Knowledge is Power - and Reading Skincare Ingredient Labels is No Different!

At Skin Actives Scientific, that maxim is one of our fundamental, founding concepts. For over 13 years we’ve been empowering our Skin Actives Family to become their own skin health experts.

Learning is one thing, but applying knowledge is different. When you are out in the world, looking at boxes or reading the sides of jars, how are you supposed to make sense of what you are reading? That's no exception to skincare ingredient labels. Toxins or allergens may be stated right in front of you. Even a dedicated reader of our blog could be put off by the menagerie of scientific sounding words that you’ll find in very common products almost anywhere.

And there is the problem. There is a difference between “reading” and “understanding.” You can read an ingredient list until you’re blue in the face, but if you can’t understand it then you are at the mercy of the people who are selling you the product. 

How to Understand Skincare Product Labels

So will you know everything after you read an ingredient list?

No, not really. This is because in order to protect their formulations from competitors, manufacturers are not required to list the concentrations of each ingredient. This is understandable, you wouldn’t want to give away your best recipes, especially if you relied on them for your income. But it’s also a hindrance because you’ll never really have a clear idea of what, or how much is in your product.

If you took a health class in high school, you probably know that when you look at a label, the ingredients are listed from the highest proportion of the mixture to the lowest. This knowledge is still helpful to us here, because we can at least see what is more and what is less, just by looking at the label.

Simple Way to Break Down Skincare Ingredients

At Skin Actives, when we put an active in a formulation it’s at a concentration proven by science to work for your skin, and in a form we know your skin can accept and use.

Here is a process on how you can do some investigation of your own and decide if a product is right for you based on what’s inside of it. This process could take some time, it’s best for those who are extremely dedicated to their skin care and have time and hobby energy to put into it.

1) First, write down why you want that product. What is it about this product in particular that is drawing you to it? Does it address a particular challenge, such as anti-aging or acne control?  Or does the product advertise a special ingredient, such as hyaluronic acid? It might do both of those or neither, but it’s good to keep in mind what your end goal is, so you know if you will be able meet it or not.

2) Research the product. Most skin care companies will have an online store, and the most transparent will list the ingredients for each product. If you have a jar or bottle at home already, you’ll have the physical copy available for reference.

3) Copy the ingredient list. This could mean simply copy/pasting the list of ingredients from a website into an open word document. Or you might want to sketch out some freehand notes if you have the jar right in front of you.

4) In the list, sort out the “base” from the actives, the base you can put aside, it’s really just a medium for the actives, a vector to deliver the active ingredients your body needs. Be on the lookout for ingredients like water, which is a solvent, jojoba seed oil and other oils which are used as an emollient, ….. These types of ingredients are what we call “base” ingredients.  At Skin Actives, we formulate all of our creams off of one of our great Bases! These are available to you in convenient sizes to customize with DIY actives.

5) Now check: do the actives fit the reasons why you want the product?Skin Actives glossary of ingredients, can tell you what an active can do for you, and what it can’t. We have just gone through our glossary to make it brand new and downloadable just for you!

Now you can easily access it from your phone or tablet device and do all sorts of investigations into the products you love to really make the most of your skin care journey.