Skincare Product Ingredients Labels Decoding your Bottles Part 1

Once you're lured by the beautifully packaged skincare products,
it only takes a dab to be sold on the

product by the attractive scent or the silky texture.  Rather than buying products that don't work, or could even cause adverse effects.  Be equipped with knowledge to select those that will improve the condition of their skin.  FDA does not currently approve skincare products as it does pharmaceuticals.

Understanding skincare formulations allows you to
> Avoid products that contain known irritants or allergens
> Purchase products that contain ingredients proven beneficial to skincare applications
> Eliminate the clutter in your medicine cabinet by helping you identify useless products
> Know what to avoid for your particular skin type

Most skincare products are passive in character.  Meaning that they do nothing to physically stimulate skin functioning -- an important point, if your goal is to have your skincare product actually improve your skin.  marketing often leads one to believe that products are capable of bringing about significant improvements to the skin after just a few days of use.  In reality, improvement is only possible if the product houses an appropriate amount of "active" agents.

Active Skincare Agents
These enhance cellular repair by stimulating and improving naturally occurring skin functions.  They may reflect, scatter or block UV light as in sunscreens.  Exfoliate thus stimulating the production of collagen.  Lighten skin pigmentation, prevent cellular damage as an antioxidant formulation. 
Most commonly utilized active skincare agents include:
> Alpha hydroxy acids, including glycolic acid, lactic acid, and citric acid (all are naturally found)
> Amino acids
>Anti-inflammatories, including aloe vera and bisabolol
> Antioxidants, including L-ascorbic acid, Alpha lipoic acid, tocopherol, and copper peptide
>Beta Hydroxy acids, including salicylic acid
> Lightening agents, like hydroquinone and kojic acid
>Lipids including ceraides
> Retinoids (forms of Vitamin A), including retinol and tretinoin
> Vitamins and vitamin-like substances, including niacinamide and ubiquinone, commonly known as coenzyme Q10

Passive Skincare Agents -- 2 methods are used to ensure a product's safety --
1) Glycolic acid is blended with passive ingredients to neutralize the acid
2) a strong anti-inflammatory agent is utilized.  Supplementary ingredients also ensure the product retains it's composition.  Has a consistency that easily applied and penetrates skin.

BASE: the Main ingredient
The delivery vehicle that carries the other ingredients to the site of skin healing and rejuvenation.  The base ingredient needs to be able to penetrate skin.  Most skincare manufacturer's use a base of water, it's abundant and inexpensive, however, the skin can-NOT absorb water.  If it did, we wouldn't be able to swim!  While a small amount does get absorbed into the keratin layer, the cause of wrinkly skin after a bath, it does not reach the layers where skin healing and rejuvenation occur.  Therefore, the active ingredients in the formulation aren't able to provide their intended benefit.  The presence of water only dilutes the other ingredients.

Instead look for a therapeutic base capable of penetrating deep into the skin, to carry other active ingredients with such as aloe vera.  Aloe vera has anti-inflammatory abilities and helps eliminate symptoms of inflammation-based skin conditions, including acne, dermatitis and roacea.  Aloe is able to penetrate the skin.  When administered in appropriate concentrations of the highest quality, the benefits of aloe-based formulation are apparent nearly immediately.

Aesthetic additives
Colorings and fragrances may be utilized to mask the natural scent or color of the formulation's ingredients (which may be unappealing albeit effective).  Fragrances and colors are used to improve a product's psychological appeal.  Fragrances are one of the leading causes of allergies from skincare products.  Nearly 6% of the human population is allergic to fragrances.

Antioxidants
Our body produces fewer antioxidants as we age, their presence in anti-aging formulations is particularly beneficial.  Among the antioxidants to look for in skincare products are L-ascorbic acid, coenzyme Q10, alpha lipoic acid, and Vitamin E.

Biological additives
These are a big topic of research in the skincare industry now.  Examples of biological additives include extracts of grains, flowers, and fruits as well as collagen and elastin (remembering you don't absorb collagen or elastin, but it does improve the feel of the product).

Sunblocks
Protection from the sun's ultraviolet UV rays include zinc oxide and titanium dioxide

Emollients
These "lock in" natural moisture and protect the skin by placing a protective barrier on it's surface. "Moisturizers" they leave the surface of the skin temporarily softer and smoother.  common emollients include cetyl alcohol, glycerin, penthenol, and dimethicone.

Emulsifying agents
Help to blend the water and oil soluble components of a formulation.  The most commonly used are glycereth 20, carbomer, isopropyl palmitate, and polysorbate.

Exfoliants
Are active chemicals that dissolve away keratin, the built-up layers of dead skin and debris.  They promote normal skin growth, they are seldom found to have a positive impact in direct healing or wound repair.  Potent exfoliants include glycolic acid and salicylic acid.  Both applied professionally in skin peels only, or with appropriate balance of a neutralizing agent like aloe vera.

Humectants
Are chemical substnces that can absorb water.  As such, humectants are utilized in skincare products to aid in the prevention of moisture loss from the surface of the skin.  When selecting a moisturizer, it's essential that its formulation contain humectants to be effective.  Most commonly used include propylene glycol, lanolin, sorbitol, urea, glycerin, and hyaluronic acid.

Preservatives
Are added to formulations to prevent contamination by bacteria.  Without them, consumers would be at significant risk when using products that are applied to the skin.  Commonly used include parabens (such as methylparaben, polyparaben and butylparaben), imidazolydyl urea, and phenoxythanol.

Sunscreens
They are semi-active, in that the chemicals of the screen may interact with cells and actively prevent ultraviolate damage to the cells.  The measurement by which sunscreens prevent ultraviolet damage is reffered to as the Sun protection Factor (SPF) of 15 offers protection from 92% of damaging UV rays.  Contrary to popular belief, higher numbered SPFs only increase protection mnimally.  No screen offers complete protection.  Examples include methoxycinnamate and oxybenzone.  When selecting a sunscreen product, be sure to look for one that offers broad-spectrum protection as these will protect from both UVA and UVB rays.

Solvents
Are used to help skincare product reach its proper consistency.  They may dissolve or suspend another ingredient without changing the chemical makeup of either property.  Common in skincare products include propylene glycol, glycerin, various oils (soybean oil) and most commonly water.

Surfactants
Are used to dissolve dirt and oil present on the skin or to act as a lubricant in a skincare product.  They work by reducing the surface tension of a liquid.  Most commonly utilized include sodium laureth sulfate, sodium stearate, and sodium palmitate.

I highly recommend a book found on amazon.com "Simple Skincare, Beautiful Skin" to learn more.
Also a product line that uses a medical grade aloe vera as their base to each product from TreSkinRX.
http://my.treskinrx.com/AmazingAloe