Ingredients overview
Highlights
Key Ingredients
Other Ingredients
Skim through
Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Sulfur (10%) | anti-acne, antimicrobial/antibacterial | 0, 0-3 | goodie |
Corn Starch | viscosity controlling, abrasive/scrub | ||
Fragrance | perfuming | icky | |
Lanolin | emollient, emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | 0, 0-1 | |
Polysorbate 80 | emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | 0, 0 | |
Sodium Cocoate | surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying | ||
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate | surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying | com.:0 | icky |
Sodium Tallowate | surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying, viscosity controlling | ||
Tetrasodium EDTA | chelating |
Grisi Sulfur SoapIngredients explained
A yellowish element that smells of rotten eggs and it might be familiar to you from the periodic table (has the symbol S in there). It has a long history of medicinal use thanks to its antifungal, antibacterial and keratolytic activity. It used to be a very common ingredient in the treatment of inflammation-related skin diseases such as acne, rosacea and seborrheic dermatitis, however, due to its malodorousness, it is less popular nowadays.
Sulfur's precise mechanism of action is not known, but we do know that its effectiveness depends on its direct interaction with the skin surface, meaning the smaller the particle size, the better the effect. The United States Pharmacopeia lists two types of sulfur, sublimed and precipitated. The latter one has a smaller particle size and counts as a superior version.
Sulfur is also a team-player and works well when combined with other anti-acne agents, such as salicylic acid or sodium sulfacetamide. In fact, the combination of 10% sodium sulfacetamide and 5% sulfur is the active ingredient duo of several Rx-only anti-acne products.
As for the disadvantages, there is the rotten egg smell. Also in higher concentrations, it might cause a mild burning sensation and dry skin. If you are new to sulfur, patch testing it first is a good idea.
A corn-derived, white to yellowish, floury powder that works as a handy helper ingredient to create nice feeling emulsions.
It gives a generally pleasant skin feel, has some mattifying effect (though rice starch is better at that), it reduces greasiness and tackiness and helps the formula to spread easily without whitening or shininess.
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
A common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together, aka emulsifier.
The number at the end refers to the oil-loving part and the bigger the number the more emulsifying power it has. 20 is a weak emulsifier, rather called solubilizer used commonly in toners while 60 and 80 are more common in serums and creams.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
The famous or rather infamous SLS (not to be confused with SLES). It is a cleansing agent known for being too good at the job and potentially irritating the skin. But, on the positive side, it can produce copious, creamy and luxurious foam compared to the more gentle and thus nowadays much more commonly used Sodium Laureth Sulfate.
In fact, SLS is so good at irritating the skin that it is very commonly used in dermatological studies just for that. It is a so-called "primary irritant", a substance that irritates the skin in one go (without prior sensitization) but doesn't do any other big harm (such as being carcinogenic or systematically toxic - those claims are not true). Also, the formula can greatly influence the irritating potential of SLS, and mixing it with other cleaning agents makes it milder.
If it's not in a cleanser, it works as an emulsifier or even as a penetration enhancer for active materials.
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
A handy 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 | anti-acne | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0-3 |
what‑it‑does | viscosity controlling | abrasive/scrub |
what‑it‑does | perfuming |
what‑it‑does | emollient | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0-1 |
what‑it‑does | emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing |
irritancy, com. | 0, 0 |
what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying |
what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying |
com. | 0 |
what‑it‑does | surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying | viscosity controlling |
what‑it‑does | chelating |