Surely you have looked at the list of ingredients of a skincare product and had a "Huh?" reaction. Stay calm, you're not alone! Many people get a little confused when they go through the ingredients list or completely put off when they see words like polyquaternium-10 and stop reading at all. However, with a little know-how you will see that the whole process is much easier than it seems.
Think of your skincare product as a food product
If you've ever looked at the back of a food product for nutritional information, then you already know the basics of a beauty product. Skincare products are labeled similar to food in that the ingredients are listed in order of predominance, from the highest amount to the lowest. However, there are also two exceptions.
When a product contains more than one ingredient in an amount less than or equal to 1% of the formula, they may appear in any order. So when you read the ingredient list and you see, for example, green tea extract (Camellia Sinensis) halfway down the list, it doesn't necessarily mean that there is a larger amount than the next ingredient in the mix. Generally, the first half of the list gives you a clear picture of the main ingredients found at 90%-95%, and the second half will contain ingredients at 2% or less.
Second exception: Pharmaceutical products (example: over-the-counter acne cream) are different. The ingredients on these products are simply listed in alphabetical order, so it's hard to tell which ingredients are present in large amounts.
How to recognize certain ingredients
Even though those 30-letter names seem intimidating, there are a few secrets that will make your life easier. The beginning syllable of some ingredients may change depending on the formula, but the end of the word usually remains unchanged. Silicones, for example, can come in many forms but most end in -icon or -conol .
Botanical ingredients will be listed by their scientific name (ex: Aloe Barbadensis, Cucumis Sativus, Camellia Sinensis, etc.). There are two ways to recognize them: 1. You had a grade 10 in Biology or 2. They usually also contain (extract / extract de, oil / ulei de, butter / unt de).
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When water is part of the ingredient list
Some people do not have a good opinion of a product if they see water at the beginning of the ingredient list. In fact, for many liquids and gels, water is essential. For example, even if the first ingredient on the list is a natural extract (ex: Aloe), water is still a necessary ingredient, and that's not a bad thing.
BENTON - ALOE PROPOLIS SHOOTING GEL
Conclusion
The key to knowing how to read an ingredient list is knowing what you want from a particular product and making sure that the famous ingredients work well together to accomplish the goal.
