Water is a great solvent. It’s neutral and doesn’t provide any strong positive or negative effects. It just helps components to mix better and to transport active components.
C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate is mostly used as formulation component. It gives the product a soft and silky but non-greasy feeling. As for the skin benefits, it's an emollient – it makes the skin softer and more hydrated. It also helps to kill bacteria and increase the product’s shelf life.
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Tinosorb S
Roles: Skin conditioning, Hair conditioning
6
Isododecane
Roles: Emollient, Fragrance, Solvent
Softening
Isododecane is an emollient and a good base for colorants. Very often used in powders and shades because it spreads on the skin nicely. It also helps to soften the skin and helps to lower water loss making all the moisturizing components work better.
Avobenzone is the only chemical UV-protection component with a broad spectrum coverage. It can help to block both UVA I and UVA II rays. It's safe and it is allowed to use at a 3% concentration in the USA and a 5% concentration in the EU countries.
There is one problem: avobenzone loses efficiency when exposed to the sun. If you are outside, it loses 36% of its ability to block UV rays an hour after application. That's why it's recommended to reapply sunscreen every 2 hours.
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C12-15 Alkyl Lactate
Roles: Emollient
10
Homosalate
Roles: Skin conditioning, Fragrance
UV Protection
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Octocrylene
UV Protection
Octocrylene is an organic chemical sunscreen. It protects against UVA and UVB rays that can damage your skin or even lead to melanoma. It also stabilizes other sunscreen ingredients in a formulation and increases the water resistance of a product. It is approved by the FDA in concentrations of up to 10%. It’s not a very effective component on its own, that’s why manufacturers combine it with other chemical sunscreens.
Tocopherol is one of the most popular active ingredients in cosmetics. It’s a brilliant component. It's a form of Vitamin E and it does help the skin and hair a lot. It conditions the skin, strengthens its barrier, protects it against harm, and makes the tone even. It also helps your skin and hair to resist the sun. It’s safe but can irritate sensitive skin sometimes. Pay attention to concentration!
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Butane
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Sodium Hydroxide
Roles: Buffering
Sodium Hydroxide is used mostly for formulation purposes. It helps to hold the pH level of a product. It also works as a chemical exfoliator that removes dead cells. Usually concentration of this component is low in skin care products and it’s used mostly for adjusting pH.
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1,2-Hexanediol
Roles: Solvent
Moisturizing
Good for dry skin
1,2-Hexanediol can do a lot of good things for the formulation of the product. It’s an emollient, preservative, and humectant. It keeps skin hydrated and soft. It’s a good component for dry and dehydrated skin.
Caprylyl Glycol is a vey popular skincare ingredient. It makes the product spread better and feel better on your skin. It’s a preservative and it improves the effect of other preservatives. It’s also a humectant which helps to retain water. It’s good for keeping your skin in good shape. But manufacturers use it as a supporting component rather than the main one.
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Disodium EDTA
Roles: Chelating, Viscosity controlling
Disodium EDTA is an emulsion stabilizer and chelating agent. It deactivates the metal ions preventing them from reacting with other active ingredients. It improves the stability of a cosmetic formula and keeps the product’s consistency, texture, and pH unchanged. It doesn’t have any skincare effects and is used for formulation purposes only.
Fragrance is a mix of chemical ingredients (usually 20-30 chemicals but up to 200 sometimes) that help the product to smell better. It can hide many bad things. Synthetic fragrances may contain many different chemicals, but manufacturers don’t want to reveal each of them for some reason and hide them behind the word "Fragrance".
