What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
No key ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Sulfur 3%
Antiseborrhoeic
Water
Skin ConditioningSodium Cocoyl Isethionate
Cleansing
Coco-Glucoside
Cleansing
Acrylates Copolymer
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Glycereth-18 Ethylhexanoate
Skin ConditioningGlycereth-18
HumectantStearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Honey Extract
Humectant
Oryza Sativa Bran Extract
Skin Conditioning
Avena Sativa Kernel Extract
Abrasive
Oligopeptide-10
Antimicrobial
Boswellia Serrata Extract
Skin Conditioning
Behenyl Alcohol
Emollient
Glycerin
Humectant
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingCaprylyl Glycol
Emollient
Hexylene Glycol
EmulsifyingButylene Glycol
Humectant
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Parfum
Masking
Citric Acid
Buffering
Sodium Hydroxide
BufferingEthylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningDisodium EDTA
ChelatingDisodium Carboxyethyl Siliconate
Skin ConditioningLinalool
Perfuming
Potassium Sorbate
Preservative
Sodium Benzoate
Masking
CI 77891
Cosmetic ColorantCI 77491
Cosmetic ColorantSulfur 3%, Water, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Coco-Glucoside, Acrylates Copolymer, Cetearyl Alcohol, Glycereth-18 Ethylhexanoate, Glycereth-18, Stearyl Alcohol, Honey Extract, Oryza Sativa Bran Extract, Avena Sativa Kernel Extract, Oligopeptide-10, Boswellia Serrata Extract, Behenyl Alcohol, Glycerin, Xanthan Gum, Caprylyl Glycol, Hexylene Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Parfum, Citric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide, Ethylhexylglycerin, Disodium EDTA, Disodium Carboxyethyl Siliconate, Linalool, Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Benzoate, CI 77891, CI 77491
Reviews
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
Sodium Hydroxide is also known as lye or caustic soda. It is used to adjust the pH of products; many ingredients require a specific pH to be effective.
In small amounts, sodium hydroxide is considered safe to use. However, large amounts may cause chemical burns due to its high alkaline.
Your skin has a natural pH and acid mantle. This acid mantle helps prevent harmful bacteria from breaking through. The acid mantle also helps keep your skin hydrated.
"Alkaline" refers to a high pH level. A low pH level would be considered acidic.
Learn more about Sodium HydroxideSulfur is one of skincare's oldest ingredients that has been used to treat acne, rosacea, seborrheic dermatitis, scabies, and tinea versicolor.
How does it work?
When sulfur touches skin, it reacts with an amino acid in skin cells (called cysteine) to create cystine and hydrogen sulfide.
That hydrogen sulfide helps loosen dead skin cells to exfoliate. And here's a geeky detail: the smaller the Sulfur particles, the more they interact with skin and the better they work.
Sulfur also has antifungal and antibacterial activity, which is why you'll see it in both acne treatments and dandruff shampoos.
In the US, acne products can use 3-10% sulfur while dandruff products use 2-5%. It's also often paired with Sodium Sulfacetamide, and using that combo twice daily for 12 weeks reduced inflammatory acne spots by about 80%.
The most common complains are the smell and dryness. Otherwise, side effects are uncommon.
If you have a "sulfa" allergy, that's an allergy to sulfonamide drugs and this doesn't mean you'll react to elemental sulfur.
A 1972 study suggested sulfur might clog pores. Elemental sulfur caused some clogged pores on rabbit ears and human backs (though the researchers noted the effect was mild).
A 1978 follow-up tested this on 52 people. After six weeks of patches with 5% Sulfur, skin biopsies showed no link between Sulfur and clogged pores. The surprise? The base the Sulfur was mixed into was what caused clogged pores. Later reviewers also noted that other studies couldn't repeat the 1972 results.
So why does Sulfur have a comedogenic rating of 3?
That number comes from a 1989 rabbit ear study by dermatologist James Fulton, which gave a 3 to water-soluble sulfur specifically. Even so, a 3 isn't a big red flag. Fulton's own scale treats 2 to 3 as borderline.
Human testing has also proved that any finished product with a comedogenic ingredient won't automatically make you break out; it really comes down to concentration, formula, and your skin.
Learn more about SulfurWater. 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
