Alcohols in skincare are a type of ingredient, used for many different purposes.
Now there has been the claim that alcohols in skincare are bad and should be avoided at all costs, when in fact that is untrue and advice contrary to getting the best out of the ingredients.
With alcohol in skincare, there a bad ones but there are good ones as well. When it comes to the bad alcohols in skincare, they will cause dryness. These are alcohols you will want to avoid; they are as follows.
- Denatured alcohol
- SD alcohol
- Isopropyl alcohol
Particularly if these alcohols are listed on a product’s ingredient list within the first 6 ingredients because this means that they are of a high concentration in the formula.
Fortunately, research shows that in low amounts, these alcohols are ok but still, as the consumer you will probably never know the % that it has been formulated with.
However, there are good alcohols in skincare, and they are as follows.
- Cetyl alcohol
- Stearyl alcohol
- Cetearyl alcohol.
These alcohols can help with dry skin and help to stabilize the product formulations.
There are many products marketed for oily/acne-prone skin, yet they contain most or all of the bad alcohols.
The reason companies use those alcohols is to provide a matte finish and dry the skin to make it look less oily and greasy, yet the irony is that your skin becomes drier which then can cause your skin to produce more oil and then your skin becomes oiler which leads to more breakouts and look even more shiny. Talk about destructive skincare.
