A shaving foam
Uploaded by: abbych on
Ingredients overview
Water, Stearic Acid, Isobutane, Triethanolamine, Laureth-23, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Propane, Fragrance
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Highlights
#alcohol-free
Alcohol Free
Buffering: Triethanolamine
Emollient: Stearic Acid
Emulsifying: Laureth-23, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Perfuming: Fragrance
Solvent: Water
Surfactant/cleansing: Laureth-23, Sodium Lauryl Sulfate
Viscosity controlling: Stearic Acid
Skim through
| Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | solvent | ||
| Stearic Acid | emollient, viscosity controlling | 0, 2-3 | |
| Isobutane | |||
| Triethanolamine | buffering | 0, 2 | |
| Laureth-23 | emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | 0, 3 | |
| Sodium Lauryl Sulfate | surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying | com.:0 | icky |
| Propane | |||
| Fragrance | perfuming | icky |
Smartly Shave Foam
Ingredients explainedWater
Also-called: Aqua | What-it-does: solvent
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Stearic Acid
What-it-does: emollient, viscosity controlling | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2-3
A common multi-tasker fatty acid. It makes your skin feel nice and smooth (emollient), gives body to cream type products and helps to stabilize water and oilmixes (aka emulsions).
Isobutane
A colorless gas used as apropellantin cosmetic products that come in a spray form. Chemically, it is an isomer of butane (same number of C and H atoms), but while butane has a straight chain structure, isobutaneis branched.
Triethanolamine
What-it-does: buffering | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 2
It’s a little helper ingredient that helps to set the pH of a cosmetic formulation to be just right. It’s very alkaline (you know the opposite of being very acidic): a 1% solution has a pH of around 10.
It does not have the very best safety reputation but in general, you do not have to worry about it.
What is true is that if a product contains so-called N-nitrogenating agents (e.g.: preservatives like 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, 5-Bromo-5-Nitro- 1,3-Dioxane or sodium nitrate - so look out for things with nitro, nitra in the name) that together with TEA can form some not nice carcinogenic stuff (that is called nitrosamines). But with proper formulation that does not happen, TEA in itself is not a bad guy.
But let’s assume a bad combination of ingredients were used and the nitrosamines formed. :( Even in that case you are probably fine because as far as we know it cannot penetrate the skin.
But to be on the safe side, if you see Triethanolamine in an INCI and also something with nitra, nitro in the name of it just skip the product, that cannot hurt.
Laureth-23
What-it-does: emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 3
A white waxy solid that helps water and oilto mix nicely together (emulsifier). It is derived from the fatty alcohol lauryl alcoholby ethoxylating it and thus making the molecule a lot more water-soluble. In fact,Laureth-23 is mostly water-soluble acting as a solubilizer for dissolving small amounts of oily things into water-based formulas.
Sodium Lauryl Sulfate - icky
Also-called: SLS | What-it-does: surfactant/cleansing, emulsifying | Comedogenicity: 0
The famous or rather infamous SLS (not to be confused with SLES). It is a cleansing agent known for being too good at the job and potentiallyirritating the skin. But, on the positive side, it can produce copious, creamy and luxurious foam compared to the more gentle and thus nowadays much more commonly used Sodium Laureth Sulfate.
In fact, SLSis so good at irritating the skin that it is very commonly used in dermatological studies just for that. It is a so-called "primary irritant", a substance that irritates the skin in one go (without prior sensitization) but doesn't do any other big harm (such as being carcinogenic or systematically toxic - those claims are not true). Also, the formula can greatly influence the irritating potential of SLS, and mixing it with other cleaningagents makes it milder.
If it's not in a cleanser, it works as an emulsifier or even as a penetration enhancer for active materials.
Propane
The small sister of Butane (once carbon shorter chain length alkane), Propane is also a gas used as a propellant incosmetic products.
Fragrance - icky
Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum;Parfum/Fragrance | What-it-does: perfuming
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
You may also want to take a look at...
Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more] A common multi-tasker fatty acid that works as an emollient, thickener and emulsion stabilizer. [more] A colorless gas used as apropellantin cosmetic products that come in a spray form. Chemically, it is an isomer of butane (same number of C and H atoms), but while butane has a straight chain structure, isobutaneis branched. [more] Helps to set the pH of a cosmetic formulation to be right. It’s very alkaline. [more] A white waxy solid that helps water and oilto mix nicely together (emulsifier). It is derived from the fatty alcohol lauryl alcoholby ethoxylating it and thus making the molecule a lot more water-soluble. [more] The famous or rather infamous SLS (not to be confused with SLES). It is a cleansing agent known for being too good at the job and potentiallyirritating the skin. [more] The small sister of Butane (once carbon shorter chain length alkane), Propane is also a gas used as a propellant incosmetic products. [more] The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average. [more] what‑it‑does solvent what‑it‑does emollient | viscosity controlling irritancy,com. 0, 2-3 what‑it‑does buffering irritancy,com. 0, 2 what‑it‑does emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing irritancy,com. 0, 3 what‑it‑does surfactant/cleansing | emulsifying com. 0 what‑it‑does perfuming
