COLOURANT
Yellow 6 (Ci 15985)
- colourant
A certified colour that tints the product itself. It does not colour hair.
- products in our library
- 36
- of researched products
- 0.5%
- on the label, in our shampoos
- usually #29
- most common in
- Shampoo
- in water
- Water-soluble
At a glance
Four things worth knowing about how this ingredient behaves on hair.
How much of it is left on hair between washes.
What it takes to get it off the hair again.
How prominently it is listed where it appears most.
Where it sits on the labels we have, in the category it appears in most.
| Property | Level | Out of |
|---|---|---|
| Buildup risk | Low | 1 of 5 |
| Rinse-out behaviour | Rinses clean | 5 of 5 |
| Deposit | Small | 2 of 5 |
| Prominence | Secondary | 2 of 5 |
What it does for a formula
What Yellow 6 (Ci 15985) does
The general function first, then how the role changes by product type where we have researched it.
The colour of what is in the bottle or, in a depositing product, of your hair.
Water alone removes it, so it does not accumulate between washes.
Charge
Charge is not recorded for this ingredient.
Solubility
Rinses out with water alone, so it does not build up on hair between washes.
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
12 products
|
secondary · #29 | |
Conditioner
8 products
|
secondary · #33 | |
Mask / treatment
8 products
|
secondary · #32 | |
Leave-in
3 products
|
secondary · #25 | |
Styler: gel
2 products
|
secondary · #37 | |
Styler: curl cream
1 product
|
secondary · #24 | |
Styler: mousse
1 product
|
secondary · #23 | |
Styler: volumizer
1 product
|
secondary · #18 |
| Product type | Products | Share of category | Median position | Earliest position | Band |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shampoo | 12 | 1% | 29 | 14 | secondary |
| Conditioner | 8 | 1% | 33 | 15 | secondary |
| Mask / treatment | 8 | 1% | 32 | 18 | secondary |
| Leave-in | 3 | 0% | 25 | 15 | secondary |
| Styler: gel | 2 | 1% | 37 | 15 | secondary |
| Styler: curl cream | 1 | 0% | 24 | 24 | secondary |
| Styler: mousse | 1 | 0% | 23 | 23 | secondary |
| Styler: volumizer | 1 | 1% | 18 | 18 | secondary |
We have not researched differences by product type yet. The reading below comes 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 | 11 |
| 26+ | Trace | 21 |
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
Formulation guidance for specific hair conditions, limited to the label positions where it applies. It is not a conclusion about any finished product, or about you.
A violet or blue colorant sits opposite yellow on the colour wheel, so a trace of it deposited on the surface makes a warm cast read cooler. It washes out over the following few washes.
A deposited colorant is a surface layer. It is a very small amount of material, but on a routine already fighting for root lift it is one more thing sitting on the strand.
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 seeing this ingredient tells you, what it does not, and the limits of our own method.
- a product whose colour you can see
- a rinse-clean feel
- gray or light hair to stay cool rather than warm
- an exact safety score (we do not publish one for any ingredient)
- how a finished product performs, which depends on the whole formula, not one line of it
- the exact percentage in a bottle, because label position never converts into a number
- a secondary colourant, listed below the main ingredients in our shampoos
- it was on the printed ingredient list of every product we counted (we read labels, not marketing copy)
- that it will change your hair colour
- 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.
Commonly paired with
The ingredients that most often appear alongside this one in our library. We leave out the near-universal ones, because they pair with everything and tell you nothing.
- Yellow 5 · 22
- Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter · 12
- Sodium Chloride · 12
- Disodium EDTA · 11
- Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride · 11
- Lactic Acid · 10
- Sodium Hydroxide · 10
- Propylene Glycol · 10
- Cetyl Alcohol · 10
- Behentrimonium Chloride · 10
The number beside a name is how many products in our library list both.
These ingredients tend to appear together to colour the product, soften the strand, and keep the formula stable.
Found in these products
The most prominent placements first. The badge is the position on that product’s own ingredient list.
Suave · Shampoo
Volume & Body Volumizing Shampoo
#14 on the label · $0.09/oz
Cantu · Styler
Avocado Hydrating Styling Gel
#15 on the label · $0.30/oz
Klorane · Leave-in
Nourishing Leave-in Cream with Mango
#15 on the label · $5.36/oz
Suave · Conditioner
Volume & Body Volumizing Conditioner
#15 on the label · $0.09/oz
Klorane · Conditioner
Nourishing Conditioner with Mango Butter
#16 on the label · $3.40/oz
Klorane · Mask / treatment
Nourishing 2-in-1 Mask with Mango
#18 on the label · $5.80/oz
REUZEL · Styler
Spray Grooming Tonic
#18 on the label · $1.75/oz
REUZEL · Styler
Grooming Tonic Texture Foam
#23 on the label · $6.31/oz
Creme of Nature · Styler
Pure Honey Moisture Whip Twisting Cream
#24 on the label · $0.67/oz
Klorane · Shampoo
Nourishing Shampoo with Mango Butter
#24 on the label · $2.28/oz
Aunt Jackie's · Shampoo
Oh So Clean! Moisturizing & Softening Shampoo
#25 on the label · $0.91/oz
Bumble and bumble · Conditioner
Super Rich Hair Conditioner
#25 on the label · $4.24/oz
See all 36 products in the library that list Yellow 6 (Ci 15985)
Identity
What this entry is, and what our references call it.
No public-domain structure depiction is available for this entry.
Yellow 6 (Ci 15985)
- yellow 6 (ci 15985)
- yellow 6 ci 15985
For your hair?
Whether Yellow 6 (Ci 15985) matters for your hair depends on your hair.
the 10th most-listed colourant in our libraryWhat 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 comes 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: 36 of 6816 researched products list this ingredient. Nothing on this page is written per ingredient.
- The dots are levels, not scores. Each one comes from what kind of ingredient it is (its chemical class, charge and solubility) or from where it sits on the labels we have.
- 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. Without one, we leave the row out rather than fill it in.
- This is cosmetic information, not medical advice, and nothing here diagnoses or treats a health condition.
- Entry last updated 2026-09-22. Product-page methodology: the product library.
