Know Your Skin Care Ingredients
The below ingredients are the ones used to make up the base of a cream, lotion, cleanser or any skin care product. Then the beneficial active ingredients, like vitamin C, retinol, AHAs, are added to the base to create a product the manufacturer believes will benefit your skin.
You do not need to memorize or even know specifics about the ingredient. Just its general job in the product, then you will be able to separate out the base ingredients and spot the active ingredients that are doing the real work.
Make no mistake though; a good base is very necessary to a good, beneficial anti-aging skin care product.
The below list includes the more widely used ingredients - some natural some chemical.
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To see a botanical list of skin care ingredients, click here.
Moisturizers - creams or lotions
Moisturizers are widely used products that repair the skin's moisture barrier by:
- Filling in tiny cracks in the skin
- increasing the skin's water content
- providing a soft protective film over the skin
- moisturizerslowing water loss from the skin
- reducing friction on the skin
Moisturizers do all this by including ingredients classified as either
- humectants
- emollients
- occlusives
- protein rejuvenators
- An effective moisturizer will have a combination of these ingredients.
Humectants - hydrating agents used in moisturizers to attract water into the epidermis. Humectants draw in moisture by boosting water absorption from the dermis and by helping the stratum corneum absorb water from the atmosphere.
Emollients - In moisturizers, emollients smooth and soften the skin by filling in the cracks between the clusters of skin cells with tiny drops of oil. Emollients enhance skin flexibility, softness, and smoothness. They also give moisturizers their lubricating quality.
Occlusives - are ingredients, usually lipid based, which block water loss by forming a film over the epidermis. They are best applied to damp skin. Occlusives may clog pores more than water-based emollients. A moisturizer with more occlusives could be used for dry skin that does improve with emollient-based product.
Protein rejuvenators - are protein ingredients added to moisturizers that claim to rejuvenate the skin by replenishing the skins vital proteins. There is not any real proof of this because the molecules in these ingredients are too large to penetrate the skin. However, protein ingredients may temporarily help dry skin. They also shrink slightly when dry leaving behind a protein film that may smooth fine lines for a short time.
Other Common Ingredients used in Most Skin Care Products
Preservatives - a chemical ingredient used to kill harmful bacteria, fungus, mold, and yeast in skin care products. Preservatives prevent spoilage, provide a product longer shelf life, and keep it safe for use. It usually takes a few different preservatives to accomplish this, so don't be alarmed if you see 2 to 3 preservatives in one product. Each is doing a different job.
Surfactants - allow for the dispersion of an insoluble ingredient, like oil, within water.
In skin care products, surfactants make:
- cleansers lather and bubble
- help dirt dissolve more readily to make it easier to remove
- allow topical creams and lotions to glide on smoothly
Emulsifiers - are incorporated into skin care products to allow water-soluble and oil soluble ingredients to blend evenly. Depending on the type of emulsion that is prepared, the product can feel more oily (ointments) or less oily (creams and lotions).
Liposomes - are manmade spheres that act as delivery agents for drugs, active ingredients in skin care products and nutritional supplements. The cell walls of these tiny spheres are made of mainly the natural substance - lecithin. They can lock in an ingredient within their interior, pass through the skin and deliver the sphere content to the interior of cells. Liposomes are used in skin care products to deliver beneficial ingredients to the skin.
Thickeners - ingredients added to increase or decrease the thickness and/or gooeyness of the product.
pH Adjusters - ingredient used to adjust or stabilize the products ph.
Chelating Agents - is an ingredient that binds to metal ions to prevent their adverse effects on the constancy and appearance of a product.
Sunscreen Agents - are used to protect the skin from ultra violet rays by absorbing them.
Move on to Step 4 in the BSC Skin Care & Renewal System
to build your own skin care system
