How to choose skincare products correctly and understand their ingredients?

Although various types of grass planting and marketing are currently popular, it is still difficult to fully determine what is suitable for oneself? What exactly is an effective ingredient? Seeking to quickly establish a party composition method.

Here we go, I know this question! As a formulator who has been working in the beauty industry for over 10 years, Xiao K's daily work includes not only making samples in the laboratory, but also providing some skincare advice to fans;

Not to mention the ingredient list, every time I go to the supermarket, I unconsciously take a skincare product and look at the ingredient list (this damn professional habit!), and my mind automatically constructs the formula framework.

Returning to the topic: How to choose skincare products correctly? As the saying goes, 'It's better to teach someone how to fish than to teach them how to fish.' Xiao K gives a few tips to his friends:

1) Recognize your own skin type
If you want scientific and rational skincare, you have to start by learning to judge your own skin type. Xiao K recommends the "16 Skin Typing Tests" from Dr. Bao Man, a dermatologist from the United States. It is classified based on four factors: dryness, oiliness, pigmentation, sensitivity, and wrinkles.


16 Skin Typing Tests
The reason why he wants to know his skin type is that Xiao K has seen too many cases of abusing powerful drugs to overturn. For example, sensitive muscles also use high concentration of A alcohol, hoping to achieve rapid anti-aging effect; Some friends, in pursuit of whitening, shout out whitening ingredients such as vitamin C and 377 on their faces, which not only backfires but also turns themselves into sensitive skin.

2) Learn to distinguish genuine products and check product efficacy
The simplest way is to directly check whether this product has been registered on the website of the drug regulatory bureau.


For products claiming to whiten and remove blemishes, it is necessary to obtain a special certificate in accordance with national requirements, otherwise it is illegal. One lawsuit is final!

And from the entrance of the efficacy summary, you can find the benefits of this product, which can serve as a reference for better selecting skincare products that are suitable for your skin type.


3) Understand the ingredient list
Many friends may wonder, with so many ingredients on the ingredient list, how can I understand them? Don't panic! For consumers, there are many ingredients that they don't need to pay too much attention to, such as formula framework materials like moisturizers (glycerin), oils (jojoba oil), emulsifiers (sorbitan oleate), thickeners (capo), etc., which only give the product form and convenience for us to use. However, some functional ingredients and potential irritants are still well-known to everyone, such as vitamin C (ascorbic acid), retinol (retinol), and preservatives (phenoxyethanol, nipagin esters), etc.

Of course, starting from the new regulations, the threshold for ingredient addition has been adjusted from the previous 1% to 0.1%. Any addition below 0.1% is classified as trace components. However, this does not mean that trace components have no efficacy, as some ingredients have particularly low effective amounts, such as peptides, which only require a few tens of ppm to take effect; 0.05% A alcohol can already be considered as an entry-level concentration;

For example, Guanggancao Ding, also known as the "whitening gold", is a typical example of low-dose efficacy, especially high-purity Guanggancao Ding, whose effective dose is actually about 0.02%.

Alright, if you have mastered the above skills, congratulations! The certificate of Junior Member Party is awarded to you!

The next question is, can the same ingredient (INCI Name) represent the same thing and have the same efficacy?

No, neither! Let me give you a few examples:

1) Niacinamide: a classic component of all-purpose oil, the content of impurities such as niacin is strongly related to its mildness. Large brands usually use well-known raw materials from suppliers (DSM, LONZA), while small brands may not be as strict in controlling niacin content in order to reduce costs. This is why some people are intolerant to niacin;

2) Sodium Hyaluronate: This is also an ingredient that has been widely used, from the original Huaxi and Furuida to later Focus and Zhongshan. Although it is listed as "Sodium Hyaluronate" in the ingredient list, the effects of different molecular weights of sodium hyaluronate are different. For example, large molecules focus on surface moisturizing, medium molecular weight helps tighten the skin, while small molecular weight has good anti-aging and repair effects;

3) Plant extract ingredients: It has to be said that plant extracts are the "deepest water" type of active substance. Are they plant bath water or truly effective active substances? Actually, it's hard to tell from the ingredient list!

