Cosmetic ingredient dictionary
Lactic Acid in cosmetics: what it is and what it does
Lactic Acid is a cosmetic ingredient that holds water in the skin or the product. Open Beauty Facts finds it in 1,282 products, most often bath and shower.
By Bravoora teamUpdated Sources checked 2 sourcesHow we check
What does Lactic Acid do in a product?
In a cosmetic product, Lactic Acid holds water in the skin or the product, keeps the skin in good condition and keeps the product's acidity steady. The EU’s CosIng database lists these jobs for it: humectant, skin conditioning and buffering.
What other names and numbers does Lactic Acid have?
- CAS number
- 50-21-5
- EC number
- 200-018-0
- CosIng reference
- 34809
Which products contain Lactic Acid?
Open Beauty Facts finds Lactic Acid in the ingredient lists of 1,282 of the 22,021 products it has a list for, most often bath and shower, hair care and shower gels.
Products with it, by country of sale: France 366 · Germany 274 · Spain 90 · United States 84.
Counted on 13 October 2026 from Open Beauty Facts, which volunteers fill from real packs: it shows where Lactic 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’.
- European Commission: CosIng cosmetic ingredient database (functions, description, EU annex entry)
- 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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