Aqua (Water)
Also-called: Water | What-it-does: solvent
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Sodium Ascorbyl Phosphate (Vitamin C) - goodie
Also-called: Form of Vitamin C, SAP | What-it-does: antioxidant, anti-acne
The sodium salt form of skincare superstar, vitamin C. If you do not know what the big fuss about vitamin C is, you are missing outand you have to click here and read all the geeky details about it.
Pure vitamin C (aka ascorbic acid, AA) is great and all, but its lack of stability is a big challenge for the cosmetics industry. Onesolutionis to create stable derivativesthat can be absorbed into the skin, convert there to AA and do all the magic AA is proven to do (which is being an antioxidant, a collagen booster, and a skin brightener).
SAP (the vit C derivative, not the enterprise software, obvs) is a promising derivative that has great stability up to pH 7. The challenge with it thoughisskin penetration. Unfortunately, it seems to be limited, or to quote a great article from theJournal of Cosmetic Dermatology "topically applied ascorbyl phosphate salts are, at very best, poorly absorbed in comparison with AA". Regarding conversion to AA, there seems to be no data about it, so we can neither deny nor confirm it.
We have better news regarding the three magic abilities of vitamin C: there is in-vivo (tested on real people) data showing that SAP does have photo-protective (aka antioxidant) properties, though less than pure AA. SAP might also aidcollagen boosting;in-vitro (made in the lab) data shows that it works, but is less effective than another vitamin C derivative, called MAP (that seems to be as effective as pure AA). As for skin-brightening, there is a trade publication with in-vivo data showing that SAP can fade brown spots.
Another thing SAP might be able to do is to help with acne. A 2005 study showed in vitro (in test tubes) that 1% SAP has a strong antimicrobial activity on evil acne causing P. acnes and it also showed in vivo (on real people) that 5% SAP can strongly improvethe inflammatory and non-inflammatory lesions of acne vulgaris. In fact, the results were comparable or even slightly better than with 5% benzoyl peroxide.
And there is even more regarding SAP and acne. A nice double-blind study from 2009 showed that 5% SAP reduced the inflammatory lesions by 20.14% and 48.82% within 4 and 8 weeks respectively and when combined with 0.2% retinol the results were even better. With this combination treatment, the improvement was 29.28% after 4 weeks and 63.10% after 8 weeks of application.
Aside from research studies, anecdotal evidence also supports SAP being a promising vitamin C derivative. One of the best-selling (vitamin C) serums in Sephora is the Ole Henriksen Truth Serum, while on Amazon it's the OzNaturalsVitamin C 20 Serum. Another popular choice is the Mad Hippie Vitamin C serum, and all of these contain vitamin C in the form of SAP.
Overall, we think SAP is a goody! In terms of anti-aging, it's probably not as effective as pure Ascorbic Acid, but it's totally worth a try. However, if your skin is acne-prone, SAP is yourform of Vitamin C and it's a must-try.
Decyl Glucoside
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emulsion stabilising
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.
Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, viscosity controlling
A thickening and foam-boasting co-surfactant withamphoteric structure meaning that its head contains both a positively and a negatively charged part (surfactants are most commonly anionic meaning their head has a negative charge). It's very mild and gentle, comes fromcoconut oil and is readily biodegradable.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
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. Everyone loves bubbles. And cocamidopropyl betaine is great at stabilizing them.
The other reason is that it’s mild and works very well combined with other cleansing agents and surfactants. The art of cleansing is usually to balance between properly cleansing but not over-cleansing and cocamidopropyl betaine is helpful in pulling off this balance right.
Oh, and one more nice thing: even though it’s synthetic it’s highly biodegradable.
More info on CAPB on Collins Beaty Pages.
Dimethyl Sulfone (Msm)
Also-called: Methylsulfonylmethane, MSM
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Cocamide MIPA
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising, emulsifying
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Olea Europaea Fruit Oil (Organic Olive) - goodie
Also-called: Olive Fruit Oil | What-it-does: antioxidant, emollient | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0-2
You probably know olive oil from the kitchen as a great and healthy option for salad dressing but it's also agreat and healthy option to moisturize and nourish the skin, especially if it's on the dry side.
Similar to other emollient plant oils, it's loaded with nourishing fatty acids: oleic is the main component (55-83%), and also contains linoleic (3.5-20%) and palmitic acids (7-20%). It also contains antioxidant polyphenols, tocopherols (types of vitamin E) and carotenoids and it's one of the best plant sources of skin-identical emollient, Squalene.
Overall, a great option for dry skin butless so for acne-prone or damaged skin.
Rosa Canina Seed Oil (Organic Rosehip Seed) - goodie
Also-called: Dog-Rose Seed Oil, Rosehip Seed Oil | What-it-does: emollient
The oil coming from the seeds of dog-rose, a wild rose species native to Europe, northwest Africaand western Asia. It's a nice emollient, moisturizing plant oil loaded with skin-nourishing fatty acids(linoleic acid - 51%, linolenic acid - 19% and oleic acid - 20%).
