What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
DMDM Hydantoin has antimicrobial and antifungal properties. It is a preservative that works by slowly releasing formaldehyde over time.
So what's formaldehyde?
DMDM Hydantoin is approved for use in cosmetics all around the world.
In the EU, this ingredient is allowed in personal products up to 0.6 percent.
You might have heard of the class-action lawsuit about it causing hair loss. According to chemists, there has not been a link found between this ingredient and hair loss.
The Hydantoin part of this ingredient is created by reacting glycolic acid and urea.
You can check out alternatives to Dmdm Hydantoin:
phenoxyethanol, potassium sorbate, and sodium benzoate.
Glycerin (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 GlycerinWater. 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
