Ingredients detective: what your suppliers don't tell you during first ...

"pierce your suppliers with questions"

This has become my mantra during webinars, chats, workshops and Q&A sessions. (You shall not take this to the letter and pierce SkinChakra with questions though )

You can hardly believe what details your suppliers may not reveal to you (deliberately or undeliberately) during the first communications and through the information on their websites.

Preservatives, origing of the product, its natural or synthetic nature etc. etc. are details which are often not disclosed to you on an online shop.

I have the luxury of working directly with manufacturers or their distributors. These are multinational companies with high carat experts and state-of-the-art in-house laboratories. The guys communicating with me and answering my questions have no less than of an MSc under their belts (most of them are Dr. of this and Dr. of that) and I'm always overwhelmed and extremely disappointed by the lack of information until I literally stalk them for more infos.

I'm not pointing my finger to any specific company or accusing them of deliberately misleading the customer. The main issue is that even these high-carat companies specialized in natural ingredients are still driven by old-fashioned experts. Their mindset is still somewhere in the last century and they are not concerned if their "natural silk extract" is preserved with a formaldehyde donor or their "aubergine extract" is delivered in petrochemical based propylene glycol.

Another problem I have observed and experienced, is the lack of information and mistakes that happen during the translation of data sheet from one language to another. This happens very often when I compare data sheet in English and those translated to German. This is another reason why the information coming to you through a retailer might have some leaks or even mistakes.

During the last couple of years and as I have been in contact with skincare formulation students in all parts of the world (to this point in 104 countries of the wrold) I've observed innumerable cases of misleading (or lack of) information. These students are confined to purchasing their ingredients in small volumes from retailers , pay huge sums of money for the product and its shipment just to realize (and this is when they are lucky enough to realize) that the retailer has (intentionally or accidentally) sent them useless and mislabeled ingredients: PEG-derivatives under fancifuls names, hydrogenated oils as plant waxes or a blend of water, an essential oil and a solubilizer sold as a pure hydrosol. These are a few examples of my everyday confrontation with disappointed students.

Whenever a student raises a question about an ingredient, my first question is asking about the INCI name of the product even though I'm (almost) completely familiar with the trade name they're mentioning.

The issue is, because of legal and marketing limitations in different parts of the world, the same commercial name may contain completely different ingredients when sold in China and in Europe for instance and a student purchasing the product in China receives another ingredient compared to the student receiving the same ingredient in Europe.

INCI name which stands for: International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (thanks heaven there is such thing to avoid confusion) is (often) the only reliable way to know what is in the ingredient you're purchasing. No matter which fanciful and tempting names the supplier uses for marketing the product, this is the way you can realize what is really in the product.

If your retailer is not ready to disclose the complete INCI name of the product to you (including the possible additives and preservatives) then he either doesn't know what he is selling or he deliberately is misleading you. Stories like: "this is a patented and innovative procedure" or "this is a completely new technology" and blah blah are good for marketing brochures and can not replace a clear and acceptable INCI name or technical data.

Let me share some examples of misleading and fanciful commercial names I stumbled upon during the last year:

Almond wax

This product is sold by a British retailer as a vegan alternative to beeswax. The retailer mentions :

INCI Name: Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis

Which is an absolute nonsense. Prunus amygdalus dulcis is the Linnean name of the plant and no INCI name at all. 

For this ingredient, if you dig deeper into the website you'll come across this INCI name: Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis Oil & Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil which has nothing to do with almond wax because almond doesn't have any wax. This product is in reality a blend of almond oil and a cheap hydrogenated vegetable shortening, far away from the tempting and faciful name of "almond wax".

At first I thought this could be a mistake and I didn't judge this retailer very hard. I sent them a mail and asked them if they are aware that the INCI name they have on their website is actually the Linnean name and is quite misleading and confusing. Till today (more than 3 months from my mail), I haven't received any response from them (not that I expected any). What makes the whole story worse and convinces me that it is not just a mistake but a deliberate misleading of the customer is the fact that they haven't corrected the INCI name on their website/online shop.

Hemp wax

INCI: Cannabis Satvia

Which as you may guess is no INCI name but the Linnean name of the plant. This product with the fanciful name of hemp wax is a blend of hemp seed oil and vegetable shortening: Cannabis sativa Oil & Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

Aloe butter

INCI Name : Cocos Nucifera Oil / Aloe Barbadensis Extract

As you certainly know, aloe doesn't have any oil or butter. Aloe juice or gel aren't even oil soluble, they are hydrophilic and completely water soluble, so what on earth this product could be?

Cocos Nucifera Oil  & Aloe Barbadensis Extract (50–70%)
Aloe Butter is a heat infused extraction using coconut oil and the outer rind of the Aloe Barbadensis leaf.

It means this supplier has simply macerated aloe rind (by product or trash from aloe juice and aloe gel production) in coconut oil and is selling it as aloe butter.

Avocado butter

INCI Name: Persia Gratissima

For those of you knowing and loving avocado oil, this is quite a luxury. What a fabulous product to have avocado butter instead of the oil. Directly adding it to balms and butters and hair masks.

Well, the truth is that avocado doesn't have any butter and the INCI name mentioned here is again no INCI name but the Linnean name of the plant.

Upon digging deeper into this product we finally come to :

INCI name: Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil – Hydrogenated vegetable Oil

again a cheap blend of vegetable shortening and avocado oil sold under a fanciful and luxurious name.

The examples are innumerable:

Coffee butter

INCI: Coffee Arabica Seed Oil (and) Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil

Olive esters

This product is marketed as water soluble olive oil which sounds amazing. Finally having an ingredient with all magnificent properties of olive oil and being hydrophilic so that you can easily apply it in micellar waters, tonics, body splash etc. Isn't that great?

Well, look at the INCI name:

INCI: Olive oil PEG-7 esters

Wouldn't you be disappointed if you've purchased this ingredient and then realized that it is a PEG-derivative? A No-Go in natural cosmetics?

Olive Wax

INCI: Hydrogenated olive oil, olive oil

Olive butter:

INCI: Olea europeae fruit oil, hydrogenated vegetable oil

Soy wax:

Hydrogenated soy bean oil

Nature wax:

Hydrogenated vegetable glycerides

Neem butter:

Cocos nucifera oil, elaeis guineensis (palm) kernel oil, azadirachta indica oil

Jojoba wax

INCI: Hydrogenated jojoba oil

Castor wax:

Hydrogenated castor oil

These are only a few examples to give you a hint to look at , and search for INCI names of the ingredients before purchasing them. You can double check for the INCI name of cosmetic ingredients in the cosmetic ingredients (CosIng) directory of the European Commission.

Thank you for your visit. Feel free to send me your questions,  comments and suggestions. I really enjoy your participation in our Facebook discussions.

Be Happy and have fun