If you start to dig a bit deeper into the rosehip oil topic, you will soon see that there are lots of species ofrose, and it's all a bit confusing to know what the differences and similarities between the oils of the different roses are. As far as our research can tell, here is the gist.
In skincare two major types of rosehip oil are used:
1.Rosa Rubiginosa that is a synonym forRosa Eglanteria and forRosa Mosqueta. We will call it RR from now on.
2. Rosa Canina, or RC
The oil content and composition of RR and RC is similar, but there are some differences: RR contains 8% of oil, while RC contains a bit more, 10%. However, the quality of RR oil seems to be a bit better: it contains 78% essential unsaturated fatty acids while RC contains only 71%. Also, the linoleic-oleic ratio of RR is better (3.3 vs 2.5) that might be important if your skin is acne-prone (as linoleic acid is good for acneand oleic is not).
There is one more important thing to mention: RR oil is famous for containing the miracle active, tretinoin. Though Wikipedia puts RR and RC oil under the same article called asRose hip seed oil, the referenced research about tretinoin content examines onlyRosa Rubiginosa. We looked for a research paper explicitly stating that Rosa Canina also contains tretinoin, but could not find one, so we can neither deny nor confirm it. What we could find is a paper mentioning the tocopherols (vitamin E) and carotenoids (pro-vitamin A) content of Rosa Canina oil that givesit some nice antioxidant properties.
All in all, it is a greatemollient plant oil with great fatty acids beneficial for any skin type.
Borago Officinalis Oil (Borage) - goodie
Also-called: Borage Seed Oil, Starflower Seed Oil;Borago Officinalis Seed Oil | What-it-does: soothing, emollient
We feel that this one is a bit under the radar probably because the Borage plant is not very well known. Maybe because its name isn't as cool as some others, it's hard to compete withkukui or baobab, not to mention murumuru. But let us tell you when it comes to skin care, borage seed oil is one of the best oils that can happen to your skin. Especially, if it's dry, sensitive, easily irritated, often itchy or eczema prone.
So what is so special about it? It is the richest known plant source of thesuper important essential fatty acid, gamma-linolenic acid (GLA). GLA is soothing and nourishing, and can repair even severelydry and irritated skin, but it's pretty rare and borage contains by far the most of it (17-28%). Next to GLA, it also contains more common fatty acids, like linoleic (36%), oleic (18%) or palmitic acid (10%).
If your skin is dry and sensitive,this one is totally for you.
Citrus Aurantium Dulcis Extract (Orange Peel)
Also-called: Orange Extract
This ingredient name is not according to the INCI-standard. :( What, why?!
Some kind of orange extract. See more here >>
Origanum Vulgare Extract (Oregano)
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E)
Also-called: Vitamin E Acetate | What-it-does: antioxidant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. You can read all about the pure form here. This one is the so-called esterified version.
According to famous dermatologist, Leslie Baumann while tocopheryl acetate is more stable and has a longer shelf life, it’s also more poorly absorbed by the skin and may not have the same awesome photoprotective effects as pure Vit E.
Melaleuca Alternifolia Oil (Tea Tree Essential Oil) - goodie
Also-called: Tea Tree Oil, TTO;Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil | What-it-does: soothing, anti-acne, antioxidant, antimicrobial/antibacterial, perfuming
The famous tea treeoil. One of the best known essential oils which comes from Australia where it has been used for almost 100 years for its antiseptic and anti-inflammatory actions. Legend has itthat the medicinal benefits of the oil were considered so important that Australian soldiers were supplied with some tea tree oil in their World War II military kit.
Similar to other essential oils, tea tree oil is a very complex chemical mixture consisting of about 100 components,themajor ones being terpinen-4-ol(40%), γ-Terpinene (23%)and α-Terpinene (10%). Terpinen-4-ol is considered to be the main active component but as a greatarticle in Clinical Microbiology Reviews states "while some TTO components may be considered less active, none can be considered inactive" and most components contributeto TTO's strong antibacterial, antiviral and antifungal effects.
Regarding skincare and tea tree oil, its most well-known effect is probably being a well established anti-acne ingredient. Multiple studies confirm that TTO is effective against the evil acne-causingbacteria called P. acnes and the effectiveness of 5% TTO gel is comparable to the gold standard anti-acne treatment,5% Benzoyl Peroxidelotion. You need to be a bit more patient with TTO, though, as its effects come slower but also with fewer side effects.
Regarding TTO and sensitive skin, we say that you should be careful. Even if your skin is not sensitive you should never put undiluted TTO on your skin. Luckily, it contains only very small amounts of the common allergens (such as limonene), but irritant and allergic reactions still happen, especially by oxidation products that occur in older ornot properly stored oil. So if you have some pure TTO at home, know that storage matters, keep it in a cool, dry, dark place and use it up in a reasonable amount of time.
Overall, we do not often give a goodie status to essential oils, but we feel that TTO's unique antibacterial and anti-acne properties with its minimal allergen content warrant an exception. If your skin is acne-prone, TTO is something to experiment with.
Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract (Organic Aloe) - goodie
Also-called: Aloe Leaf Extract | What-it-does: soothing, emollient, moisturizer/humectant
The extract coming from thejuice containing leaves of the Aloe vera plant. It's usually ahydroglycolicextract (though oil extractfor the lipid parts also exists) that has similar moisturizing, emollient and anti-inflammatory properties as the juice itself. We have written some more about aloe here.
Centella Asiatica Extract (Organic Gotu Kola) - goodie
Also-called: Gotu Kola, Tiger Grass | What-it-does: soothing, antioxidant, moisturizer/humectant
Centella Asiatica - or sometimes also called Gotu Kola or Cica - has been used in folk medicine for hundreds of years. It’s traditionally used to improve small wounds, burns and scratches and it’s also a well known anti-inflammatory agent for eczema.
Recently science has taken an interest in Gotu Kola as well and it turns out it really has many active compounds with several benefits. Just for hard-core geeks, the main biologically active compounds are pentacyclic triterpenoid saponins calledasiaticoside, madecassoside, asiatic and madecassic acid (also called centellosides).
One of the biological activities of thecentellosides isto be able to stimulate GAGs (glycosaminoglycans - polysaccharides that are part of the liquidy stuff between our skin cells), and especially hyaluronic acid synthesis in our skin. This is probably one of the reasons why Centella Asiatica Extract has nice skin moisturizingproperties that was confirmed by a 25 people, four weeks study along with Centella's anti-inflammatory effects.
Madecassoside can also help in burn wound healing through increasing antioxidant activity and enhancing collagen synthesis. Asiaticoside was shown to increase antioxidant levels on rats skin when applied at 0.2%.
Centella Asiatica also often shows up in products that try to treat cellulite or striae. Of course, it cannot make a miracle but it might have some effect via regulating microcirculation and normalizing the metabolism in the cells of connective tissues.
Bottom line: Gotu Kola is a great plant ingredient with proven wound healing, anti-inflammatory,and antioxidant properties. Nice to spot on any ingredient list.
Equisetum Arvense Extract (Horsetail)
Also-called: Horsetail Extract | What-it-does: soothing, emollient, astringent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Taraxacum Officinale Extract (Dandelion)
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Geranium Maculatum Extract (Wild Geranium)
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Disodium Laureth Sulfosuccinate
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing
A cleansing agent that's described by multiple manufacturers as a very mild, non-irritating surfactant but with great foam properties. It's recommended for gentle cleansers suitable for sensitive or baby skin.
Disodium Lauryl Sulfosuccinate
What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing
A cleansing agent that's popular in "syndet bars" (soapless soaps) for its good foaming properties. It can also improve the mildness of famously aggressive, irritating surfactant, sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS).
(2S)-2-Amino-5-Guanidinopentanoic Acid - goodie
What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient
A semi-essential (infants cannot synthesize it, but adults can) amino acid that is one of the primary building blocks of hair keratin and skin collagen. It's a natural moisturizing factor, a skin hydratorand might also help to speed up wound healing.
Arginine usually has apositive charge (cationic) that makes it substantive to skin and hair (those are more negatively charged surfaces) and an excellent film former. Thanks to the positive charge, it also creates a complex with AHAs (AHAs like to lose a hydrogen ion and be negatively charged, so the positive and the negative ions attract each other) that causes a "time-release AHA effect" and reduces the irritation associated with AHAs.
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
What-it-does: viscosity controlling, emulsion stabilising
Though its long name does not reveal it, this polymer molecule (big molecule from repeated subunits or monomers) is a relative to the super common, water-loving thickener, Carbomer. Both of them are big molecules that contain acrylic acid units, butAcrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer also contains some other monomers that are hydrophobic, i.e. water-hating.
This means that our molecule is part water- and part oil-loving, so it not only works as a thickener but also as an emulsion stabilizer. It is very common in gel-type formulas that also contain an oil-phase as well as in cleansers as it also works with most cleansing agents (unlike a lot of other thickeners).
Phenoxyethanol
What-it-does: preservative
It’s pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, but even more importantly, it’s not a feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason paraben.
It’s not something new: it was introduced around 1950 and today it can be used up to 1% worldwide. It can be found in nature - in green tea - but the version used in cosmetics is synthetic.
Other than having a good safety profile and being quite gentle to the skin it has some other advantages too. It can be used in many types of formulations as it has great thermal stability (can be heated up to 85°C) and works on a wide range of pH levels (ph 3-10).
It’s often used together with ethylhexylglycerin as it nicely improves the preservative activity of phenoxyethanol.
Ethylhexylglycerin
What-it-does: preservative, deodorant
If you have spottedethylhexylglycerinon the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative,phenoxyethanol. They are good friends becauseethylhexylglycerincan boost the effectiveness of phenoxyethanol (and other preservatives) and as an added bonus it feels nice on the skin too.
Also,it's an effective deodorant and a medium spreadingemollient.
