Name: Olive Soap
Brand: DHC

What's inside

Ingredients Explained

Water

Skin Conditioning, Solvent

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.

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

Sodium Laurate

Cleansing, Emulsifying, Surfactant

Sodium Laurate is the sodium salt of lauric acid. It is a cleansing and emulsifying ingredient.

Emulsifiers help prevent ingredients such as water and oils from separating.

Sucrose

Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Soothing

Sucrose is a natural sugar found in fruits, vegetables, and nuts. It is the main constituent of white sugar.

In skincare, sucrose is a humectant and can be a mild exfoliant.

Sucrose is hydrophilic, meaning it attracts water. This makes it an effective humectant and helps hydrate the skin.

Studies show sugars may worsen acne-prone skin due to it disrupting the skin's natural biome. We recommend speaking with a professional if you have any concerns.

In some products such as body scrubs, sucrose is used as an gentle exfoliant.

The term 'sucrose' comes from the french word for sugar, 'sucre'.

Learn more about Sucrose

Olea Europaea Fruit Extract

Bleaching, Skin Conditioning

Olea Europaea Fruit Extract is extract from the olive fruit. Olive fruit contains hydrating ingredients such as squalene and fatty acids.

Glycerin

Humectant, Skin Conditioning, Skin Protecting

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 Glycerin

Sodium Palmitate

Cleansing, Emulsifying, Surfactant

We don't have a description for Sodium Palmitate yet.

Sodium Oleate

Cleansing, Emulsifying, Surfactant

We don't have a description for Sodium Oleate yet.

Sodium Myristate

Cleansing, Emulsifying, Surfactant

Sodium Myristate is the sodium salt of myristic acid.

As an emulsifier, it helps prevent ingredients such as oils and water from separating.

Sodium Stearate

Cleansing, Emulsifying, Surfactant

Sodium Stearate is soap and usually the main thing holding a bar of soap together. In cosmetics, it does three jobs: it cleanses, thickens, and turns liquids into solid sticks.

Use levels vary hugely by product type; supplier guidance puts the typical range at 0.5-20%, with bar soaps at 5-20%, deodorant sticks at 4-8%, and under 1% when it's acting as a co-emulfisifier. Industry data has reported levels as high as 84% in some leave-on fragrance products.

Safety-wise, it's about as well-established as an ingredient gets. The FDA and European food-safety regulators treat this ingredient as safe in food.

Allergy risk is genuinely low too; stearates aren't on standard patch test series and published sensitization reports are scarce. The more realistic concern is irritation since high-percentage soaps can leave the skin tight and dry.

Learn more about Sodium Stearate

Butylene Glycol

Humectant, Masking, Skin Conditioning

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.

Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.

Learn more about Butylene Glycol

Tetrasodium Etidronate

Chelating, Emulsion Stabilising

We don't have a description for Tetrasodium Etidronate yet.

Olea Europaea Leaf Extract

Perfuming, Skin Conditioning

Olive tree leaves contain more antioxidants than olive fruit.

This is due to its rich flavonoid and polyphenol content. However, the antioxidant content varies depending on plant variety, harvesting method, leaf maturity, and extraction method.

This ingredient also has a natural fragrance. Read more about fragrance in cosmetics here.

Learn more about Olea Europaea Leaf Extract

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