Ingredient on hair labels

CI 15985 (Yellow 6)

TheWashDay editorial · Updated · From the EU ingredient register and the makers’ own labels · How we match names

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CI 15985 (Yellow 6) is on 3 of the 177 hair-product labels we compare, from 1 maker. The EU ingredient register lists one use for it: colorant. None of these labels names it among its first five ingredients.

What it is

In the register’s words: “CI 15985 is classed chemically as a monoazo colour.”

EU register name (INCI)
CI 15985
CAS number
2783-94-0
EC number
220-491-7

Labels often add a second name in brackets, so a label may say CI 15985 (Yellow 6) where the register says CI 15985. Both are the same ingredient.

What the register lists it for

These are the uses the European Commission’s CosIng register lists for CI 15985 (Yellow 6) in any cosmetic, hair roles first. They say why a maker might add it, not what it does in one formula, and they aren’t a safety rating.

Colorant

Colors the product itself, or the hair or skin. EU law allows only the colorants on its own list.

Register definition: “Exclusively or mainly intended to colour the cosmetic product, the body as a whole or certain parts thereof, by absorption or reflection of visible light; (precursors of oxidative hair colorants shall be deemed colorants). All authorised colorants are substances in the positive list of Annex IV to the Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009.”

Where it sits on each label

US labels list ingredients from most to least, except that those at 1% or less may follow in any order. A name near the top is a large part of the formula. A label doesn’t mark where the 1% point falls, so further down, the order says little about how much is in it. Colors are a further exception: the FDA lets a color additive at any concentration be listed in any order after the other ingredients, so where CI 15985 (Yellow 6) sits says nothing about how much is in it.

Every label, product by product (3)

Each line runs from the first name on a label to the last; a dot is where this ingredient sits. Makers change formulas now and then; if the list on your bottle differs, go by your bottle.

Your next step

Other colorant ingredients on these labels

Updated · The name, numbers and uses come from the European Commission’s CosIng entry (CC BY 4.0); we write the uses in US spelling and put the hair ones first. The labels are each maker’s own. The order rule is the FDA’s Cosmetics Labeling Guide. All our sources are on the Sources page.