HOW TO READ SKIN CARE INGREDIENTS: A Basic List
Moisturizing and Hydrating: Emollients, Occlusives, Humectants.
Emollients soften and smooth skin: coconut oil, jojoba oil, sesame oil, almond oil, other plant oils, squalene, olive oil/oleic acid, cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol , stearic acid, stearyl alcohol.
Occlusives seal in transepidermal water loss and create a protective barrier: shea butter, cocoa butter, mineral oil, lanolin, petrolatum, paraffin, beeswax, triethylhexanoin.
Humectants attract water to the skin: glycerin, propylene glycol, sorbitol, sodium PCA, hyaluronic acid, allantoin, urea.
Surfactants dissolve dirt and oils and are used in cleansers. They add “slip” to a product: sodium laureth sulfate, cocomidopropyl betaine, disodium cocamphodiacetate, ammonium laurel sulfate, polysorbate 85 or polysorbate 60, sodium lauryl sulfate, cocamide DEA.
Binders and emulsifiers create a stable mixture of different ingredients: butylene glycol (also a humectant), polysorbates, glyceryl stearate (also an emollient and makes things pearly), cetearyl alcohol (emollient tood), cetyl alcohol (emollient too) , stearic acid (surfactant & emollient too), stearyl alcohol (emollient too), PEG or PEG-100 stearate (emollient & surfactant too), Triethanolamine (buffer too), palmitates (emollients too), Ceteareth 20.
Texturizes thicken or add slippage to a product, so it can be smoothly applied: alkyl benzoate (also an emollient), carbomer, polymers (PEG or seaweed), dimethicone & cyclomethicone (both silicones that are also emollients), polysorbate 20 & 80 (surfactants too), pentaerythrityl tetraotanoate, caprylic and succinic triglycerides (emollients too), sodium chloride.
Buffers neutralize acid and balance the pH of a product, making it less irritating: sodium bicarbonate, citric acid, triethanolamine.
COMMON ALLERGENS IN SKIN CARE/COSMETICS Fragrance, methylchloroisiothiazolinone/methyisothiazolinone (MCI), parabens, lanolin, cocamidopropyl betaine, acrylates, antibiotics (neomycin found in Neosporin), tosylamide, paraphenylene diamine (hair dyes), nickel (eyelash curler)
Other fragrance names: Balsam of peru (myroxylon pereirae), Cinnamic aldehyde, Cinnamyl alcohol, Hydroxycitronellal Isoeugenol, Eugenol, alpha-amyl cinnamic aldehyde, geraniol, Linalool, Limonene.