Taking the example of Guanglicorice Ding previously introduced by Xiao K, although you can see this chemical name on the ingredient list of many products, are their effects the same? You should know that glycyrrhizin is not only rare, but also notoriously difficult to extract. The general process technology can only increase the purity to 40%, but at this purity, there will naturally be many impurities. For example, licorice flavonoids impurities can make skincare products containing glycyrrhizin turn yellow, which greatly affects the appearance of the product. The remaining impurities are also very complex, and even the chemical structure is not clear. This may not only bring potential irritation, but also greatly reduce the skincare efficacy. After all, the higher the purity of glycyrrhizin, the better the whitening effect.

How can we overcome these drawbacks?

The first step, of course, is to increase the purity! Gu Yu has done a lot of research in this area: at an industry conference, Xiao K specifically approached Gu Yu's scientists to learn more about their progress in optimizing glycyrrhizin. For example, 2-3 years ago, they had already increased the purity of glycyrrhizin to 95%, far exceeding the industry average. However, what is unexpected is that this year we have launched a 99% purity light licorice extract developed using patented technology for melt crystallization purification, which greatly reduces the content and types of impurities. This not only better controls the stability between batches of ingredients, but also achieves new breakthroughs in the anti blackening performance of light licorice extract in product applications. For us consumers, the higher the purity of light licorice extract, the better its mildness and whitening effect.

This is not over yet! They also added two big tricks, ultra-fine particle size wrapping and targeted delivery, and launched a whitening ingredient called Aurora Licorice. What does this mean? Don't worry, just look down and you'll know.


Patent for Melt Crystallization Purification


First, let's talk about ultrafine particle size encapsulation technology. As we all know, liposome encapsulation technology is one of the effective ways to promote penetration. Going deeper, the particle size encapsulated by liposomes is a new technological barrier.




Because the particle size of packages in the industry is generally around 100 nanometers, and if it is better, it can reach between 60-90 nm. However, the particle size of Aurora Licorice is 28 nm, which is equivalent to one-third of the particle size of conventional packages. As we all know, the smaller the particle size, the easier it is to penetrate. According to experimental data, this type of package can easily penetrate through the gaps between skin cells, improving penetration efficiency. The 24-hour penetration rate is 3.4 times that of ordinary glycyrrhizin. The more light glycyrrhizin penetrates into the skin, the more light glycyrrhizin acts on melanocytes, and the whitening effect naturally improves.


In addition to improving penetration efficiency, small particle size inclusions are also beneficial in enhancing the stability of ingredients. Compared to the simple and solubilizing light licorice, which easily precipitates needle shaped crystals and affects the activity of active ingredients, the Aurora licorice coated with true nano particles will not precipitate even at 50 degrees Celsius for 3 months. Do you have any concept of this condition? Our formulators usually place the stability of our products at 40 degrees Celsius for 3 months and 50 degrees Celsius for 1 month, because many products cannot withstand 50 degrees Celsius for 3 months, which shows that this condition is really strict! The advantage of doing so is that products containing Aurora Licorice do not have to worry too much about the deactivation of active ingredients, and the effective time of skincare products is greatly extended.

At this point, the requirements for purity and penetration enhancement have been met. Is there any other way to enhance the efficacy of glycyrrhizic acid?

have That is to focus on targeted delivery, just like targeted drugs for cancer treatment, which only act on cancer cells and do not harm normal cells. Otherwise, it would be a loss of one thousand to the enemy and eight hundred to oneself.

Specifically, Aurora Licorice achieves targeted delivery by carrying a signal peptide called palmitoyl tripeptid-8. Based on past experience, Little K would consider it just a soothing peptide. Further investigation reveals that it acts as a commander, similar to the recognition code on liposomes, which is recognized by melanocytes and ingested into the cell. The glycyrrhizin inside is then directly pulled into the melanocytes, targeting them. That is to say, Aurora Licorice will have a stronger and more precise whitening effect than ordinary Light Licorice Ding. If it only turned white a month ago, with the help of Aurora Licorice, it may turn white in 3 weeks~


Did you see that the same ingredient can actually extract so much information! Can you tell from the ingredient list all these dry goods about Aurora Licorice?

It's obvious that I can't tell! Therefore, for consumers, it is naturally impossible to distinguish whether different brands have "Guanggancao Ding" on their ingredient lists, but the skincare effects are vastly different.

