What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
No benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningAlcohol Denat.
Antimicrobial
Propylene Glycol
Humectant
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Dicaprylyl Ether
Emollient
Cetyl Esters
Emollient
Behentrimonium Chloride
Preservative
Polysorbate 20
Emulsifying
Sh-Oligopeptide-78
Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein
Skin ConditioningHydrolyzed Wheat Starch
Skin ConditioningIsopropyl Alcohol
Solvent
Tocopherol
Antioxidant
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Citric Acid
Buffering
Parfum
Masking
Geraniol
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
Hexyl Cinnamal
Perfuming
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
Water, Alcohol Denat., Propylene Glycol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Dicaprylyl Ether, Cetyl Esters, Behentrimonium Chloride, Polysorbate 20, Sh-Oligopeptide-78, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Hydrolyzed Wheat Starch, Isopropyl Alcohol, Tocopherol, Phenoxyethanol, Potassium Sorbate, Citric Acid, Parfum, Geraniol, Linalool, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Alcohol
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Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Alcohol Denat. is an alcohol with a denaturant property. It is created by mixing ethanol with other additives.
This ingredient gets a bad rep because it is irritating and drying - mostly due to its astringent property. Astringents draw out natural oils in tissue, constricting pores and leaving your skin dried out.
However, alcohol denat. is not all that bad.
Due to its low molecular weight, alcohol denat. tends to evaporate quickly. One study on pig skin found half of applied alcohol evaporated in 10 seconds and less than 3% stayed on skin.
This also helps other ingredients become better absorbed upon application.
Studies are conflicted about whether this ingredient causes skin dehydration. One study from 2005 found adding emollients to propanol-based sanitizer decreased skin dryness and irritation. Another study found irritation only occurs if your skin is already damaged.
Small amounts of alcohol are generally tolerated by oily skin or people who live in humid environments.
The rule of thumb is if this alcohol is near the end of an ingredients list, it will probably not affect your skin much.
Also...
This ingredient has antimicrobial and solvent properties.
The antimicrobial property helps preserve products and increase their shelf life. As a solvent, it helps dissolve other ingredients.
Other types of astringent alcohols include:
Learn more about Alcohol Denat.
