What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningUrea
Buffering
Glycerin
Humectant
Glyceryl Stearate
Emollient
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Dicaprylyl Ether
Emollient
Ethylhexyl Stearate
Emollient
Dimethicone
Emollient
Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate
CleansingPotassium Lactate
BufferingTitanium Dioxide
Cosmetic Colorant
Lactic Acid
Buffering
Cetyl Dimethicone
Emollient
Piroctone Olamine
Preservative
Bisabolol
Antioxidant
Diethylhexyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate
CleansingSilver Chloride
Preservative
Propylene Glycol
Humectant
Water, Urea, Glycerin, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dicaprylyl Ether, Ethylhexyl Stearate, Dimethicone, Sodium Stearoyl Glutamate, Potassium Lactate, Titanium Dioxide, Lactic Acid, Cetyl Dimethicone, Piroctone Olamine, Bisabolol, Diethylhexyl Sodium Sulfosuccinate, Silver Chloride, Propylene Glycol
Water
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Paraffinum Liquidum
Emollient
Ricinus Communis Seed Oil
Masking
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Masking
Octyldodecanol
Emollient
Cetyl Alcohol
Emollient
Glyceryl Stearate
Emollient
Cetyl Palmitate
Emollient
PEG-40 Stearate
Emulsifying
Glycyrrhiza Inflata Root Extract
Skin Conditioning
Ceramide NP
Skin Conditioning
Decylene Glycol
Skin Conditioning1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Piroctone Olamine
Preservative
Caprylyl Glycol
Emollient
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningCitric Acid
Buffering
Menthoxypropanediol
Masking
Trisodium EDTA
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
BHT
Antioxidant
Water, Glycerin, Paraffinum Liquidum, Ricinus Communis Seed Oil, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Octyldodecanol, Cetyl Alcohol, Glyceryl Stearate, Cetyl Palmitate, PEG-40 Stearate, Glycyrrhiza Inflata Root Extract, Ceramide NP, Decylene Glycol, 1,2-Hexanediol, Phenoxyethanol, Piroctone Olamine, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Citric Acid, Menthoxypropanediol, Trisodium EDTA, Benzyl Alcohol, BHT
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.
Topically, glycerin does several things at once:
Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.
Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.
This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.
Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.
Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.
Learn more about GlycerinGlyceryl Stearate is made by reacting glycerin with stearic acid (typically sourced from plant oils like palm or coconut). It's an emulsifier, emollient, and mild occlusive.
Emulsifiers help ingredients like oil and water stay mixed so your formula stays nicely blended and uniform in texture.
This ingredient is typically used in concentrations between 1-10%. Studies have found it to be non-sensitizing, non-phototoxic, and non-photoallergenic.
A close cousin of this ingredient is Glyceryl Stearate SE ("self-emulsifying"). This just has a small amount of sodium or potassium stearate added so it can emulsify without a co-emulsifier.
Since this ingredient is an ester of a C18 fatty acid, it may not be fungal acne safe. The Malassezia yeast can potentially metabolize within the C11-C24 range.
Fun fact: The human body also creates Glyceryl Stearate naturally.
Learn more about Glyceryl StearatePiroctone Olamine is a synthetic antifungal and preservative ingredient.
Its main job is to keep the yeast, Malassezia, in check; this yeast is linked to dandruff, seborrheic dermatitis, and fungal acne (a.k.a. Malassezia folliculitis).
The way it works is pretty neat:
It slips into the fungal cell and grabs onto iron ions that the yeast needs for its energy metabolism; this basically starves it out. But the full mechanism isn't 100% pinned down and some research also points it to interfering with ergosterol (a building block of the fungal cell membrane).
Besides antifungal action, it also has mild anti-inflammatory and soothing effects to help calm itchiness in the scalp.
Typical usage concentrations are low. The EU permits it to be a preservative up to 1% in rinse-off products and 0.5% in leave-on products.
Though it's generally well-tolerated, a small number of people may notice itching or irritation (as with any active).
Learn more about Piroctone OlamineWater. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.
So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.
You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!
Learn more about Water
