Body & Beauty / Compounds / Geraniol

Geraniol on your skin: a safety profile

Moderate risk

Not medical or professional safety advice, and not a substitute for a qualified clinician — consult one. Full disclaimer →

Documented contact-dermatitis sensitiser per the EU SCCS established-fragrance-allergen list; cosmetic and rose-essential-oil applications are the dominant general-population exposure route.

What is geraniol?

Also known as: Geranyl alcohol, Lemonol, trans-Geraniol, (E)-3,7-Dimethylocta-2,6-dien-1-ol.

CAS number
106-24-1
Molecular formula
C10H18O
Molecular weight
154.25 g/mol
SMILES
CC(=CCCC(=CCO)C)C
PubChem CID
637566

Risk for people

Moderate risk

Documented contact-dermatitis sensitiser per the EU SCCS established-fragrance-allergen list; cosmetic and rose-essential-oil applications are the dominant general-population exposure route.

Regulatory consensus

1 regulatory bodyhas classified Geraniol.

AgencyYearClassificationNotes
Unknown——

Regulators apply different standards of evidence — animal-data weighting, exposure-pattern assumptions, epidemiological power thresholds — which is why two scientific bodies can review the same data and reach different conclusions. The disagreement is the data.

Where you encounter geraniol

  • Personal Care — perfume, soap, cosmetics
  • Consumer Products — cleaning products, candles

Safer alternatives

Lower-risk approaches that achieve a similar outcome to Geraniol:

  • Lower-sensitization structural analog; Unscented formulation
    Trade-offs: Eliminates allergen risk entirely; consumer acceptance varies (some associate scent with cleanliness/efficacy); growing market segment; regulatory advantage in EU (no IFRA compliance needed).
    Relative cost: 1.2-2×

Frequently asked questions

Is geraniol safe for you?

Documented contact-dermatitis sensitiser per the EU SCCS established-fragrance-allergen list; cosmetic and rose-essential-oil applications are the dominant general-population exposure route.

What products contain geraniol?

Geraniol appears in: perfume (Personal care); soap (Personal care); cleaning products (Consumer products); candles (Consumer products).

See Geraniol in the body app

Look up products containing geraniol, compare to alternatives, and explore the full data record.

Open in body View raw API data

Sources (1)
  1. PubChem (2026) — database

Reference data, not professional advice. Aggregates publicly available regulatory and scientific data; not a substitute for medical, legal, or regulatory advice. Why we built ALETHEIA →