OIL
Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil
- oil
The oil pressed from Clary (Salvia Sclarea). How much weight a plant oil leaves depends on the hair it lands on; coarse hair tends to take more of it than fine hair.
- products in our library
- 10
- of researched products
- 0.3%
- on the label, in our shampoos
- usually #16
- most common in
- Shampoo
- in water
- Oil-soluble
At a glance
Four named levels, read from this ingredient’s chemical class, its charge, its solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have. More dots means more of the property named — never “better”.
How much of it is left on hair between washes.
What it takes to get it off the hair again.
Where the class sits between an ester and a butter.
How much it slows water leaving the strand.
| Property | Level | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Buildup risk | Needs a cleanser | 4 of 5 |
| Rinse-out behaviour | Rinses with a cleanser | 2 of 5 |
| Weight | Rich | 4 of 5 |
| Sealing | Strong | 4 of 5 |
What it does for a formula
What Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
Smooths the feel of the strand without adding hold or cleaning.
Coats the surface and makes hair feel more pliable.
Sits on the outside of the cuticle and holds moisture in.
A distilled aromatic oil: mostly scent, with a few named allergens inside it.
Charge
Charge is not recorded for this ingredient.
Solubility
Needs a surfactant to remove. On a low-detergent routine it can build up over time.
Where it appears
Where it appears
One row per product category in our library: how many products list it, what share of that category that is, and where it typically sits on the label.
| Product type | How common | Typical position on label ? |
|---|---|---|
Shampoo
5 products
|
secondary · #16 | |
Conditioner
2 products
|
secondary · #22 | |
Mask / treatment
2 products
|
secondary · #24 | |
Scalp treatment
1 product
|
secondary · #20 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shampoo | 5 | 1% | 16 | 12 | secondary |
| Conditioner | 2 | 0% | 22 | 13 | secondary |
| Mask / treatment | 2 | 1% | 24 | 12 | secondary |
| Scalp treatment | 1 | 1% | 20 | 20 | secondary |
No product-type differences have been researched yet — the reading below is computed from where it sits on the labels in our library.
Position footprint
Every listing in our library, by position on the label.
| Positions | Zone | Listings |
|---|---|---|
| 1-3 | Leading | 0 |
| 4-8 | Supporting | 0 |
| 9-15 | Secondary | 4 |
| 16-25 | Lower | 4 |
| 26+ | Trace | 3 |
How to read this
US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order.
So position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
Who should pay attention
Conditional formulation guidance, scoped to a hair condition and to the positions where it is meaningful. It is not a conclusion about any finished product, and not a conclusion about you.
Coats the surface and slows water leaving the strand, which is usually what coarse hair that dries out fast is missing.
A thin oil layer lowers friction between strands and flattens the raised cuticle that scatters light and catches on its neighbours.
Near the top of a list an oil is weight before it is anything else, and fine hair shows that first at the roots.
Read where it is listed in the first three ingredients or positions 4–8.Read from this ingredient’s chemical class. Where we have researched the ingredient itself, that reading replaces the class one.
Why it matters to shoppers
What this ingredient is evidence of, what it is not evidence of, and what our own method can and cannot tell you.
- softness and shine
- a softer feel
- scent from a plant oil rather than a synthetic blend
- something that lasts through the day
- an exact safety score — we do not publish one, for any ingredient
- how a finished product performs by itself — that is the whole formula, not one line of it
- the exact percentage in a bottle — label position never converts into a number
- a secondary emollient, listed below the main ingredients in our shampoos
- it was on the label of every product we counted — we read printed ingredient lists, not marketing copy
- that a product is right or wrong for you
We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
Why some people avoid it
A botanical extract used for scent, and sometimes for a claimed conditioning or scalp effect.
Essential oils are fragrance. Several contain constituents on the EU list of established contact allergens — limonene, linalool, citral, geraniol, eugenol — so "fragrance-free" and "no synthetic fragrance" are not the same claim, and a plant source does not make a molecule less sensitising to the person who reacts to it.
Where regulators stand: Permitted. The EU requires 26 fragrance allergens to be named individually on the label above set thresholds, which is why they often appear at the end of an ingredient list.
A regulator has acted on this
Browse products in our library without Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil
Commonly paired with
Ingredients that appear alongside this one most often in our library. Near-universal ingredients are excluded — they pair with everything and tell you nothing.
- Citrus Aurantium Dulcis (Orange) Peel Oil · 5
- Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride · 5
- Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil · 4
- Vanillin · 4
- Hydrolyzed Quinoa · 4
- Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil · 4
- Behentrimonium Methosulfate · 4
- Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter · 4
- Calophyllum Inophyllum (Tamanu) Oil · 3
- Taraxacum Officinale (Dandelion) Leaf Extract · 3
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to give it a scent, improve feel after rinsing, and firm up damaged areas.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
Innersense Organic Beauty · Mask / treatment
Hydrating Hair Mask
#12 on the label · $5.00/oz
Kevin Murphy · Shampoo
MAXI.WASH
#12 on the label · $4.21/oz
Innersense Organic Beauty · Conditioner
Hydrating Cream Conditioner
#13 on the label · $2.02/oz
Verb · Shampoo
Dandruff Shampoo
#14 on the label · $2.75/oz
Innersense Organic Beauty · Shampoo
Hydrating Cream Hairbath
#16 on the label · $4.00/oz
Pura d'or · Shampoo
Advanced Therapy Anti-Hair Thinning Shampoo
#18 on the label · $1.47/oz
Jupiter · Scalp treatment
Restoring Serum
#20 on the label · $9.52/oz
Attitude · Shampoo
Hydrating Shampoo - Essential Oils (Peppermint & Sweet Orange)
#22 on the label · $1.37/oz
Innersense Organic Beauty · Mask / treatment
Detox Hair Mask
#27 on the label · $5.33/oz
Melanin Haircare · Conditioner
Plumping Deep Conditioner
#30 on the label · $3.00/oz
Innersense Organic Beauty · Mask / treatment
Repair Mask
#35 on the label · $6.46/oz
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil
- emollient
- essential oil
- salvia sclarea (clary) oil
For your hair?
Whether Salvia Sclarea (Clary) Oil matters for your hair depends on your hair.
10 products in our library list itWhat this ingredient does, and where it sits on the labels we have researched.
A verdict on any product that contains it, and never a safety grade.
We do not physically test your hair. Everything above is read from the ingredient lists in our library and from published references — the consultation is what turns it into a plan.
References
Seed entry — sourcing in progress Written from our reference work; primary sourcing is still being attached.
No published source is attached to this entry yet.
How this page was made
- Every number above is counted from the ingredient lists in our own product library — 10 of 3889 researched products list this ingredient. Nothing on this page is written per ingredient.
- The dots are named levels read from an ingredient’s chemical class, charge, solubility, or where it sits on the labels we have — never a score.
- US labelling rules put ingredients above 1% in descending order of amount; below 1% they may be listed in any order. Position tells you about relative amount only above that line, and we never convert a position into a percentage.
- The prominence bands (leading, supporting, secondary) are the same ones the product pages use to read a single label, applied here to the median position across a category.
- We do not publish safety scores or hazard grades. Where a regulator has published a restriction or a use condition, we state it and cite it; otherwise we describe what the ingredient does and stop.
- Identifiers and references appear only when a published source is attached to this entry; where none is, the row is simply absent rather than filled in.
- This is cosmetic information, not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats a health condition.
- Entry last updated 2026-09-02. Product-page methodology: the product library.