With the rise of the skin care ingredient party, many brands of products on the market have catered to the trend, making their ingredient lists more and more beautiful, and thus launching a hype, but this also brings many people questions: many products have similar ingredient lists, and the actual effect must be similar?
Ingredient parties are aware of the ingredient names seen in the ingredient list, called inci (international nomenclature cosmetic ingredient). Although the name inci is consistent with the chemical name of the ingredient in most cases, there are a few cases, although it is the same name, but it is a different thing, so in a sense the accuracy of the inci name is not high. This situation is more common in plant extracts, usually, called xxx extract, due to different raw material suppliers, different extraction processes, the resulting products are also different. For example, our common ginseng extract, ginseng extract from large raw material manufacturers can be rich in more than 40% ginsenosides, which has a good antioxidant effect. However, the ginseng extract in the formula table of some low-end products is likely to be just ginseng boiled water, and the ginsenoside content that really plays a role in it may be less than 1%, and it is self-evident whether it can play an antioxidant effect.
Not only will plant extracts have such problems, but many seemingly "chemical" raw materials will also have problems with different ingredients with the same name. For example, there are many different things under the inci name of "dimethicone". Because it is actually a polymer, the molecular weight is different, and its physical and chemical state and properties are also different. When the molecular weight is small, it is liquid and silicone oil; when the molecular weight is large, it is a gelatinous substance, which is used as a film agent.
According to the relevant national regulations, if the content of ingredients in the formula is higher than 1%, then it is necessary to sort according to the amount of ingredients added. For ingredients below 1%, there is no above requirement. That is, brands can rank the so-called active ingredients with a content of less than 1% in a relatively high position. In fact, the amount of functional ingredients added to most skin care products is very low, because the functional ingredients can only work with a little. For example, if the amount of an xxx active substance is added at 0.05%, the ingredient at this concentration can play a good role. But in another product, the amount added may be less than 0.01%, which does not work at all, just a conceptual addition, but the order of ingredients we see in the recipe table can actually be the same. Therefore, looking at the formula list, it is impossible to see whether this functional ingredient is conceptually added.
Having said the amount of addition, let's talk about purity. The purity of this matter is easy to understand, and the purity of raw materials provided by various raw material manufacturers is different due to technical reasons. The higher the purity, the less impurities there are, and the lower the purity, the more impurities. This is why many people do not see allergic ingredients in the ingredient list, but allergies occur during use. The price of raw materials with higher purity provided by general high-quality raw material suppliers is much more expensive than that of general raw material suppliers, so many "flat" brands may use lower purity raw materials in order to compress costs, and the corresponding impurity content is higher, resulting in the effect is not necessarily how big, but there is a possibility of increasing the allergy rate.
The absorption of active substances in skin care products by the skin is a very complex process, and the transdermal rate of the same ingredient in different formulations is not the same, so the quality of the formula determines whether this ingredient can be absorbed by the skin and how much it can be absorbed. For example, the common vc, due to the characteristics of easy decomposition, need to pay attention to a variety of factors in the production formula to effectively ensure the efficacy of vc. Similarly, the hot whitening ingredient 377 needs to be combined with oil to maximize its efficacy due to the solubility of its own ingredients. Therefore, the formulation of functional ingredients is not just a simple accumulation of ingredients, but also requires precise trial and error and scientific composition ratio to make. This requires scientific research and technology. Some workshop-style brands that do not have their own scientific research strength rely on cottage formulas to make products, in which the active substances or functional ingredients have been inactivated or lost their role even before consumers get their hands on them.
In this way, for many non-professionals, it is not as easy as imagined to understand the formula list, and there may be a lot of homework to be done to show the efficacy of cosmetics by looking at the formula. After all, skin care is also a serious study. If you want to know more about skin care or have any confusion in skin care, you can leave a message for Xiaoba to interact, pay attention to Xiaoba, and meet the beautiful transformation!