Understanding Skincare Ingredient Labels: Fact vs. Fiction

babassu soaps
28. Okt. 2024
6 Min. Lesezeit

How understanding skincare ingredient labels helps clear up marketing confusion — Marketing claims in cosmetics help above all creating confusion

TL;DR

"Helping" Claims: Vague words like "stimulates" or "promotes" are used to suggest benefits without the legal burden of medical proof.
Ingredient Integrity: Many "active" ingredients added to soap are denatured by the high heat (80°C) and alkaline environment of the saponification process.
Activated Charcoal: While popular for "detoxing," it primarily acts as a natural colorant in cosmetics; scientific proof for skin detoxification is lacking.
Hair Strength: Hair is composed of dead cells (cuticles); products like silicones simply coat these "tiles" to create a temporary shine rather than making the hair physically stronger.

A guide to understanding skincare ingredient labels

Understanding skincare ingredient labels is the first step toward becoming a health ambassador for your own skin. Helping claims are vague terms like "helps with," "stimulates," or "improves the appearance of" used on labels to suggest a benefit without promising a medical result. Brands use these "shifty" terms because they often don't require the same level of scientific proof as direct claims like "cures" or "eliminates."

Why do brands use "helping" claims in cosmetics?

While direct claims that cannot be proven are prohibited, stating that a product can provide assistance with a particular issue is acceptable. This broad allowance companies to make claims about their potential benefits of their products, even if their accuracy isn't guaranteed. Similar terms like "stimulates," "revitalizes," "improves," and "restores" also fall under this category.

"It moisturizes and helps strengthen the skin’s barrier function”

This is a statement intended to make consumers believe that the skin barrier function is strengthened. However, it is merely a string of words with no practical meaning.

Now, specifically about natural soaps : to learn more about the chemistry of our bars, read our guide on how soaps are formulated.

The Saponification Process and Ingredient Integrity

Numerous fellow soap-makers love to focus on the benefits of some of their ingredients. This may be especially true when the ingredients are taken pure - as in creams or lotions for example. Let's keep in mind that the ingredients have been through a saponification process, reaching a temperature of 80°C in an alkaline environment. Most substances will be partially or totally denatured, losing their original properties.

Chemistry diagram of saponification used for understanding skincare ingredient labels. — Saponification reaction: oils and lye water are fully transformed into soaps and glycerin

And this, regardless of when they are added in the process, before or after emulsion, or even later at a thicker trace (which is when the soap batter begins to thicken). There are no studies to support the claim that adding certain ingredients at the very last moment could cause your soap to have the properties of those ingredients. Precision and examples with certain ingredients or claim...

1. Oils and Butters: The Truth About "Superfat"

Oils in natural soap formulations do nothing but help cleanse your skin as they are converted into soap molecules. If you see a soap "enriched" with an oil... it is a bit silly. The remaining oils in the final product (those that have not reacted: superfatting soap) help to make the soap milder for the skin, as some fatty acids (from coconut oil for example) are harder on the skin = clean too aggressive Even if the soap maker makes an extra effort to add "nourishing" oils at the last moment, the superfat does not stay in the soap. It is always a mixture of tri-glycerides (the original fat, untouched), decomposed fats (di- + mono-glycerides) or fatty acids (soap molecules). This small pile does not behave like the original "nourishing" oil from the beginning. Exceptions: jojoba oil or beeswax, as they are largely composed of waxes / esters that hardly react with the lye water, their molecules can be found in the final product.

2. Essential Oils in Soap: Experience vs. Therapy

Essential oils in soaps do not help other than to have a wonderful experience through their smell.

Natural essential oils used in formulations that appear on skincare ingredient labels — Collection of botanical essential oils

As of 2024, there are only two credible studies on the successful use of aromatherapy to combat hair loss and acne (see references here and here), however essential oils used topically (=on the skin) do not aid against a specific condition in most situations. However, if you want to ease tension, a few drops of diluted essential oils in a warm bath won't hurt :) Very interesting video for more insights from a Youtube channel I highly recommend about essential oils. Make your own opinion about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MJpurZ9ShI

3. Activated Charcoal in Cosmetics: Detox or Colorant?

This is a new trend: activated charcoal is becoming more and more popular in cosmetics, from soaps and creams to toothpaste, where it is credited with removing toxins or heavy metals or whitening teeth. Sorry to disappoint you, but there are no studies that prove the former or the latter for cosmetics.

