On my last trip to Germany, I bought a Salicylic Acid toner which I’ll tell you all about. A little info about my skin type – I have oily acne prone skin which responds positively to Salicylic acid and so for the past 10 years, Salicylic acid has remained my no 1 acne fighting skincare ingredient. However, over the years I have used salicylic acid only in my cleansers and that has been enough for me.

I had been thinking of getting another salicylic acid product and when I saw the Salicylic acid toner, I decided to buy it. All I bothered to read and confirm was that the toner contained salicylic acid and zinc. I never even looked at the ingredient list before purchasing it. If I had read the list, I never would have purchased it. 

The essence of reading skincare ingredient lists

 Reading skincare ingredient lists is important because

• A close look at the ingredient list will ensure you do not buy a product with ingredients you are sensitive or allergic to.
•  You’ll avoid ingredients that do not suit your tastes, needs, and values – I personally avoid products that contain alcohol denat among the top 5 ingredients on the list.
• To confirm effectiveness. Sometimes, skincare brands will market a product with an ingredient that is the rave of the moment, but upon deeper inspection, you’d  realise that the product contains so little of that ingredient to make a difference.

So, if you’re in the habit of purchasing skincare products without reading the ingredient list, the lesson of the day is to stop it!  This guide details how to read skincare ingredient lists. 

Where to find the ingredient list

First things first, you need to know where to find the ingredient list. Ingredients are typically listed in different places such as

• Behind the product container
• On the outer boxing the product came in
• In the leaflet that comes with the product (if it comes with one)
• Underneath the product label or barcode 
• Beneath peel-back stickers

How ingredients are named

The next important thing to note is that skincare ingredients are generally listed by their INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) names.

The INCI was created to ensure fairness and consistency across all parts of the world and every brand and product within them. All skincare brands are mandated to adhere to a standard way of showing the contents of their products via a comprehensive list. 

Sometimes the INCI names are followed by the common names in brackets.

This full ingredient list of the CeraVe Daily Moisturizing Lotion is an example of what a correct ingredient list looks like:

Aqua / Water / Eau, Glycerin, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetearyl Alcohol, Cetyl Alcohol, Potassium Phosphate, Ceramide NP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP, Carbomer, Dimethicone, Ceteareth-20, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Methylparaben, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Cholesterol, Disodium EDTA, Dipotassium Phosphate, Propylparaben, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid, Phytosphingosine, Xanthan Gum, Polysorbate 20, Polyglyceryl-3 Diisostearate

This ingredient list of The INKEY List’s 10% Niacinamide Serum is also another example of what a correct ingredient list should look like:

Aqua (water), Niacinamide, Glycerin, Propanediol, Butylene glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyethyl acrylate/sodium acryloyldimethyl taurate copolymer, Hydroxyethylcellulose, Phospholipids, Squalane, Xanthan gum, Glycine soja (soybean) oil, Allantoin, Sodium phytate, Polysorbate 60, Panthenol, Glycolipids, Leuconostoc/radish root ferment filtrate, Sorbitan isostearate, Glycine soja (soybean) sterols, Citric acid, Hyaluronic acid, Disodium phosphate, Sodium phosphate.

So, it’s usually a bad sign when a product’s ingredients are listed by general, trade or common names instead of INCI names.

Understanding ingredient concentration 

An important rule to note is that ingredients are to be listed in descending order of concentration. 

According to the INCI, all skincare brands are mandated to list all the ingredients of a product in descending order of concentration until 1%. After the 1% mark, ingredients can be listed in whatever order the skincare brand prefers.

If ingredients are not listed in descending order up to the 1%, then something’s off. 

How then do you know what products fall at or below the 1% line?

The rule of 5 The rule of 5— is a rule that suggests that the first 5 ingredients of a product make up the bulk of the product and determine its true performance. From the 6th ingredient onwards, the concentration drops. 

Note, however, that there are a lot of ingredients that work effectively at lower concentrations and are more likely to cause sensitivity and irritation at higher percentages, e.g retinol – the maximum percentage generally recommended for retinol is 1%. So, on an ingredient list, it would oftentimes be found nowhere close to the top 5 but would still be very effective. 

The rule of 5 is simply a way to understand the amount of actives in your formula.

Preservatives and fragrances

Be on the lookout for preservatives and fragrances. Preservatives are used in 1% or less, so anything that comes after them will be present in trace amounts. The same goes for fragrances.

Disclosed percentage

Another clever trick is looking for an ingredient whose percentage has been disclosed on the product and using it as a marker. For example, this is the full ingredient list of the Retinol 1% in Squalane Serum by The Ordinary:

Squalane, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Retinol, Solanum Lycopersicum (Tomato) Fruit Extract, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Hydroxymethoxyphenyl Decanone, BHT.

Since it has been disclosed that Retinol is at 1%, anything before it is at more than 1% and anything afterwards is at less than 1%. 

It’s worth a mention that, while it’s mandatory that the percentage of active skincare ingredients which are also classified as OTC drugs like benzoyl peroxide and sunscreen be specifically listed on the packaging in the US, it is not mandatory in the EU and some other countries.

Common skincare ingredients you need to know

To read skincare ingredient lists competently, there are common ingredients you need to know.

While there are over one hundred skincare ingredients, there are a few ingredients to acquaint yourself with. Expect to see “aqua” as one of the first ingredients on many ingredient lists. 

Ingredients you should embrace are hyaluronic acid, glycerin, ceramides, peptides, and dimethicone. If you’ve got oily or acne-prone skin, salicylic and glycolic acids, adapalene, and benzoyl peroxide are some of the ingredients you should always look out for.

Ingredients that may cause irritation include talc, sulphates (a type of surfactant responsible for the lather in shampoos and some cleansers), essential oils, artificial fragrances and dyes, parabens (a type of preservative), and finally alcohol.

As for alcohol in skincare, certain alcohols are good while others are bad. Examples of alcohols that are good for the skin are cetearyl alcohol, cetyl alcohol, behenyl alcohol and all the other “yl” alcohols. The types of alcohols you should avoid in your skincare products are ethanol, methanol, SD alcohol and alcohol denat.

This guide to reading skincare ingredient lists will ensure that you know the contents of each product as well as what’s conducive for your skin. Follow the tips and your skin will thank you in the long run.