HaleBopp says…Hi Beauty Brains. Such a fantastic resource, thank you! I have a question regarding alcohol denat in a body moisturiser for dry skin. It’s listed as the 8th ingredient in Garnier Body Hydralock (Rich Texture) in the UK. After my research on here, I have learnt that you can’t simply isolate one ingredient and say that is is bad. I have also read via your site that one of the ingredients known to be drying to the skin is that of alcohol denat. I am really confused as to why it would then be in a moisturiser for really dry skin, even if maybe it’s purpose is that of preservation. I’d be really interested to hear you thoughts on the use of this ingredient in this product.
Garnier Body Hydralock Ingredients
Water, glycerin, cyclopentasiloxane, urea (5%), mineral oil, propylene glycol, butyrospernum parkii, cetearyl alcohol, ALCOHOL DENAT, peg-100 stearate, glyceryl stearate, glycine, sodium hydroxide, sodium lactate, disodium edta, hydroxethylpiperazine ethane sulfonic acid, acer saccarinum extract, xanthan gum, acrylates/c10-30 akyl acrylate crosspolymer, methylparaben, phenoxyehanol, ethyparaben, parfum.
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The Beauty Brains bottom line
Under normal circumstances ethanol is one of the last ingredients you’d want to see in a skin moisturizing lotion. But if it’s helping another ingredient to “stimulate epidermal renewal” than it may be worth it. If any cosmetic chemist reading this post has another idea why this formula could contain ethanol, please leave a comment and share your expertise. We promise we won’t tell anyone at L’Oreal.
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Though I’m not sure either about the alcolhol ingredient, I must say that this is an excellent product. I use it every winter and it protects my skin really good..
L’oréal loves alcohol (ethanol). Even some L’oréal’s moisturizers for dry skin contain ethanol. Another big company which uses alcohol even in some moisturizers for dry skin is Shiseido (many times in the top of the list).
Wow! Thank for getting back to me and so quickly too BB
I did a bit of reading prior to your response and found some information that suggested the alcohol could act as a carrier for active ingredients too. So far, so good with this body lotion for me at least, though on a separate note I can only use it either as a hand cream or on my body at night as despite using only a small amount of it, it leaves me feeling very sticky. Something I’ve not experienced before with a body lotion before, I’m thinking it’s the urea maybe. That said it does leave my skin soft…for how long we shall see! Thanks again for your response and for shedding light on cosmetic science in both and enlightening and fun way, HaleBopp x
Just one more thing: I don’t think L’oréal uses alcohol to solubilize HEPES because this brand sells a lot of moisturizeres without alcohol with HEPES and vice versa. I think they use alcohol just to give a refreshing feel. The same applies to Shiseido.
Thanks Pedro. I did notice that they use EtOH in other formulas. Still, I think that creating a “refreshing” sensation is a strange reason to add a potentially drying ingredient to the product.
@ Pedro, indeed it leaves a sticky feeling, and I use it only in the night. But you can stop using it for about a week and it still leaves your skin smooth..
Maybe during summer/spring period this lotion is too heavy..
I was once told by a cosmetic manufacturer on this topic that alcohol (denat. or ethyl alcohol) is not drying if used in a concentration under 10%. I’ve been unable to substantiate this claim, and have always been curious if I was sold a line of if this is, in fact, true. I’d love some feedback on the issue from the brains!
@Jessica: I’ve never seen data on this but the 10% rule of thumb actually sounds pretty reasonable. If the ethanol is dilutes with enough water it’s less likely to be able to dissolve away skin lipids.
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