#Makeup

Cosmetics Chemistry: Beauty Ingredients and Their Purposes

by Gwendolen Fairfax

Cosmetics Chemistry: Beauty Ingredients and Their Purposes

Sometimes reading the ingredients lists of my favorite beauty products makes me wish I'd paid closer attention in chemistry class. Diazolidinyl urea? Tocopherol? Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate? Luckily, the very start ingredient in well-nigh makeup or skincare products is usually water, and so at least I empathize something.

Although trying to figure out what goes into your favorite eye shadow or shampoo tin can experience like trying to translate a language you lot've never heard before, each ingredient on the list—from aqua to zinc—really does have a purpose and function.

  • Agar, also known as algae, carageenan, laminaria, ulva lactuca, and ascophyllum, contains protein and several vitamins. Information technology's usually added to moisturizers as an emollient or antioxidant.
  • Alcohol SD-forty is a loftier-class cosmetic booze that acts as an emollient and a vehicle for the other ingredients. Alcohols (including ethyl alcohol, methyl booze, and benzyl alcohol) too help keep the product bacteria-gratuitous, but some alcohols can cause dryness and irritation for those with sensitive skin.
  • Allantoin is used in skin creams and lotions and is a by-product of uric acid; it is an constructive calming agent that besides reduces pare irritation.
  • Aluminum chlorohydrate is one of the most common ingredients in antiperspirant. Technically it's a salt, and when it reacts with the enzymes in sweat, it forms a temporary "plug" that sits in the pore and prevents more than sweat from existence released. (The plug is easily washed or sloughed away by bathing.) Aluminum chlorohydrate also acts every bit an astringent, causing the pores in the underarm to constrict then they tin't release more than sweat.
  • Cellulose tin refer to whatsoever establish-derived matter. In creams and lotions, information technology is used as a thickener and allows oil ingredients to blend with h2o without separating.
  • Diethanolomine, like its cousin triethanolomine, sometimes goes by its initials DEA (or TEA, in the case of triethanolomine). It's a solvent that's added to cleansers to make them lather and foam.
  • Dimethicone is a grade of silicone. Used often in hair products, it makes the product slippery and spreadable. In general, any ingredients with the suffix "cone" are forms of silicone that perform similar functions.
  • Glycerin is found naturally in peel and is added to skin creams to increment hydration.
  • Glycol stearate is a thickener added to products similar shampoos to give them a pearly or opalescent expect. Information technology doesn't change how the product works, but it makes it look appealing.
  • Lanolin is a poly peptide derived from sheep's sweat glands. Information technology'south a high-quality moisturizer that's especially effective for people with dry out or sensitive skin. Chemically, it'south very like to oil produced by human being sebaceous glands.
  • Lecithin, a lipid found naturally in plant and animal cells, is used in moisturizers and peel creams equally an emollient and moisturizing amanuensis. It helps protect the outer layers of the epidermis against dryness and irritation, keeping the layers soft and assuasive them to repair and regenerate.
  • Mica is a reflective mineral that'due south used in makeup products and sometimes toothpaste. It is responsible for shimmer and pearlescence.
  • Panthenol, sometimes called pantothenic acrid, is a grade of vitamin B5. In hair products, information technology seals the hair shaft, making strands soft and shiny. It'south sometimes used in skin ointments that treat burns or irritation because information technology tin reduce inflammation and speed healing.
  • Parabens (including butylparaben, methylparaben, etc.) are preservatives. Used widely in up to 70 pct of makeup, peel products, and other cosmetics, they forestall spoilage and inhibit leaner and fungi.
  • Potassium sorbate inhibits the growth of mold and yeast, and is often used as a preservative.
  • Propylene glycol, like other glycols, is a humectant agent used in pare creams that besides helps other ingredients be absorbed more readily. It is not dangerous, as many chain emails or alarmist websites would accept you believe. In cosmetics, it is used in very small amounts, and the Department of Health and Man Services has determined that it poses no threat.
  • Sodium hydroxide is the chemic term for lye. This alkaline substance is used to modify a production's pH balance (i.e., to make it less acidic). Products with large amounts of sodium hydroxide tin severely irritate peel.
  • Sodium lauryl sulfate is a surface-active substance used most often in shampoo, only information technology is also used in skin cleansers. Information technology loosens dirt and oils, making information technology easier to launder them away. Sodium lauryl sulfate is highly irritating to skin (its cousin sodium laureth sulfate is milder), simply contrary to popular belief, it does not cause cancer.
  • Stearyl booze is used in emulsions to keep all the ingredients mixed together and suspended properly. It is besides an emollient.
  • Talc is one of the primary ingredients in powdered cosmetics similar eye shadow and blush. It is an absorbent natural compound that comprises silicon and magnesium.
  • Titanium dioxide is used to thicken and lighten cosmetics like foundation, blush, and eye shadow. It's also a sunscreen, protecting against both UVA and UVB rays without causing irritation to peel.
  • Tocopherol, forth with its chemical cousins tocopherol acetate, tocopheryl linoleate, and tocopheryl nicotinate, is a form of vitamin E. It is added to lipsticks and other emollient cosmetics similar concealer or cream chroma as an inexpensive but powerful antioxidant.
  • Xanthan gum is a thickening agent that gives products their proper texture.

This is far from an exhaustive list; in that location are literally thousands of ingredients that can be included in modern cosmetics. Nearly products contain active ingredients, establish extracts, preservatives, thickeners, emollients, emulsifiers, and also a few fragrance additives and coloring agents. Ane style to tell the proportion of these ingredients to ane some other is to see where they fall on the production'due south label; the active ingredients and those that exist in big amounts are listed start, and fragrances, dyes, and ingredients that exist but in tiny amounts are listed at the end. Reading cosmetics labels can still feel similar deciphering a foreign language, but being able to translate even a few central words and phrases makes everything make a lot more sense.

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