What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningLauryl Glucoside
CleansingCocamidopropyl Betaine
Cleansing
Lactic Acid
Buffering
Gossypium Herbaceum Seed Extract
Skin ConditioningRosa Damascena Flower Extract
Masking
Bisabolol
Antioxidant
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Sodium Chloride
MaskingGlycerin
Humectant
Glyceryl Oleate
Emollient
Caprylyl Glycol
Emollient
Sodium Hydroxide
BufferingPEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate
Surfactant
Glycol Distearate
Emollient
Propylene Glycol
Humectant
Citric Acid
Buffering
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Tocopherol
Antioxidant
Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate
Emollient
Sorbic Acid
Preservative
Water, Lauryl Glucoside, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Lactic Acid, Gossypium Herbaceum Seed Extract, Rosa Damascena Flower Extract, Bisabolol, Coco-Glucoside, Sodium Chloride, Glycerin, Glyceryl Oleate, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Hydroxide, PEG-55 Propylene Glycol Oleate, Glycol Distearate, Propylene Glycol, Citric Acid, Potassium Sorbate, Tocopherol, Hydrogenated Palm Glycerides Citrate, Sorbic Acid
Water
Skin ConditioningSodium Laureth Sulfate
Cleansing
Sodium Chloride
MaskingSodium Cocoamphoacetate
CleansingSodium Laureth-8 Sulfate
Cleansing
PEG-80 Glyceryl Cocoate
Emulsifying
Glycerin
Humectant
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Lactic Acid
Buffering
Magnesium Laureth Sulfate
Cleansing
Sodium Oleth Sulfate
Cleansing
Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
Cleansing
Parfum
Masking
Magnesium Laureth-8 Sulfate
Cleansing
Glycol Distearate
Emollient
PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate
Emulsifying
DMDM Hydantoin
Preservative
Glyceryl Oleate
Emollient
Magnesium Oleth Sulfate
Cleansing
Piroctone Olamine
Preservative
Alcohol
Antimicrobial
Leontopodium Alpinum Flower/Leaf Extract
Skin ConditioningWater, Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Cocoamphoacetate, Sodium Laureth-8 Sulfate, PEG-80 Glyceryl Cocoate, Glycerin, Coco-Glucoside, Lactic Acid, Magnesium Laureth Sulfate, Sodium Oleth Sulfate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Parfum, Magnesium Laureth-8 Sulfate, Glycol Distearate, PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate, DMDM Hydantoin, Glyceryl Oleate, Magnesium Oleth Sulfate, Piroctone Olamine, Alcohol, Leontopodium Alpinum Flower/Leaf Extract
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Coco-Glucoside is a surfactant, or a cleansing ingredient. It is made from glucose and coconut oil.
Surfactants help gather dirt, oil, and other pollutants from your skin to be rinsed away.
This ingredient is considered gentle and non-comedogenic. However, it may still be irritating for some.
Learn more about Coco-GlucosideGlycerin (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 Oleate is the monoester of glycerin and oleic acid. It is a skin-conditioning emollient that also helps form emulsions.
What makes glyceryl oleate special is its "re-fatting" effect.
When you wash your hair and skin with a surfactant-based cleanser, the surfactants grab onto everything. This includes your skin's natural lipids, or the fats that live in your skin barrier and sebum. Once you rinse these surfactants away, it leaves your skin feeling tight, dry, and clean (in a not-good way).
Re-fatting is essentially putting some of these lipids back. Glyceryl oleate deposits a thin layer of emollient lipids back on the skin or hair surface reduce some of the barrier damage.
Also, glyceryl oleate isn't a foreign molecule to your skin. It's chemically identical to something your skin already produces and manages naturally. This is why it tends to be well-tolerated with low risk of irritation.
Typical use levels range from 0.5-5%.
Glyceryl Oleate has a function of "perfuming" in the CosIng database. This just means that the ingredient has some scent character that can contribute to the product's overall smell.
The scent of this ingredient is described as "waxy".
As an ester of oleic acid, this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe. This is because oleic acid falls into the carbon-chain length that Malassezia can use as a substrate.
Learn more about Glyceryl OleateGlycol Distearate is an emulsifier and emollient that adds a "pearly" appearance to formulations.
That lustrous look you see in many shampoos is due to this ingredient: when cooled, it crystallizes into small platelets that reflect light to give products that rich, shimmering look.
This ingredient is considered safe at present practices of use and concentration and repeated insult patch test with 50% Glycol Distearate on 125 subjects found no evidence of skin irritation, hypersensitivity, or acute toxicity.
Typical use concentrations range from 0.1-10%.
Because it's an ester of stearic acid, it falls into the range that Malassezia likes to metabolize. This ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Glycol DistearateLactic Acid is another well-loved alpha hydroxy acid (AHA). It is gentler than glycolic acid but still highly effective.
Its main role is to exfoliate the surface of the skin by loosening the âglueâ that holds dead skin cells together. Shedding those old cells leads to smoother, softer, and more even-toned skin.
Because lactic acid molecules are larger than glycolic acid, they donât penetrate as deeply. This means theyâre less likely to sting or irritate, making it a great choice for beginners or those with sensitive skin.
Like glycolic acid, it can:
Lactic acid also acts as a humectant (like hyaluronic acid). It can draw water into the skin to improve hydration and also plays a role in the skin's natural moisturizing factor (NMF) in the form of sodium lactate.
Studies show it can boost ceramide production to strengthen the skin barrier and even help balance the skinâs microbiome.
To get results, choose products with a pH between 3-4.
Lower strengths (5-12%) focus on surface exfoliation; higher strengths (12% and up) can reach deeper in the dermis (deeper, supportive layer) to improve skin texture and firmness over time.
Though it was originally derived from milk, most modern lactic acid used in skincare is vegan. It is made through non-dairy fermentation to create a bio-identical and stable form suitable for all formulations.
When lactic acid shows up near the end of an ingredient list, it usually means the brand added just a tiny amount to adjust the productâs pH.
Legend has it that Cleopatra used to bathe in sour milk to help reduce wrinkles.
Lactic acid is truly a gentle multitasker: it exfoliates, hydrates, strengthens, and brightens. It's a great ingredient for giving your skin a smooth, glowing, and healthy look without the harshness of stronger acids.
Read more about some other popular AHA's here:
Learn more about Lactic 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 ChlorideWater. 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
