Aqua (water / water), cetrimonium chloride, polyquaternium-11, amodimethicone, polyquaternium-37, panthenol, guar hydroxypropyltrimonium chloride, hydroxyethylcellulose, dimethicone copolyol, propylene glycol, dmdm hydantoin, parfum (fragrance), limonene, methylpatrysoride, limonene, methylpatrysoride 10, citric acid, propylene glycol dicaprylate / dicaprate, ppg-1, trideceth-6, benzophenpne-4, hydrolyzed wheat protein, hydrolyzed wheat starch, simondsia chinesis oil (jojoba seed), CI 19140 (yellow 5), CI 42090 (Blue 1) CI 16035 (Red 40).
Take a look at this ingredient list. How much do you understand? Most people will fall off the wagon after “water”. This is an actual ingredient list of the conditioner I used a few years ago. It was at the time that I was getting interested in knowing what was really in the products that I used on a daily basis, and after having looked at the ingredient list, I threw the bottle away.
This list contains many strange sounding names that would be almost impossible to memorize. Fortunately, there are a few ways that help to understand the ingredient statement or INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients) a little better.
- Less is more. The first thing to do is look at the amount of ingredients and the difficulty of the words. Simply put, the harder the ingredients to pronounce, the more likely they are to be bad. Of course, this is not always the case: Butyrospermum Parkii It may not sound like the first thing you would rub on your skin, but it is actually shea butter, which of course is totally natural and great for your skin and hair. Still, the difficulty of the words could give you a clue as to what kind of product you have on your hands and to what extent it is chemically produced.
- Focus on the first ones. To prevent others from making exact copies of their products, cosmetic companies do not have to write down the amount of each ingredient a product contains. Still they have to sort the INCI in order of quantity. So the first ingredients are the ones that you should take into account the most, since the product is mainly composed of them. Typically the first 4-8 ingredients are the largest, while the rest are included in very small amounts.
- -cons and -ols. Although an ingredient as such may not tell you anything, sometimes part of the word can give you a clue as to what it is. For example, something that ends with -cone, is a silicone, which is used mainly in hair products and is generally considered something to avoid. If it ends with -ol, it is an alcohol, if something is hydrolyzed, it is a protein, and so on.
- American vs. European style. When a product includes natural extracts, in the United States they also have to write the common name in English, as you can see above. [simonensia chinese (jojoba seed) oil]. This makes it a bit easier, and one will understand that Butyrospermum Parkii (shea butter) is not necessarily bad. In Europe, however, this is not necessary.
- FGI. When you have a list of ingredients (most can be found on Google), you can search them to see what is said about them. Some sources I use are: “The Truth About Cosmetics” by Rita Stiens, The Good Guide, and the Skin deep database.
- Gaps for cosmetic companies. There are some things that make INCI lists difficult to read. For one thing, ingredients included with less than 1% can be added in any order you prefer. This means that if a product contains 0.0001% of a natural ingredient, say olive oil, and 0.99% of a bad ingredient, say parabens, the olive oil can be noticed before and the parabens after, giving the impression that the product includes more olive oil than parabens. Also, cosmetic companies can still keep some ingredients secret. Instead, they will be replaced by a seven-number code, or simply “and other ingredients.” This makes it more difficult, or absolutely impossible, to know what the product actually consists of.