Activated charcoal powder, an ingredient often seen on natural skincare labels.

Activated carbon has the remarkable property of having a huge surface area compared to its weight. It is common to find the comparison that 2 grams only of activated carbon has the same surface area as a tennis court, and this is not an exaggeration. It means about 100m² per gram.

It certainly has beneficial and proven properties in the areas :

medicine (emergency detoxification, kidney function...),
water decontamination
use as chemical catalyst in industrial reactions (doped with metals like copper, palladium...)

...but in cosmetics its only and true role is as a colorant (as used for babassu soaps). So the next time you read that activated carbon aids detoxification (cosmetics, food...), know that the corporation making the claim is either repeating something it doesn't understand or simply taking you for a fool.

4. Can Shampoo Make Hair Stronger? (The Science of Cuticles)

Companies behind this claim must surely be big fans of the zombie series... Indeed, hair is a structure composed of dead cells arranged in layers like tiles on a roof and won't get back to life :)

Microscopic view of hair cuticles to help in understanding skincare ingredient labels for hair care. — Hair "tiles" are called cuticles = 1 dead cell (in red)

Conditioning your hair with products containing silicones fills in the gaps in the cuticle of the hair, making it smoother and easier to comb, and reducing breakage. However, it does not make the hair stronger. In the long term, silicones can harm the hair, some are less harmful than others. It's important to be mindful of non-water soluble silicones as they are harder to remove by washing.

Diagram showing how silicones coat hair, a key concept in understanding skincare ingredient labels — Conditioners (silicones) are covering up the cuticles and filling the free spaces in purple (exaggerated for the example). The hair is now heavier, smoother, and shines like plastic.

Transitioning to Natural Soap for Hair and Body

For face and body, I guess we do not have to convince you of the benefits of natural soaps anymore, do we ? After many experiment on myself, the formulation of our soaps make it great for hair no longer than 6cm. If they are longer, you will experience the effect described below. If you're unsure about using soap as shampoo, it's worth giving it a try! All hair are differents and it could be what you need! Your hair may take time to adjust to natural ingredients, as synthetic surfactants and silicones used in many shampoos can leave buildup. The scalp may take several weeks to adapt to the high pH of natural soap, which can cause the hair to feel rough and dull during this period. However, the high pH of natural soap opens the cuticle for a deeper clean and leads to smoother, shinier hair over time guaranteed.

FAQ

What is the difference between a "direct" claim and a "helping" claim? A direct claim promises a specific result (e.g., "cures acne"), which requires rigorous scientific evidence and often classifies the product as a drug. A "helping" claim uses soft language (e.g., "helps the appearance of acne") to imply a benefit while remaining within cosmetic regulations.

Does the saponification process change how ingredients work? Yes. Because saponification involves high temperatures and an alkaline environment, many ingredients lose their original "raw" properties and are transformed into soap molecules and glycerin.

Can essential oils in soap provide therapeutic benefits? While essential oils provide a wonderful sensory experience through smell, there is very little scientific evidence to support that they provide topical "healing" when used in a wash-off product like soap.

Is activated charcoal in soap good for my skin? In the context of Babassu soaps, activated charcoal is a fantastic natural colorant. However, consumers should be wary of brands claiming it "removes toxins" or "whitens teeth" in cosmetic forms, as these claims are currently unsupported by clinical studies.

Why does my hair feel different when switching to natural soap?

Natural soap has a higher pH than synthetic shampoos, which opens the hair cuticle for a deeper clean. It may take a few weeks for your scalp to adapt to the absence of silicone buildup, but this transition often leads to healthier, shinier hair over time.