What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Sodium Lauroyl Isethionate
CleansingStearic Acid
Cleansing
Sodium Palmitate
CleansingWater
Skin ConditioningLauric Acid
Cleansing
Sodium Isethionate
CleansingSodium Stearate
CleansingCocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Sodium Palm Kernelate
CleansingGlycerin
Humectant
Sodium Chloride
MaskingZinc Oxide
Cosmetic Colorant
Tetrasodium EDTA
Tetrasodium Etidronate
Emulsion StabilisingAlumina
Abrasive
CI 77891
Cosmetic ColorantWater
Skin ConditioningGlycerin
Humectant
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate
Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
Emulsion StabilisingBenzoic Acid
Masking
Caprylyl Glycol
Emollient
Citric Acid
Buffering
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Glutamic Acid
Humectant
Lauric Acid
Cleansing
Parfum
Masking
Sodium Benzoate
Masking
Sodium Chloride
MaskingSodium Hydroxide
BufferingSodium Laurate
CleansingSodium Methyl Lauroyl Taurate
CleansingSodium Methyltaurate
Skin ConditioningStearic Acid
Cleansing
Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer
Tetrasodium EDTA
Water, Glycerin, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Benzoic Acid, Caprylyl Glycol, Citric Acid, Coco-Glucoside, Glutamic Acid, Lauric Acid, Parfum, Sodium Benzoate, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Laurate, Sodium Methyl Lauroyl Taurate, Sodium Methyltaurate, Stearic Acid, Styrene/Acrylates Copolymer, Tetrasodium EDTA
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine is a fatty acid created by mixing similar compounds in coconut oil and dimethylaminopropylamine, a compound with two amino groups.
This ingredient is a surfactant and cleanser. It helps gather the dirt, pollutants, and other impurities in your skin to be washed away. It also helps thicken a product and make the texture more creamy.
Being created from coconut oil means Cocamidopropyl Betaine is hydrating for the skin.
While Cocamidopropyl Betaine was believed to be an allergen, a study from 2012 disproved this. It found two compounds in unpure Cocamidopropyl Betaine to be the irritants: aminoamide and 3-dimethylaminopropylamine. High-grade and pure Cocamidopropyl Betaine did not induce allergic reactions during this study.
Learn more about Cocamidopropyl BetaineGlycerin (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 GlycerinLauric Acid is a saturated fatty acid naturally found in coconut oil, palm kernel oil, and even breast milk.
In cosmetics, it is an:
Lab studies have found that lauric acid is surprisingly good at killing acne-causing bacteria. However, these tests were done on bacteria in a petri dish and not on real skin, so we can't say for certain it works the same in a formulation on a real face.
The comedogenic rating of 4 comes from the 1972 rabbit ear model using undiluted ingredients. Comedogenicity is highly individual and one comedogenic ingredient cannot predict how a formula will behave on skin.
This ingredient is not fungal acne safe and research has confirmed Malassezia can use it as a food source.
Learn more about Lauric AcidChances are, you eat sodium chloride every day. Sodium Chloride is also known as table salt. This ingredient has many purposes in skincare: thickener, emulsifier, and exfoliator.
You'll most likely find this ingredient in cleansers where it is used to create a gel-like texture. As an emulsifier, it also prevents ingredients from separating.
You might see people debate whether Sodium Chloride is comedogenic, but there actually haven't been any comedogenic tests done on it. Either way, the overall formulation of a product matters a lot more than any single ingredient.
You might see this ingredient used in scrubs as a primary exfoliating ingredient.
Learn more about Sodium ChlorideStearic Acid is a fatty acid that is already found in your skin. It's one of the free fatty acids that works alongside ceramides and cholesterols to maintain your barrier.
In cosmetics, it is a multitasker:
Safety-wise, the CIR Expert Panel has concluded it to be safe in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.
Free stearic acid is a C18 fatty acid that the Malassezia yeast can substrate, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Stearic AcidTetrasodium EDTA is the salt formed from neutralizing ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid with sodium hydroxide. It is a chelating agent and used to prevent metal ions from binding to other ingredients. This helps keep the product and ingredients stable.
Tetrasodium EDTA comes as a white solid and is soluble in water.
Water. 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
