What's inside
What's inside
Key Ingredients
Benefits
Concerns
Ingredients Side-by-side
Water
Skin ConditioningSodium Cocoyl Isethionate
Cleansing
Lauroyl/Myristoyl Methyl Glucamide
EmollientSodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate
Cleansing
Glycerin
Humectant
Cetearyl Alcohol
Emollient
Palmitic Acid
Emollient
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Glycol Distearate
Emollient
Propanediol
Solvent
Sodium Chloride
MaskingMica
Cosmetic ColorantVaccinium Macrocarpon Seed Oil
Skin Conditioning
Moringa Oleifera Seed Extract
Skin Conditioning
Sodium Hydroxide
Buffering1,2-Hexanediol
Skin Conditioning
Maleated Soybean Oil Glyceryl/Octyldodecanol Esters
Sodium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate
Emulsion StabilisingCI 77891
Cosmetic ColorantHydroxyacetophenone
Antioxidant
Caprylhydroxamic Acid
Sorbic Acid
Preservative
Sodium Gluconate
Skin ConditioningArachidic Acid
Cleansing
Myristic Acid
Cleansing
Maltodextrin
Absorbent
Lauric Acid
Cleansing
Parfum
Masking
Benzyl Salicylate
Perfuming
Citronellol
Perfuming
Geraniol
Perfuming
Limonene
Perfuming
Water, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Lauroyl/Myristoyl Methyl Glucamide, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid, Glycol Distearate, Propanediol, Sodium Chloride, Mica, Vaccinium Macrocarpon Seed Oil, Moringa Oleifera Seed Extract, Sodium Hydroxide, 1,2-Hexanediol, Maleated Soybean Oil Glyceryl/Octyldodecanol Esters, Sodium Polyacryloyldimethyl Taurate, CI 77891, Hydroxyacetophenone, Caprylhydroxamic Acid, Sorbic Acid, Sodium Gluconate, Arachidic Acid, Myristic Acid, Maltodextrin, Lauric Acid, Parfum, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Geraniol, Limonene
Water
Skin ConditioningSodium Cocoyl Isethionate
Cleansing
Prunus Domestica Seed Extract
EmollientSodium Methyl Oleoyl Taurate
CleansingLauroyl/Myristoyl Methyl Glucamide
EmollientCocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine
Cleansing
Glycol Distearate
Emollient
Stearic Acid
Cleansing
Glycerin
Humectant
Sodium Chloride
MaskingSqualane
Emollient
Phytic Acid
Xanthan Gum
EmulsifyingAcacia Senegal Gum
MaskingAcrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer
Emulsion StabilisingSorbic Acid
Preservative
Ethylhexylglycerin
Skin ConditioningSodium Hydroxide
BufferingPotassium Sorbate
Preservative
Phenoxyethanol
Preservative
Sodium Carbonate
BufferingTocopherol
Antioxidant
Citric Acid
Buffering
Water, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Prunus Domestica Seed Extract, Sodium Methyl Oleoyl Taurate, Lauroyl/Myristoyl Methyl Glucamide, Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine, Glycol Distearate, Stearic Acid, Glycerin, Sodium Chloride, Squalane, Phytic Acid, Xanthan Gum, Acacia Senegal Gum, Acrylates/C10-30 Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, Sorbic Acid, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Potassium Sorbate, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Carbonate, Tocopherol, Citric Acid
Ingredients Explained
These ingredients are found in both products.
Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.
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 GlycerinGlycol 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 DistearateWe don't have a description for Lauroyl/Myristoyl Methyl Glucamide yet.
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.
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 ChlorideSodium cocoyl isethionate is a natural ingredient from coconut oil. It is an ultra gentle cleanser that gives a nice foam without drying the skin or impacting the skin barrier.
The amount of foam created depends on the amount of sodium cocoyl isethionate used in the product.
This ingredient also helps improve the spreadability of a product.
This ingredient hasn’t been shown in studies to feed fungal acne yeast.
Learn more about Sodium Cocoyl IsethionateSodium 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 HydroxideSorbic Acid is a preservative that stops your product from spoiling by stopping microbes from growing.
As a preservative, it's kind of a specialist: it has a broad spectrum of activity against yeast and molds but is weaker against bacteria. That's why it's often paired with another preservative to cover that gap.
This ingredient is also pretty picky about pH; it performs best at pH 6.5 or below.
At the right pH level, sorbic acid is "active" and can slip through the outer wall of a microbe. Once inside, it turns the cell's interior more acidic to shut down the microbe from the inside.
The EU caps this ingredient at 0.6% while the CIR has concluded it's safe at concentrations up to 1%. It's most often used around 0.05-0.2% in cosmetics.
Though this ingredient is considered low-sensitizing and well-tolerated, a very small number of people may have a contact allergy to it. Be sure to patch test if you have a history of allergies towards preservatives.
Learn more about Sorbic AcidStearic Acid is a fatty acid that is already found in your skin. It's one of the free fatty acids that works alongside ceramides and cholesterols to maintain your barrier.
In cosmetics, it is a multitasker:
Safety-wise, the CIR Expert Panel has concluded it to be safe in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritating and non-sensitizing.
Free stearic acid is a C18 fatty acid that the Malassezia yeast can substrate, so this ingredient may not be fungal acne safe.
Learn more about Stearic AcidWater. 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
