Ingredients

what‑it‑does

solvent

Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more]

what‑it‑does	moisturizer/humectant | solvent
irritancy, com.	0, 1

An often used glycol that works as a solvent, humectant, penetration enhancer and also gives a good slip to the products. [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing

what‑it‑does

moisturizer/humectant | solvent

A smallish polymer molecule that is used as a solubilizer and viscosity control agent in cosmetic products. [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing

Super common ingredient in all kinds of cleansing products: face and body washes, shampoos and foam baths. Number one reason for its popularity has to do with bubbles. [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing | viscosity controlling | emulsifying

A cleansing agent whose main thing is being a very good team player next to other (anionic) cleaning agents and working as an excellent foam booster and viscosity builder.  The downside of Cocamide DEA is that it may contain residual content of Diethanolamine, a secondary amine known to be a potential source of harmful nitrosamines. [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing

what‑it‑does	skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

A real oldie but a goodie. Great natural moisturizer and skin-identical ingredient that plays an important role in skin hydration and general skin health. [more]

what‑it‑does	moisturizer/humectant
irritancy, com.	0, 0

It's a sweet tasting sugar substitute that helps your skin to hold onto water when used in cosmetic products. It also helps to thicken up products and give them a bit more slip.  [more]

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surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing

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moisturizer/humectant

Sodium Acetylated Hyaluronate is a variation of current IT moisturizer, Hyaluronic acid, where some water-loving -OH groups are replaced by amphipathic (partly water-loving and partly water-hating) acetyl groups. [more]

what‑it‑does

emollient

The famous Vaseline or Petroleum Jelly. Just like mineral oil, it is also a by-product of refining crude oil, aka petroleum, and it is also a mixture of hydrocarbons but with bigger (C18-90+) carbon chain length.The unique thing about petrolatum is that it is the most effective occlusive agent known today. [more]

what‑it‑does

buffering

An AHA that comes from citrus fruits. It is usually used as a helper ingredient to adjust the pH of the formula. [more]

what‑it‑does

chelating

Super common little helper ingredient that helps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes. [more]

what‑it‑does

antioxidant | preservative

It's the acronym for Butylated Hydroxy Toluene. It's a common synthetic antioxidant that's used as a preservative.There is some controversy around BHT. [more]

what‑it‑does	preservative
irritancy, com.	0, 0

The most common type of feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason parabens. It's a cheap, effective and well-tolerated ingredient to make sure the cosmetic formula does not go wrong too soon.  Apart from the general controversy around parabens (we wrote about it more here), there is a 2006 in-vitro (made in the lab not on real people) research about methylparaben (MP) sho [more]

what‑it‑does

surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying

A glycerin-derived gentle cleansing agent that is described as being skin and eye-friendly, and not leaving the skin dry or tight. Also used as a co-emulsifier.

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surfactant/cleansing

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surfactant/cleansing

A clear,  yellowish liquid that works as a cleansing agent. It's very mild but has great foaming properties at the same time. [more]

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surfactant/cleansing

A vegetable based co-surfactant that helps to create mild cleansing formulas. 

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viscosity controlling

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buffering