Ingredients
| what‑it‑does | solvent |
Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products.
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| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing |
A versatile and biodegradable cleansing agent with high cleaning power and strong foaming properties. Unfortunately, these two properties for a surfactant usually mean that it is harsh on the skin, which is the case here as well.
| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. Normal, everyday table salt.
If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list.
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| what‑it‑does | buffering |
| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
A surfactant that has good foaming properties and can be used in cleansing products both for the skin and the hair. It's often combined with salicylic acid in non-cleansers to make salicylic acid water soluble and stable.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
A preservative that works mainly against fungi. Has to be combined with other preservatives.
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| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
It's a common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together. Also, it can help to increase the solubility of some other ingredients in the formula.
| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
A cellulose derived polymer that can help to thicken up products, form a nice film on the skin or hair and is considered to be an excellent hair conditioner.
| what‑it‑does | preservative |
Pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, and can be used up to 1% worldwide.
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| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average.
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| what‑it‑does | soothing | emollient | moisturizer/humectant |
The extract coming from the juice containing leaves of the Aloe vera plant with moisturizing, emollient and anti-inflammatory properties.
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| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
| what‑it‑does | preservative |
A not so strong preservative that doesn’t really work against bacteria, but more against mold and yeast.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing |
A vegetable origin (coconut or palm kernel oil and glucose) cleansing agent with great foaming abilities. It's also mild to the skin and readily biodegradable.
| 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.
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| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
| what‑it‑does | soothing | moisturizer/humectant |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
Pro-Vitamin B5 is a goodie that moisturises the skin, has anti-inflammatory, skin protecting and wound healing properties.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative |
It can boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too.
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| what‑it‑does | antioxidant | soothing |
Green Tea - one of the most researched natural ingredients that contains the superstar actives called catechins. It has proven antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and anticarcinogenic properties.
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| what‑it‑does | soothing | emollient |
Cucumber is a nice, non-irritating plant extract that’s known for it’s soothing and emollient properties.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
The extract coming from the coconut fruit. It is a similar thing to coconut water and fruit juice and is loaded with sugars, minerals, amino acids. It is also claimed to have vitalizing and energizing effects, and some smoothing, emollient and hydrating props.
If you are into coconut, we have more details at coconut water and coconut oil.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient | perfuming |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 4 |
There is definitely some craze going on for coconut oil both in the healthy eating space (often claimed to be the healthiest oil to cook with but this is a topic for another site) and in the skin and hair care space. We will talk here about the latter two and see why we might want to smear it all over ourselves.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
A castor oil derived, white, lard-like helper ingredient that is used as a solubilizer to put fragrances into water-based products such as toners.
| what‑it‑does | antioxidant | soothing | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
Rosemary leaf extract - Its main active is rosmarinic acid, a potent antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory. It has also anti-bacterial, astringent and toning properties.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
Sunflower Oil - it's a great emollient that protects & enhances the skin barrier.
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A colorless liquid used in small amounts as a so-called masking ingredient, meaning it can hide the natural not-so-nice smell of other cosmetic ingredients.
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| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant | emollient |
A handy multi-tasking ingredient that gives the skin a nice, soft feel and also boosts the effectiveness of other preservatives.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
Shea butter that's considered to be a magic moisturizer and emollient. It is also soothing and rich in antioxidants.
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| what‑it‑does | emollient |
| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing |
A very mild cleansing agent with a dense and luxurious foam and an elegant after feel.
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| what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling |
A big polymer molecule that has a bunch of different versions and thus different uses. It can act as a film former, as a thickening agent, or it can increase the water-resistance in sunscreens.
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| what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | viscosity controlling | emulsifying |
| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant |
It's used in cosmetic products to adjust pH. Larg amounts on the skin could be irritating and drying.
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| what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing | viscosity controlling |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 2 |
| what‑it‑does | sunscreen |
A water-soluble, chemical sunscreen agent that is a secondary UVB absorber with some activity in the short UVA range as well. Being a secondary UV absorber means that its protection is weak and it has to be combined with other sunscreen filters for proper sun protection. More often than not, Benzophenone-4 is not used as a sunscreen agent but as a photoprotectant to extend product&nb
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| what‑it‑does | buffering |
Lye - A solid white stuff that’s very alkaline and used in small amount to adjust the pH of the product.
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| what‑it‑does | chelating |
A helper ingredient that helps to neutralize the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.
| what‑it‑does | chelating |
A helper ingredient that helps to neutralize the metal ions in the formula (they usually come from water) so it stays nice longer.
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| what‑it‑does | solvent | viscosity controlling | perfuming |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
| what‑it‑does | moisturizer/humectant | solvent |
| irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products. It's also a solvent, humectant and to some extent a penetration enhancer.
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| what‑it‑does | preservative | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
A little helper ingredient that works as a preservative. It works against bacteria and some species of fungi and yeast.
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| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
A super common fragrance ingredient that can be found among others in lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot or jasmine. The downside of it is that it oxidises on air exposure and might become allergenic.
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| what‑it‑does | perfuming |
A common fragrance ingredient with a nice rose-like smell.
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| what‑it‑does | colorant |
A common colorant that gives products a nice red color.
| what‑it‑does | colorant |
A super common colorant with the color yellow.
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| what‑it‑does | colorant |