The implementation of new regulations on cosmetics and the public disclosure of product efficacy have indeed made it convenient for consumers to choose skincare products to a certain extent. However, the basis and core of efficacy lies in the raw materials, formula technology, or processing technology. As consumers, we should not only learn to understand the ingredient list, but also learn more about the secrets behind the ingredients, because even with the same chemical name (INCI Name), The raw materials, formulas, and processing techniques used by different brands vary greatly in their mildness and efficacy. For example, the light licorice extract mentioned earlier is a typical example. Different purities result in different impurity contents, and how it is wrapped to promote penetration can lead to significant differences in efficacy. If ordinary light licorice extract is just a "pre made dish," then it is not an exaggeration to say that Aurora licorice extract is a dish with excellent color, aroma, and flavor, carefully crafted?

In short, learning to understand the underlying techniques of ingredients through a "shallow" ingredient list is essential in order to select skincare products that are suitable for oneself and become a seasoned ingredient expert~

one

Many friends say it's difficult to choose skincare products, but I think it's particularly simple.

Where is simplicity?

Let me put it this way, there is also a formula for choosing skincare products. As long as you know some tips, most skincare products won't be able to deceive you.

For example, taking a glance at the numbers on the barcode can quickly help you distinguish whether it is a fake foreign brand;

Then look at the ingredient list again. No matter what ingredients are written, whether you understand them or not, as long as you understand the writing rules of these ingredients, you can also learn about them.

for example

Write the ingredients in descending order of their added amount [1];
If the amount of ingredients added is less than one thousandth, they can be randomly sorted and written; Essence, pigment and XXX extract are generally referred to as certain product mixtures
Residual components do not need to be labeled, such as ethanol, isopropanol, etc
At this point, if you want to delve deeper, you will find that the ingredients of a skincare product are just a few, nothing more than

Water based ingredients+oil based ingredients+surfactants+beauty ingredients/other ingredients.

Oily components (easily soluble in oil) include hydrocarbon oils, ester oils (synthetic oils), natural oils, etc;

Water based components (easily soluble in water) include water, ethanol, 1,3-butanediol, etc;

Surfactants include anionic surfactants (such as soap based components), cationic surfactants (such as quaternary ammonium salts), zwitterionic surfactants (such as phospholipids), and nonionic surfactants (such as alkyl glucosides).

Beauty ingredients, such as sodium hyaluronate for moisturizing, niacinamide for whitening, and so on.

This is the writing logic of the formula arranged by the formulator. In summary, it is to find a way to dissolve the core ingredients and mix them into a stable state between water and oil, so that consumers can use them on their faces.

Is it simple? It's simple.

Even more specifically, when we look at the ingredient list, we search for any unsafe ingredients, estimate the concentration of active ingredients, and determine the one thousandth threshold for judgment.

For example, if your skin is very dry, but the soap based ingredients in this skincare product are very strong, then you will naturally not be able to tolerate it after using it for a long time;

For example, if you are sensitive to ethanol and the ethanol concentration in this skincare product is high, then you have to go around;

For example, some products advertise that their active ingredients have a high concentration, but when you see that their concentration has dried behind the preservatives, it must be a lie;

But there are also exceptions, such as compounds like glycyrrhizin that work at a small concentration, and compounds like fruit acid that have a high concentration can have a stronger erosive effect on the skin. This means that concentration should not be blindly pursued.

So in summary, as long as you are willing to search and understand the ingredient list, it is not difficult.

two

Where is the difficulty in choosing skincare products that are suitable for oneself?

Not on the ingredient list, but outside the ingredient list.

No product will write 'I want to deceive you' on the ingredient list, which requires us to be more careful and not make blind decisions.

The simplest case is that in recent years, many friends have started buying raw liquid directly in pursuit of ultimate effectiveness.

Little do they know that skincare is not a miracle of great effort, and being thicker means more damaging and irritating to the skin;

Some friends saw that big brands were expensive, so they chose ordinary brands or even wild chicken brands with similar ingredient lists, and played a rough game of substitution.

Can it be replaced? Of course not.

Because there is no need to label residual ingredients in the ingredient list, this leads to the same synthesis route. Large brands have the ability to control the supply chain and can choose raw materials with three or even four 9s after the decimal point to minimize the risk of residual ingredients; On the contrary, small brands choose lower purity raw materials to save costs, and what remains inside is the real stimulation.

The most common and classic question is, since chemical synthesis ingredients are so risky, should I choose plant-based ingredients and everything will be fine?

Blindly focusing on so-called plant extracts is the real misconception.

Firstly, plant ingredients do not necessarily mean absolute safety.

