Kaja inquires…You often mention “active ingredients” – what are they and which are the “non-active” ingredients?
The Left Brain replies:
I love this question even though there is no simple, straightforward answer. While other cosmetic chemists may have their own definitions, I like to think that you can break all beauty product ingredients down into five basic categories:
5 Types of Cosmetic Ingredients
Active ingredients: They deliver the promise of the product.
Of course the type of activity varies widely. I guess the “truest” active ingredients are those specified as drugs by the appropriate governing body. So UV absorbers in sunscreens, benzoyl peroxide in anti-acne creams, and fluoride in toothpaste are all REALLY active.
But even the surfactants used in a shampoo or body wash are active by my definition – they are responsible for getting your hair or skin clean which is the basic promise of the product. The same thing goes for the silicones in a hair conditioner, the colorants in a mascara, or the polymers in a hairspray. If the ingredient is essential to making the product work, then it is “active.”
Base ingredients: They form the delivery vehicle for the active ingredients.
Active ingredients are rarely used by themselves in a 100% concentrated form. There’s usually an optimal use level for ingredients to ensure they do their job. Therefore the actives have to be “diluted” with something. That something may be as simple as water or as complex as a cream or lotion base or an aerosol spray. It may take dozens of ingredients to form the “base” of the product. Solvents, like water and alcohol, and emulsifiers, to help oils and water mix together, are among the most common types of base ingredients.
Control ingredients: they ensure the product stays within acceptable parameters.
Gums and polymers are used to stabilize emulsions, acids and bases are used to balance pH, polyols are used to maintain texture after freezing, and preservatives are used to protect against microbial contamination. These are just a few examples of control agents that help maintain the quality of the product.
Aesthetic agents: they improve the product’s sensory characteristics.
The look and smell are important parts of almost every cosmetic product which is why you’ll see colorants and fragrance used so frequently. You might even see “glitter” particles added.
Featured ingredients: they are added to increase consumer appeal.
These ingredients are also called pixie dust, fairy dust, marketing ingredients and a few other names. These are truly “inactive” because they’re added ONLY because they look good as part of the label. The serve no function other than to attract consumer’s attention. These ingredients include botanicals, vitamins and minerals, (some) proteins and just about anything else “natural.” You can easily spot these ingredients because they are often incorporated into the product name (Sun-kissed Raspberry Shampoo) or placed on the front label (lotion with jojoba oil).
Image credit: http://www.texample.net/
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
They really call those ingredients “Fairy Dust”, wow.
I had the sense that these were superfluous but marketing should get credit for coming up with such a biting term.
Are botanicals truly ineffective as cosmetic ingredients with no beneficial properties? I had no idea!
Come on!…. the Beauty Brains bias is clearly stated in this post. I mean jojoba in a skin lotion would be inactive “pixie dust”? Anyone who has rubbed pure jojoba alone on their skin knows its moisturizing! Its going to cost a company more to purchase herbs, botanicals, fruit extracts, essential oils, which is why they don’t use much and fill the rest of the product with water and synthetics.
Isn’t it that this “active” ingredients will really be there for any cosmetic product even if the package doesn’t say this? The ingredients in the product you bought is not what you’re after, it’s how it suits your needs.
I’m talking about a shampoo that uses it at 0.01% THAT’S pixie dust!
I agree that at the right use level in the right concentration certain naturals are very effective.
Brains….question for you. Do you feel a product with 50% active ingredients (using your definition of active to mean ingredient is essential to making the product deliver on its basic promise) is more effective than a product that uses only 25% active ingredients?
Really I’d be interested to know what is the average “percentage active” for most skincare/bodycare products?
Also a product that features .01 of a natural ingredient is confusing to me. The company obviously thinks those natural ingredients are what the consumer wants (why they feature it) and they can be very effective and active in higher concentrations (you agree)… so why would a company use so little? The only thing I can come up with is to lower the cost of the product and increase their profit margins.
@Allison: I’m sorry if we weren’t clear on this initially – we don’t think that natural ingredients are always “very effective and active in higher concentrations.” That’s only the case SOMETIMES. It depends on the ingredient and the product. For example, jojoba oil may help moisturize when applied to the skin from a lotion but it won’t do anything for hair when applied from a shampoo where it will just rinse away. Therefore, it doesn’t matter HOW much jojoba oil a company puts in a shampoo because it won’t do anything.
In general, companies try to make the best products possible. If using natural ingredients at high concentrations would make their products work better than they would do so because it would give them a competitive edge.
@Allison: I’m not sure I really understand what you mean by this question. The “best” product is the one that has the optimal concentration of active ingredients. For some ingredients that concentration may be 25% for other ingredients it may be 50%. The optimal concentration may even vary by product type.
Still a little unclear on why if active ingredients are the ones that get the job done would using 25% be as good as 75%. The consumer would just have to use less because the formulation wouldn’t be muddled or thinned out with inactive ingredients like added water or preservatives that do nothing for the hair or skin.
@Allison: Maybe this example will help explain.
Silicone (dimethicone to be exact) is an active ingredient in skin care products because it creates a barrier on the skin that prevents moisture from evaporating. Let’s say that dimethicone is typically 5%. (The other 95% is water, emulsifiers, etc.) So why don’t we just use dimethicone at 75%? (Or for that matter, at 100%?) Because at high concentrations dimethicone makes a sticky mess. It’s very hard to spread across the skin. So a higher concentration doesn’t mean the product is better.
Here’s another example: Benzoyl peroxide is an active ingredient that fights acne and is typically used at 5% or 10%. Why don’t we use it at 75% or 100%? Because it would burn your skin!
So you see, sometimes the active ingredient NEEDS to be diluted by the other ingredients in the formula in order for it to work properly and safely.
Does that help?
I see the “featured ingredients or key ingredients” marketing all the time. I remember one product saying something like “nourishes with natural jojoba oil.” However, the jojoba oil was way down the ingredients list and mineral oil was the second or third. If the company was more honest they would say “nourishes with mineral oil” except that is much less appealing.
Novice here. Looking for comments from the experts. Looking for manufacturing formula’s of spray tanning solution. Also looking for maufacturing formula’s of pre- spray exfoliator, sprayed on skin prior to spray tan. Any direction wouod greatly be appreciated. Thanks
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