If there’s one piece of advise I’d like to share with you, is to look beyond packaging. To boost sales, many beauty companies focus on the aesthetics of the product, rather than what’s in it. Only a smart beauty consumer who knows how to read a product’s ingredient list will be able to bag a good product. Speaking of ingredients, how can one get familiar with them? We’ll teach you!
5 Ways To Read & Understand Ingredients Mentioned On Your Beauty Product Labels
Let’s do this together. Pick up any skincare product right now, flip it over and look at the ingredient list. Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to move on to the next step.
Notice The Order of The Ingredients
The first five ingredients you see have the highest concentration in the product. The first ingredient is either water or aloe barbadensis and makes up for at least 75-80% of the product. Think of them as vehicles whose job is to deliver important active ingredients into the skin. If you recently purchased a Vitamin C serum and noticed that Vitamin C is listed right at the end of the ingredient list, it’s not going to work wonders for your skin. Not all brands do this, but for the ones who do, they declare the concentration number in percentage on the packaging itself. (Eg: Vitamin C 5%, glycolic acid 10%, lactic acid 5% and so on)
Learn To Identify Active Ingredients
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Active ingredients make all the magic happen. They’re the ones responsible for treating targetted skin concerns and learning how to read them, will strengthen your relationship with skincare. They are the ones mentioned before all the other ingredients and some of them, have the exact concentration number listed right after the ingredient. Popular active ingredients found in skincare products are retinol, hyaluronic acid, niacinamide, L-ascorbic acid, ceramides, kojic acid.
Let’s Talk About Filler Ingredients
As mentioned before, to boost the sales of a particular product, some beauty brands will often aggressively promote an exotic ingredient in the packaging. This ingredient, however, is of low concentration and does not play an active role in the formulation of a product. To know how much of that ingredient is in the product, read the ingredient list. If it’s listed at the end, it won’t benefit your skin.
Niacinamide Is A Wonder Ingredient!
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Any skincare product that contains niacinamide is bound to help even out your skin’s texture. Since Indian skin is prone to hyperpigmentation, this ingredient is great for taking care of that problem. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that niacinamide is present in almost every skincare products. 5% of niacinamide is more than enough to treat hyperpigmentation and sun-damaged skin. However, if you have sensitive skin, you should opt for a product that has less niacinamide concentration.
Don’t Worry If You Can’t Pronounce Certain Ingredients
I agree that some skincare ingredients are difficult to pronounce. However, it could be because they are listed in their scientific name. Don’t stress about it too much. When in doubt, simply do a quick online search. A great example would be bisabolol, it’s chamomile extract or cannabidiol, which is cannabinoids that are extracted from the cannabis Sativa plant. You get the drill.
Happy shopping, ladies!
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