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Ingredient on hair labels

Niacin

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

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Niacin is on 4 of the 177 hair-product labels we compare, from 1 maker. Its uses in the EU ingredient register are antistatic and smoothing. None of these labels names it among its first five ingredients.

See it on each label Products without it

What it is

The register’s chemical name for it: “3-Pyridinecarboxylic acid.”

EU register name (INCI)
NIACIN
CAS number
59-67-6
EC number
200-441-0

What the register lists it for

These are the uses the European Commission’s CosIng register lists for Niacin 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.

Antistatic

Cuts the static that makes dry hair fly away. Many conditioning ingredients carry this role too, because both work at the hair’s surface.

Register definition: “Preventing and/or reducing static electricity by neutralising electrical charge on surfaces.”

Smoothing

Evens out a rough surface. The register writes this for skin; on a hair label it sits beside conditioning ingredients.

Register definition: “Seeking to achieve an even skin surface by decreasing roughness or irregularities.”

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.

Every label, product by product (4)

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

Find products without Niacin Check every name on your own label All ingredients on the labels we compare

Other antistatic 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.