Besides water, alcohol is a widely used ingredient in many cosmetics including hairspray, toners, perfume, shampoo/conditioners, and skin care products. There are actually two kinds of alcohol and they come under a variety of names.
1. Ethyl Alcohol. Its is known as Ethanol or Alcohol and evaporates quickly. It is also formulated to taste “bitter” so that it isn’t ingested. Yes, this is the same type of alcohol found in beer and wine which is why it is reformulated for cosmetic purposes. This type of alcohol can be very drying. Check the ingredients and if alcohol is listed in the first couple of ingredients then the products will tend to be stronger than if it was listed as the last ingredient.
1. Ethyl Alcohol. Its is known as Ethanol or Alcohol and evaporates quickly. It is also formulated to taste “bitter” so that it isn’t ingested. Yes, this is the same type of alcohol found in beer and wine which is why it is reformulated for cosmetic purposes. This type of alcohol can be very drying. Check the ingredients and if alcohol is listed in the first couple of ingredients then the products will tend to be stronger than if it was listed as the last ingredient.
2. Fatty Alcohol. This type of alcohol is also known as cetyl alcohol, cetearyl
alcohol, stearyl or behenyl alcohol. It is commonly used in skin care products
because of its beneficial uses for the skin which means it should not dry out your skin. It can also be found in hand and body lotions and hair conditioners.
Start reading those ingredient labels! Now I nearly flunked chemistry in high school (yes there went my scientific career) but I still want to know what’s in my cosmetics. Or at least have an idea of what some of the ingredients are so as consumers we can make informed decisions about what we buy.
This information is just a tiny bit compared to the information you can find on the Internet. So if you are curious and/or want to know more about it there is a lot of information at your fingertips: so Google away! Now I can take my tattered chemistry book back and use it as a doorstop again.
As a reference, the web site http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org has a lot of good information and allows you to enter the name of an ingredient then provide you with the information. This is one of several web sites I'm using for information.
As a reference, the web site http://www.cosmeticsinfo.org has a lot of good information and allows you to enter the name of an ingredient then provide you with the information. This is one of several web sites I'm using for information.
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