After all, a common plant contains hundreds and thousands of components such as polysaccharides, phenols, anthraquinones, etc. No matter how natural it is, you never know which of these hundreds of components you will be allergic to;

A more realistic point is that there are only a few effective ingredients for humans in a plant, and finding a brand that has the ability to extract the truly useful ingredients from plants among the vast number of brands is really like opening a blind box.

The most crucial point is, even if everyone writes about the same plant extract, is the level really the same?

No, whether the ingredients are effective or not depends on whether the brand can use them well. The extraction and embedding techniques behind the ingredients may vary greatly, and who is the most reliable depends on their performance.

So it's better to have no ingredient list than to trust the ingredient list. This requires everyone to think carefully.

three

Many friends would say, since everything outside the ingredient list is thunder, what is truly reliable?

You asked me to set a formula, what about the parts where I can't set a formula? Is it still simple?

Still simple.

At the end of the day, according to first principles, as a user, the logic behind choosing skincare products is one thing: meeting core needs is the most important, and everything else needs to be postponed.

What does this sentence mean?

If you look at it from the perspective of a consumer, you may be brainwashed by the marketing message that a product promotes itself as omnipotent due to factors such as price, brand, and size. It is easy to pursue a product that solves all problems, and ultimately ignore your core needs.

Simply put, if you want to moisturize, don't think about exfoliating; If you want to whiten your skin, don't think about anti-aging. Just do the same thing, you won't be distracted by the judgment of the merchants.

Let's take whitening, the most common requirement, as an example [2] [3]

You may find that many brands, regardless of their price, claim to help whiten your skin, but not many are reliable.

If you really listen to the marketing of merchants, you won't know that many skincare products are white because they add titanium dioxide or simply make your stratum corneum absorb water and become white. They don't provide you with research techniques and start researching magic.

Then, based on our whitening needs, let's further understand the principle of melanin production and the scenarios of common ingredients, and we will naturally have the answer [4].


If we compare melanin to takeout, and we don't want a person to eat takeout, then either we don't let the merchant eat it directly (inhibiting tyrosinase activity, such as 377, glycyrrhizin); Either don't let the delivery rider deliver the goods, let the takeout not move (oxidation inhibitors, such as VC); Either spill the rice before it reaches his hands (inhibiting the transfer of melanin particles to keratinocytes, such as niacin); Either pick his throat and make him spit it out (using fruit acid brush to corrode the stratum corneum), etc.

Which of these methods is better? There is no definitive conclusion

VC has poor permeability and is easily unable to stop riders, causing them to oxidize; Niacinamide is very common, but it cannot prevent thieves for a thousand days. Its effectiveness deteriorates when stopped.

As for fruit acid, it's even more exaggerated. Who can brush acid every day without stopping?

From this perspective, the most reliable solution is to solve the problem from the source, but the common 377 component has strong irritants and the risk of producing stress molecules.

The currently popular component of glycyrrhizin has avoided related risks, mainly because the 2-OH and 4-OH in its structure are similar to the - OH in the aromatic ring structure of the substrate; And because it contains flavonoid groups, it also has a soothing and calming effect, and the ingredients are milder [5].

In the process of melanin synthesis, it binds to tyrosinase, dopachrome mutase, and DHICA enzyme, competing with substrates for enzyme active sites, thereby inhibiting melanin synthesis.


If we give an analogy, this kind of thinking is interference rather than destruction. It's not about violently smashing the pot of the merchant and preventing him from serving, but about making the merchant frantically stir fry and fish in the air, thus achieving a gentle whitening effect;

Similarly, Guanggancao Ding also has a scavenging effect on common free radicals such as DPPH. As free radicals can exacerbate skin oxidation and dullness, controlling free radicals also enhances whitening effects; [6]

So, isn't the effect of Guanggancao Ding, which takes a gentle route, as good as before?

On the contrary, it is actually the true ACE of the whitening world. Its inhibition rate of tyrosinase is 140 times that of niacinamide and 961 times that of arbutin, and it has a scavenging effect on common free radicals such as DPPH. Even high-purity glycyrrhizin only requires a content of 0.02% to take effect, making it the true low-dose whitening king.

So if you say that licorice extract is a highly efficient and mild ingredient, then there shouldn't be any problem with it?

On the contrary, it also has many problems

Its content in plants is extremely low, the extraction method is extremely difficult, the solubility is extremely poor, and the stability is even worse.

What does low content mean? If the output does not increase, it will be expensive.

