White Kaolin
Ingredient profile
- Japanese name
- カオリン (Kaolin)
- Botanical / INCI
- Kaolin (CI 77004)
- Sustainability verification
White kaolin is one of the simplest ingredients in the DAMDAM range: a soft, absorbent clay mineral that does one job well.
What is white kaolin?
Kaolin (INCI: kaolin, CI 77004) is a naturally occurring clay. DAMDAM uses it in the Skin Mud Pure Mask, a rinse-off mask, where its role is to absorb excess surface oil.
What has kaolin been studied for?
Kaolin is valued for oil absorption. In human research, a twice-weekly kaolin-and-bentonite clay mask reduced open comedones by 65.8% and sebum by 29.9% over four weeks (n=60; Zhang 2023). Kaolin was not isolated in that study, and no study has tested kaolin on its own as a cosmetic topical, so this is a mask-format finding rather than a kaolin-specific one. It is not an acne-treatment claim.
Where does kaolin come from?
Kaolin is a widely occurring clay mineral; its name derives from Gaoling hill in China. It is a mineral rather than a Japanese heritage botanical, which is why this page explains what the clay does rather than telling a sourcing story.
The DAMDAM product
The Skin Mud Pure Mask is DAMDAM's kaolin mask, used for a fresh, mattifying clean.
In the US, DAMDAM is available at Sephora, where it carries the Clean + Planet Aware seal, and on damdamtokyo.com; in Japan, you can also find DAMDAM at its Kyoto flagship and stockists including Isetan and Ron Herman.