Some By Mi AHA, BHA, PHA 30 Days Miracle Acne Clear Foam Versus COSRX Advanced Snail Mucin Gel Cleanser

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:

Lauryl Betaine is a cleansing ingredient. You'll most likely see it in face washes, body washes, and shampoos. It's a type of surfactant that helps water mix with oil so dirt, sweat, and sunscreen can rinse off easily.

Chemically, lauryl betaine is an amphoteric surfactant so it carries both a positive and negative charge. This helps it create a creamy foam while being less harsh than stronger detergent-type cleansers.

Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate is an amino acid-based surfactant and cleaning agent. This ingredient can be derived from animals or plants. It may also be synthetically created from fatty acids of the coconut and glycine.

Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate is a gentle surfactant. Surfactants help gather the dirt, oil, and other pollutants from your skin to be rinsed away. It is a mild cleanser and naturally produces foam.

Chances 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.

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.