What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningIsobutane
Trimethoxycaprylylsilane
SmoothingOleth-100
Cetyl Alcohol
Emollient
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Terminalia Chebula Extract
AstringentBiotin
AntiseborrhoeicCucurbita Pepo Seed Oil
Emollient
Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract
Skin Conditioning
Sorbitan Fatty Acid Ester
EmulsifyingDecyl Glucoside
Cleansing
Pvm/Ma Decadiene Crosspolymer
Myristyl Alcohol
Emollient
Stearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Glycerin
Humectant
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningSodium Hydroxide
BufferingPhenoxyethanol
Preservative
Water, Isobutane, Trimethoxycaprylylsilane, Oleth-100, Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Terminalia Chebula Extract, Biotin, Cucurbita Pepo Seed Oil, Serenoa Serrulata Fruit Extract, Sorbitan Fatty Acid Ester, Decyl Glucoside, Pvm/Ma Decadiene Crosspolymer, Myristyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Phenoxyethanol
Alternatives
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Cetyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol. Fatty Alcohols are most often used as an emollient or to thicken a product.
Its main roles are:
Though it has "alcohol" in the name, it is not related to denatured alcohol or ethyl alcohol.
The FDA allows products labeled "alcohol-free" to have fatty alcohols.
Learn more about Cetyl AlcoholGlycerin (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 GlycerinThis ingredient is a low-molecular weight gas using as a propellant in foams, sprays, and mousses.
It is not intended to interact with skin in a meaningful way as it evaporates almost immediately after dispensing and only leaving behind the actual product formula.
If it does somehow make it onto your skin, it is chemically inert and does not penetrate or get absorbed into skin. Safety assessments note that adverse skin reactions to this ingredient are uncommon.
Learn more about IsobutaneStearyl Alcohol is a type of fatty alcohol from stearic acid. It is a white, waxy compound used to emulsify ingredients used as an emollient or to thicken a product.
Emollients help soothe and hydrate the skin by trapping moisture.
Fatty alcohols are usually derived from natural fats and oils and therefore do not have the same drying or irritating effect as solvent (ethanol) alcohols.
The FDA allows products labeled "alcohol-free" to have fatty alcohols.
Learn more about Stearyl AlcoholWater. 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
