Name: Bond Repair Treatment
Brand: Epres
Rating: 4.00 (2 reviews)

What's inside

Ingredients Explained

Diethylhexyl Maleate

Emollient, Skin Conditioning

We don't have a description for Diethylhexyl Maleate yet.

Oleyl Alcohol

Emollient, Masking, Perfuming

Oleyl Alcohol is a fatty alcohol. Despite the name, it has nothing to do with the drying kind of alcohol like in hand sanitizers.

Fatty alcohols are a soft, oily liquid and this one is made from oleic acid (the same fat that makes up most of olive oil).

Its job in a formula is boring, but useful:

Typical concentrations range from 0.1-50% and it's usually low single digits in leave-on skincare.

One thing that sets it apart from other fatty alcohols is that it's used deliberately as a penetration enhancer in topical drug delivery. This is because it "loosens" the packing of your skin's surface lipids a bit so other ingredients can get through more easily.

A study on human skin found both Oleic Acid and Oleyl Alcohol at 0.75% increased how much topical anti-inflammatory drug got through with the effect leveling off after about 12 hours.

Allergic reactions are uncommon but documented; there's a published case of a patient with atopic dermatitis who developed severe allergic contact dermatitis from a prescription cream. A patch testing traced it specifically to the Oleyl Alcohol in the formula rather than the active drug.

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel concluded Oleyl Alcohol is safe as used in cosmetics. Acute toxicity testing showed very low toxicity, animal tests showed minimal to mild skin irritation, human patch testing found low irritation and sensitization potential, and no phototoxicity or photosensitization has been reported.

It's reasonable to patch test if you have eczema, a known fatty alcohol allergy, or you've reacted to Stearyl or Cetyl Alcohol before.

Oleyl Alcohol scored a 4 out of 5 for comedogenicity in the 1989 rabbit ear study. Just know the rabbit ear test has real limits:

It's worth watching if you're acne-prone and how you will react to it really comes down to concentration, formula, and your skin.

The culprit behind fungal acne, the Malassezia yeast, feeds on fatty acids with carbon chain lengths between C11-C24. Oleic Acid, at C18, falls right into that sweet spot.

In vitro studies have shown that Oleic Acid is one of the fatty acids that induce rapid Malassezia growth in lab settings. Since this ingredient is created from Oleic Acid, it may not be fungal acne safe.

Learn more about Oleyl Alcohol

Alcohol Denat.

Antimicrobial, Astringent, Masking

Alcohol Denat. is an alcohol with a denaturant property. It is created by mixing ethanol with other additives.

The "denat" part just means "denatured"; common denaturants include Denatonium Benzoate, t-butyl alcohol, and Diethyl Phthalate. This step makes the alcohol undrinkable (and lets brand skip taxes related to beverage alcohol).

This ingredient gets a bad rep because it is irritating and drying due to its astringent property. Astringents draw out natural oils in tissue to constrict pores and dry out your skin.

However, alcohol denat. is not all that bad.

Due to its low molecular weight, alcohol denat. tends to evaporate quickly. One study on pig skin found half of applied alcohol evaporated in 10 seconds and less than 3% stayed on skin.

This also helps other ingredients become better absorbed upon application.

Studies are conflicted about whether this ingredient causes skin dehydration. One study from 2005 found adding emollients to propanol-based sanitizer decreased skin dryness and irritation. Another study found irritation only occurs if your skin is already damaged.

Small amounts of alcohol are generally tolerated by oily skin or people who live in humid environments.

The rule of thumb is this ingredient will probably not affect your skin much if it is near the end of an ingredients list.

One thing to note:
People with ALDH2 (aldehyde dehydrogenase 2) deficiency may experience skin irritation from continued alcohol use. About 8% of the world's population have this deficiency.

The Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel has determined denatured alcohols to be safe for use in concentrations between 0.05% and 12% (depending on which denaturant is used).

Also...

This ingredient has antimicrobial and solvent properties.

The antimicrobial property helps preserve products and increase their shelf life. As a solvent, it helps dissolve other ingredients.

Look for formulas that contain glycerin, hyaluronic acid, or panthenol if you want to offset any drying effect.

This ingredient will trip away your skin's natural oils/lipids that help it lock in moisture. This can worsen dryness, trigger eczema flare-ups, and aggravate rosacea.

Be sure to patch test any product with this ingredient if you have dry or sensitive skin, eczema, or rosacea.

Learn more about Alcohol Denat.

Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine

Emulsifying, Surfactant

We don't have a description for Stearamidopropyl Dimethylamine yet.

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