What the ingredients in your beauty product really mean

If you’ve ever looked at the ingredients on your favorite facial cleanser or shampoo, you know how overwhelming and hard to decipher they can be. The difficult-to-read list can sometimes mean turning the other cheek to harmful chemicals, but a really sounding ingredient can often be quite harmless. Once you familiarize yourself with these ingredients, you’ll find that some are useful and effective, but some may be worth steering clear of.

Hydroquinone
When treating melasma or dark spots, this ingredient is the gold standard. Hydroquinone is a bleaching agent that is your best bet for fading brown spots. Hydroquinone also has antioxidant properties and is a component of glucoside arbutin. It is the most effective skin-lightening agent.

Glycerin
If you’re buying a moisturizer, then definitely be on the lookout for this game-changer for dry skin. Glycerin is a humectant, a water-attracting moisture magnet which draws moisture into the skin. A moisturizer with glycerin as an ingredient will be particularly helpful at easing dryness

Read also: 2016: Beauty trends that have come to stay

Phthalates
Phthalates are plasticizers — they are used to make plastics softer. They are considered to be no-no’s because they are potentially carcinogenic. We’ve seen this group of chemicals lurking in nail polishes, soaps and hairsprays. Steer clear!

Lycopene
Lycopene is naturally occurring and is the phytochemical that gives fruits and vegetables their red color. It is also a powerful antioxidant that is more potent than beta-carotene and lutein. Lycopene has gentle lightening effects and can benefit all skin types, especially those with pigmentation and sun damage.

Sulfates
These detergents are used in cleansing formulas and are very popular in products like shampoo and face wash, which generate lather (a property of sulfates). They’re actually very harsh and strip the skin of oil, which leads to loss of hydration or dry, brittle hair. Luckily, many companies are doing away with sulfates, but look out for ingredients ending in sulfate (like sodium lauryl sulfate).

Natural vs. Organic
The term ‘natural’ is a loose definition that doesn’t mean much when it comes to beauty labels. It doesn’t say anything to its natural side or how it was grown, whether pesticides were used, etc. Whereas ‘organic’ is much stricter as it speaks to where something is grown and the conditions in which it was grown.

 

curled from: thefashionspot

By Debbie Imoroa…

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now