Confused about skincare ingredients? Here are three tips for reading product labels
Reading skincare product labels can be confusing because it’s not just the name of each ingredient that you have to understand. Much more goes into deciphering product labels to determine if they could be a good fit for your skin type or not.
Here, I share three important tips to keep in mind when reading skincare product labels — or to ask your dermatologist about when discussing the best skincare products and ingredients for your skin.
The same ingredient can have multiple names
One of the most confusing parts of reading product labels is that different names can be used for the same ingredient. While each ingredient has an official name, called the International Nomenclature Cosmetic Ingredient (INCI) name, these names are not always used on product packaging.
For example, “sodium hyaluronate” is the INCI name for “hyaluronic acid,” which is the most recognizable name for this ingredient. However, this same ingredient can also be called “hyaluronan.”
Vitamin C is also called ascorbic acid, and vitamin E is often called tocopherol on product labels. To make skincare ingredient names easier to decipher, you can refer to the ingredient library found at skintypesolutions.com/ingredients. Here, you can look up ingredients, discover alternative names for them and how they work and see if they are right for your skin type.
The type of water that is in your product matters
It is a common misconception that a skincare product is low quality if water (also listed as “aqua”) is the first ingredient listed on the label. It is true that the ingredients appear in descending order on product labels, from the highest amount in the product to the lower amount.
But water is very often the first ingredient, simply because many cosmetic ingredients have to be mixed with water. This does not mean that the product is not a quality product, even if water is listed as the first ingredient.
The problem, however, is that skincare product labels do not tell you what type of water is in the product. There are many types of waters used in medication and cosmetics, though the purity and sterility of the water used in cosmetics does not have to be specified like it does for medical products.
For example, thermal spa water is a type of water that can be used in cosmetic products, but the exact makeup of the water will differ based on its source.
The pH of skincare products matters
Unfortunately, reading the ingredients listed on the label does not provide enough information about the product to be able to choose the best one for your skin. It is also important to know the pH of each product you are using and how different pHs can affect your skin.
For example, many cleansers have a slightly lower pH than the natural pH of your skin, helping to make your skin stronger and less susceptible to bacteria, while also reducing inflammation. Other cleansers and skincare products can be more basic on the pH scale, which may work for some skin types and not for others, as higher pHs can be drying to the skin.
Bottom line
Understanding how to read skincare product labels is important when choosing the best products for your skin. But labels are confusing and do not contain all of the information needed to determine if a product is a good fit for your skin.
The best way to find the best products for you is to work with a medical aesthetician or dermatologist who is educated about many different brands of skincare. And remember: just because it costs a lot of money does not mean it is a good product for you!
For more skincare news and advice, follow @SkinTypeSolutions on social media, or browse the Skin Type Solutions library.