Not to mention various amino acid polysaccharides and alkaloids, the content of glycyrrhizin in the total flavonoids of licorice is only 11%. This is about equivalent to using chopsticks to pick up only soybeans in one ton of miscellaneous grains. Do not pick up the wrong one, as the effect will naturally be affected;

Even if you struggle to extract it, its poor solubility means that the solvent selection surface is extremely narrow, and the risk of solvent residue is high. This also indirectly means that it is difficult to reach melanocytes, and the absorption effect will deteriorate.

So this leads to the academic community saying it's good, but it's just not in the formula.

You will find that with a content of 0.015% -0.05%, its raw material purity is only 40%; I don't know what the remaining 60% is, it could be alcohols, phenols, ketones, or various isomers.

So everyone claims to have used up all the licorice extract, but when it comes to its effectiveness, no one is impressed enough.

Fortunately, the market has been booming in recent years, and some domestic brands have emerged.

In response to this long-standing problem, the domestic brand Guyu solved the purification problem by using melt crystallization, and successfully solved the application absorption problem by combining packaging technology and directional technology. The ingredient Guanggancao Ding has been upgraded to a new whitening raw material such as Aurora Licorice.

How did it break through?

It used a very tricky idea - since the solubility of glycyrrhizin is poor, I directly bypassed the limitation of solvents and allowed it to actively escape from hundreds of ingredients through temperature changes.

Guyu adopts patented melt crystallization technology, utilizing the crystallization characteristics of components at different temperatures. After more than ten precision purification processes, the purity can reach 99%. The higher the purity, the better the black suppression effect, and the safety risk caused by impurities will also be smaller;

Effective, penetration is also a problem, as tyrosinase is usually located inside the melanocytes in the basal layer. Even if the purity is high and cannot be transmitted, the effect will not be good.

Gu Yu used nano encapsulation technology to control the pore size of the lipid encapsulated body at 28nm, resulting in better penetration effect.

Because lipids are already soluble in the skin, after nano encapsulation technology, glycyrrhetinic acid is approximately broken down into countless small liposomes, which are then transported in batches onto an internal through train that is easier to penetrate deep into the skin and delivered to melanocytes;

Due to the inherent blocking effect of the skin, the smaller the particle size, the easier it is to penetrate the skin's obstruction. Common microcapsules with a diameter of 100-1000nm have strong penetration;

With the support of 28nm encapsulation technology, this means that under the same purity and concentration conditions, the effectiveness of glycyrrhizin can be multiplied several times.

Even more impressive, Gu Yu embedded signal peptides on the package, specifically targeting the cortical receptor MC1R on the surface of melanocytes, achieving targeted delivery;

This is equivalent to adding navigation to the light licorice molecule, directly transmitting it to the surface of melanocytes. To exaggerate, this is not considered infiltration, but rather sniping.

This allows Gu Yu to achieve better results with the same content of glycyrrhizin components;

The case of Gu Yu explains why the ingredients on the ingredient list are all the same, and the gap between brands is also earth shattering. The ingredient list can show the ingredients, but not the difference in brand technical strength.

This further proves that only when you understand your own needs, learn to compare the differences in ingredients, and understand the clues behind the ingredient list, will you not miss out on the product that suits you.

So is it difficult to choose a product that suits oneself? It's not difficult, after layers of diversion, you will find that your needs have already been solved step by step by hardcore brands like Gu Yu in a certain niche field. You don't have to rush, find them, it just takes time.

four

So this is my viewpoint.

Whitening is like this, so are moisturizing and other needs. Driven by demand, choosing the right one is far more important than choosing expensive ones.

By just looking at the ingredient list, you can eliminate 50% of products that do not meet your needs. If you are willing to spend some time and effort understanding the brand, you can eliminate 30% of the products, divide them layer by layer, and finally leave the remaining 20% to time to try slowly.

Needs are limited, solving them one by one is not easy, and you will also become a skincare expert.

reference
^Keita Tomoko, "Skincare Encyclopedia"
^Yang Sen, "Skincare and Skin Barrier"
^Chinese Women's Whitening Research Report
^Liu Yueheng and Song Feifei, Research progress on the formation mechanism of skin melanin and the current development status of skin whitening agents, Beijing Daily Chemical, January 2009
^Luo Zuliang, Research Progress on Guangguo Licorice, Chinese Herbal Medicine, 2011
^Zhao Li, the skin whitening and sun protection mechanism of glycyrrhizic acid liposomes,