosIng’s; the fragrance allergens are the EU Annex III names Bravoora’s label checker reads; the product counts are Open Beauty Facts’.

  1. European Commission: CosIng cosmetic ingredient database (functions, description, EU annex entry)
  2. Open Beauty Facts: product database, 77,506 products, read 13 October 2026, ODbL

Contains information from Open Beauty Facts, which is made available here under the Open Database License (ODbL). Read the licence · Download this dictionary’s data · How we check

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