Oil Free Witch Hazel Toner
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Key Ingredients
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| Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hamamelis Virginiana Leaf Extract (Witch Hazel) | soothing, antimicrobial/​antibacterial | goodie | |
| Alcohol | antimicrobial/​antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling | icky |
Walgreens Oil Free Witch Hazel TonerIngredients explained
The extract created from the leaves of the hazelnut-bush-like-magic-tree, commonly called Witch Hazel. We have gone into detail about Witch Hazel in cosmetic products here (it's astringent, soothing, antioxidant and antibacterial), but the important part to know about the leaves is that they contain much, much less active components than the bark. In fact, it contains hardly any tannins (only 0.04%) and the most active component in the leaves is the antibacterial gallic acid.
Too many tannins can be very astringent and irritating to the skin, so this is not necessarily a bad thing. Even the small amount of active components in the leaves seem to give it nice soothing, astringent, and antibacterial properties.
Simply alcohol refers to ethanol and it's a pretty controversial ingredient. It has many instant benefits: it's a great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent and antimicrobial. No wonder it's popular in toners and oily skin formulas.
The downside is that it can be very drying if it's in the first few ingredients on an ingredient list.
Some experts even think that regular exposure to alcohol damages skin barrier and causes inflammation though it's a debated opinion. If you wanna know more, we wrote a more detailed explanation about what's the deal with alcohol in skincare products at alcohol denat. (it's also alcohol, but with some additives to make sure no one drinks it).
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| what‑it‑does | soothing | antimicrobial/antibacterial |
| what‑it‑does | antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling |