Linalool: A Fragrance Allergen on the April 2026 List

If you've ever used lavender, bergamot, or coriander oil in a formula, you've been working with linalool without necessarily naming it. It's one of the most common fragrance allergens on the market, which is exactly why it's on Canada's List 1 and headed for mandatory disclosure this year.

What linalool actually is

Linalool is a naturally occurring terpene alcohol, INCI name Linalool, CAS number 78-70-6 (it also appears under other CAS numbers depending on the specific isomer, since linalool exists in more than one stereochemical form). It's what gives lavender a lot of its characteristic scent, and it shows up as a major or minor constituent in a long list of essential oils: lavender, bergamot, coriander, rosewood, sweet basil, ylang ylang, and many citrus oils among them.

Synthetic linalool is also produced industrially and used heavily in perfumery and functional fragrances, in soaps, shampoos, lotions, candles, and household products, precisely because it's cheap, stable, and smells pleasant. Between the natural and synthetic supply, it's genuinely one of the most widely used fragrance materials in the industry, which is part of why sensitization to it has become common enough to warrant regulatory attention.

Why it's a regulated allergen

Linalool is part of a recognized set of fragrance materials associated with allergic contact dermatitis in a meaningful share of the population. It's not that everyone reacts to it. Most people use products containing linalool their whole lives with no issue. But enough people develop sensitivity, especially with repeated exposure, that regulators require it to be named on the label rather than hidden inside a generic "Parfum" or "Fragrance" listing.

Linalool is part of Canada's List 1, the original fragrance allergen set that becomes mandatory on the Cosmetic Notification Form and on the product label as of April 12, 2026. After that date, if your product contains linalool above the disclosure threshold, it needs to appear by name on both the CNF and the label, not just folded into the fragrance blend.

The thresholds that trigger disclosure

Canada's disclosure triggers are concentration-based and differ by product type:

• Leave-on products (lotions, creams, leave-in conditioners, perfumes): disclosure required above 0.001%, which is 10 ppm.
• Rinse-off products (shampoos, soaps, body washes, conditioners you rinse out): disclosure required above 0.01%, which is 100 ppm.

Because linalool is often a major constituent of the essential oils that contain it, not a trace impurity, it clears these thresholds easily in most formulas that use those oils at any meaningful percentage. A lavender-scented lotion at even a modest essential oil dosage will very likely need linalool named on the label come April 2026.

Quick reference

Property	Detail
INCI name	Linalool
CAS number	78-70-6 (other CAS numbers exist for specific isomers)
Natural sources	Lavender, bergamot, coriander, rosewood, sweet basil, ylang ylang, many citrus oils
Regulatory list	Canada List 1
Mandatory disclosure date	April 12, 2026
Leave-on threshold	Above 0.001% (10 ppm)
Rinse-off threshold	Above 0.01% (100 ppm)

What this means if you formulate with lavender or citrus oils

Two things worth doing now, ahead of the April deadline. First, get a constituent breakdown from your essential oil suppliers, ideally a certificate of analysis showing linalool percentage in the specific batch or a typical range for that oil. Second, run the math on your finished formula: multiply the essential oil's use level in your product by the linalool percentage the supplier reports, and compare that against the relevant threshold for a leave-on or rinse-off product.

A common miscalculation is checking the oil's use level against the threshold directly, instead of checking the actual linalool concentration within that use level. A 1% dosage of an essential oil that's 30% linalool puts you at 0.3% linalool in the finished product, which is nowhere near the trace level some people assume "just a little essential oil" implies.

Where List 1 fits with List 2

Linalool being on List 1 means it's part of the first wave, mandatory this coming April. A broader List 2, aligned with international allergen lists, becomes mandatory on August 1, 2026, adding more materials to the disclosure requirement. If your formula uses multiple essential oils, it's worth checking now which of their constituents fall on either list, rather than discovering gaps closer to each deadline.

Running that constituent math across a whole product line by hand gets tedious fast, especially once you're tracking several allergens across List 1 and List 2 simultaneously. Cosmetic Comply carries the percentage math through automatically when you enter your essential oils and fragrance blends, and flags which allergens clear the leave-on or rinse-off threshold before you file.