What's inside
What's inside
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Behentrimonium Methosulfate
SurfactantBrassica Alcohol
Emollient
Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter
Emollient
Jojoba Esters
Emollient
Butyrospermum Parkii Butter
Skin Conditioning
Glycerin
Humectant
Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride
Masking
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Ricinus Communis Seed Oil
Masking
Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride
Skin ConditioningParfum
Masking
Benzyl Alcohol
Perfuming
Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Oil
Masking
Mica
Cosmetic ColorantDehydroacetic Acid
Preservative
Water
Skin ConditioningCitral
Perfuming
Geraniol
Perfuming
Linalool
Perfuming
CI 77891
Cosmetic ColorantCI 77288
Cosmetic ColorantBehentrimonium Methosulfate, Brassica Alcohol, Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter, Jojoba Esters, Butyrospermum Parkii Butter, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Stearic Acid, Ricinus Communis Seed Oil, Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride, Parfum, Benzyl Alcohol, Cymbopogon Schoenanthus Oil, Mica, Dehydroacetic Acid, Water, Citral, Geraniol, Linalool, CI 77891, CI 77288
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Behentrimonium Methosulfate is a gentle, positively-charged conditioning agent made from rapeseed oil.
It's the opposite of a harsh cleansing sulfate despite having "sulfate" in its name; its a detangler/softener in haircare and helps keep oil/water blended into a creamy texture as an emulsifier.
Concentration-wise, safety review reports the wider trimonium family shows up between 0.0005% to 10% in rinse-off products and 0.001% to 4% in leave-on products.
This ingredient is commonly used at ~1–5% when acting as the emulsifier.
Allergies to this ingredient are rare; the CIR panel noted the literature lacks clinical reports of irritation or sensitization and patch tests on finished products containing it came back clean.
Learn more about Behentrimonium MethosulfateBenzyl Alcohol is an aromatic alcohol with several roles: it's a preservative, solvent, and mild fragrance component with a floral scent.
This ingredient has been deemed safe for use in cosmetic formulations at concentrations up to 5%, and up to 10% in hair dyes. You'll typically see 0.5-2% in most rinse-off or leave-on products.
As a preservative, it works by disrupting the membrane of microbial proteins. This helps keep bacteria and fungi from growing in your products.
The sensitization picture is actually quite assuring as well:of nearly 71,000 patients patch tested with benzyl alcohol, only 0.21% showed a positive reaction with most of them being weakly positive.
This led researchers to conclude that benzyl alcohol cannot be regarded as a significant contact allergen.
It is worth noting this ingredient is classified as one of the EU's regulated fragrance allergens and restricted to 1% in finished products.
Labels must also declare it in concentrations above 0.001% in leave-on products and 0.01% in rinse-off products.
At concentrations around 5%, localized redness and itching can appear as a direct irritant response and not as a true allergic reaction.
Learn more about Benzyl AlcoholDehydroacetic Acid is a synthetic preservative that keeps your products safe from microbes.
As an organic acid, it penetrates microbial cell walls and disrupts cellular metabolism. This makes it effective against bacteria, yeast, and mold.
It is effective at low concentrations (<0.6%). Clinical studies have found it to be non-irritating, non-sensitizing, and non-photosensitizing.
Learn more about Dehydroacetic AcidThis ingredient is also known as Cocoa butter; it's the fat pressed out of roasted cocoa beans.
Cocoa butter is solid at room temperature and melts right around body temperature, which is why it feels waxy in the jar and slippery on skin.
It has a very saturated profile (stearic acid ~34 to 36%, oleic acid ~30 to 40%, and palmitic acid ~24 to 29%) that makes it a strong occlusive: it sits on top and slows water escaping from skin.
Concentration data shows that it can show up anywhere from a few percent in lotions up to 100% in balms, and the FDA lists cocoa butter as an OTC skin protectant active at 50-100%.
The CIR has reviewed it and concluded it to be safe as used in cosmetics.
This is one of the ingredients with a comedogenic score of 4/5 from the rabbit ear test. Just know that a later human study did find that finished products containing high-comedogenic ingredients like cocoa butter did not increase microcomedone formation.
The fair call here is that this ingredient is most likely fine on body or low-percentage formulas, but can potentially be riskier as a heavy leave-on facial product if you break out easily.
Cocoa butter may not be fungal acne safe; it is a triglyceride of C16-18 fatty acids that the Malassezia yeast can metabolize.
Allergies to cocoa butter are rare and uncommon, but a few cases have been documented (mostly in cases where the person ate chocolate). So if you have a tree nut allergy, be sure to patch test or avoid.
Learn more about Theobroma Cacao Seed Butter
