Is Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) safe in skincare?

What it is

Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) is a lightweight silicone that gives a fast-absorbing, silky feel and then evaporates. It is common in primers, hair serums and antiperspirants.

What the sources say

This is a case where the axis matters. The SCCS considers D5 safe on skin at cosmetic levels; the EU's REACH restriction on D5 is about environmental persistence in water (a vPvB / bioaccumulation concern), not about your skin. ECHA has listed related cyclic silicones for environmental reasons.

Hazard vs. real-world risk

Confusing environmental persistence with a skin hazard is a classic mistake. The regulatory flag on D5 is ecological, and Clarra keeps that on a sustainability axis rather than letting it tank a product's skin-safety picture. On skin, at use levels, regulators consider it safe.

Vegan & cruelty-free angle

Synthetic and typically vegan.

Open sources, no black box

Clarra doesn't embed any proprietary rating database or invent its own secret score. It draws on open, public regulatory sources and cites them, and uses Open Beauty Facts product data under the ODbL with attribution. If you want to check where a flag comes from, the source is right there — transparency is part of the point.

What Clarra reads on every product

• Ingredient flags — how named regulators (EU CosIng, IARC, Prop 65, CIR, ECHA) classify or restrict what's inside, with hazard kept separate from risk.
• Cruelty-free status — shown with positive framing: what a brand states or is certified for, never an accusation.
• Vegan status — flagging animal-derived ingredients like carmine, beeswax and lanolin, and honest about ambiguous-source ones.