Dear Doer Body Scrub

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.

Sodium Lauroyl Glutamate is the sodium salt from the lauric acid of glutamic acid.

It is a surfactant and helps cleanse the skin. Surfactants gather oil, dirt, and other pollutants from your skin so they may be washed away easily.

Propanediol is an all-star ingredient. It softens, hydrates, and smooths the skin. 

It’s often used to:

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.

Diglycerin is a humectant. It is derived from glycerin, which is naturally found in your skin.

As a humectant, it helps draw moisture to the skin from the air.

Hydroxypropyl Starch Phosphate is a modified starch used to help thicken a product.

It is also used in foods.

Disodium Cocoamphodiacetate is a surfactant and helps cleanse skin. It is created from the fatty acids of coconut oil.

Surfactants help rinse oil, dirt, and other pollutants easily from skin. It has a faint fruit-like scent.

Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Extract is a fragrance.

Lauric Acid is a fatty acid or lipid. About half of fatty acids in coconut oil is lauric acid.

This ingredient helps hydrate and sooth skin. As a humectant, it helps trap moisture. It also aids in cleaning and enhancing the texture of products.

Salicylic Acid (also known as beta hydroxy acid or BHA) is a well-known ingredient for treating skin that struggles with acne and clogged pores. It exfoliates both the skin's surface and deep within the pores to help clear out buildup, control oil, and reduce inflammation.

Unlike AHAs (alpha hydroxy acids), salicylic acid is oil-soluble. This allows it to penetrate into pores which makes it especially effective for treating blackheads and preventing future breakouts.

Citric Acid is an AHA derived from citrus fruits (think oranges, lemons, and limes!).

As an AHA, Citric Acid removes the top layer of skin cells from the newer layer of skin underneath. This helps skin to remove dark spots and even out skin tone.

We don't have a description for Polyquaternium-22 yet.

Polyacrylamide is a synthetic polymer. It is used to stabilize products and bind ingredients. When hydrated, Polyacrylamide forms a soft gel.

Polyacrylamide is low-toxicity. If source properly, it is deemed safe to use in cosmetics.

Xanthan gum is used as a stabilizer and thickener within cosmetic products. It helps give products a sticky, thick feeling - preventing them from being too runny.

On the technical side of things, xanthan gum is a polysaccharide - a combination consisting of multiple sugar molecules bonded together.

This ingredient is also known as "C13-14 Isoalkane".

C13-14 Isoparaffin is created from petroleum-based mineral oils. It is an emollient and helps thicken a product.

Disodium EDTA plays a role in making products more stable by aiding other preservatives.

It is a chelating agent, meaning it neutralizes metal ions that may be found in a product.

Charcoal powder comes from grounded charcoal. Charcoal can originate from peat, coal, wood, coconut shell, or petroleum.

This ingredient has absorbent properties, making it great at absorbing oil.

Laureth-7 is created by the ethoxylation of lauryl alcohol using ethylene oxide. Lauryl alcohol is a fatty alcohol with hydrating properties.

This ingredient is an emulsifier and cleansing ingredient. As an emulsifier, it is used to prevent ingredients from separating. It also helps cleanse the skin by gathering dirt, oil, and pollutants to be rinsed away.

Allantoin plays a role in soothing and moisturizing the skin. Because of this, it is often added to products with strong active ingredients.

Some studies have shown this ingredient can promote wound healing with higher concentrations.

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.

Lactobionic Acid is a PHA. PHAs are the gentle cousins to AHAS.

Like AHAs, they exfoliate the top layer of skin. Lactobionic acid also exhibits significant antioxidant activity.

1,2-Hexanediol is a synthetic liquid and another multi-functional powerhouse. 

It is a:

• Humectant, drawing moisture into the skin
• Emollient, helping to soften skin
• Solvent, dispersing and stabilizing formulas
• Preservative booster, enhancing the antimicrobial activity of other preservatives 

Parfum is a catch-all term for an ingredient or more that is used to give a scent to products.

Also called "fragrance", this ingredient can be a blend of hundreds of chemicals or plant oils. This means every product with "fragrance" or "parfum" in the ingredients list is a different mixture.

This ingredient is a preservative and inhibits the growth of fungi, certain bacteria, yeast, and mold.

It is the potassium salt of benzoic acid.

Hydroxyacetophenone is antioxidant with skin conditioning and soothing properties. It also boosts the efficiency of preservatives.

This ingredient is not irritating or sensitizing.

Limonene is a fragrance that adds scent and taste to a formulation.

It's found in the peel oil of citrus fruits and other plants such as lavender and eucalyptus. The scent of limonene is generally described as "sweet citrus".