Ingredient Desk

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  • Crème de la Mer: The Miracle Broth Is Ingredient #1. Water Is Ingredient #24.

    Water is the 24th ingredient in the classic Crème
    de la Mer Moisturizing Cream. The bio-fermented Algae Extract that La Mer calls
    its “Miracle Broth” really is first on the list — the marketing claim holds
    there. What surrounds it is the surprise: the second and third ingredients are
    mineral oil and petrolatum, the same petroleum occlusives that do the heavy
    lifting in a tub of drugstore Vaseline, and water does not turn up until two
    dozen ingredients later.

    Most moisturizers are mostly water. You can usually confirm it in a second:
    “Water/Aqua/Eau” sits at position one on the label, because water is cheap, it
    carries everything else, and it is what makes a cream feel light. Crème de la
    Mer is built the other way around. That single fact tells you almost everything
    about what this cream is and how it works — so it is worth reading the actual
    label instead of the box.

    Here is the full ingredient list, quoted verbatim from the Crème de la Mer
    product page on cremedelamer.com (read 3 September 2026 via the brand page’s
    indexed listing, as the page itself refused a direct request that day) and
    corroborated against an independent
    DermApproved ingredient review:

    Algae Extract, Mineral Oil\Paraffinum Liquidum\Huile Minerale, Petrolatum, Glycerin, Isohexadecane, Microcrystalline Wax\Cera Microcristallina\Cire Microcristalline, Lanolin Alcohol, Citrus Aurantifolia (Lime) Peel Extract, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Oil, Eucalyptus Globulus (Eucalyptus) Leaf Oil, Sesamum Indicum (Sesame) Seed Powder, Medicago Sativa (Alfalfa) Seed Powder, Helianthus Annuus (Sunflower) Seedcake, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Seed Meal, Sodium Gluconate, Copper Gluconate, Calcium Gluconate, Magnesium Gluconate, Zinc Gluconate, Magnesium Sulfate, Paraffin, Tocopheryl Succinate, Niacin, Water\Aqua\Eau, Beta-Carotene, Decyl Oleate, Aluminum Distearate, Octyldodecanol, Citric Acid, Cyanocobalamin, Magnesium Stearate, Panthenol, Zea Mays (Corn) Oil, Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Citronellol, Benzyl Salicylate, Benzyl Benzoate, Sodium Benzoate, Alcohol Denat., Fragrance (Parfum)

    Nib, a small round pencil-sketch creature, holds a magnifying glass up to a tall jar labelled with a very long ingredient list and squints at the first line.
    Nib starts at the top of the list, where the algae extract genuinely sits.

    Where does the Miracle Broth actually sit?

    Right at the top, which is the honest part of the story. “Algae Extract” —
    La Mer’s bio-fermented sea-kelp “Miracle Broth” — is ingredient number one. On
    an INCI list, ingredients above roughly one percent are ordered by descending
    weight, so being first means it is the single largest component by mass. When a
    brand names a product after its hero ingredient, that ingredient is very often
    buried near the preservatives. Not here. If your only question was “is there
    real algae extract in this, and is there a lot of it,” the label answers yes.

    The honest caveat is about evidence, not presence. Independent analysis of
    whether the Miracle Broth does what the marketing implies is thin. DermApproved
    characterises the clinical evidence for its efficacy as
    “limited” — a fermented kelp broth carrying vitamins and
    minerals, developed by Max Huber in the 1960s, but without much published,
    independent clinical validation of the specific fermentation process. That is a
    fair thing to say out loud: the ingredient is real and abundant, and the case
    for what it does is mostly the brand’s own.

    Nib runs a pencil down the second and third lines of the list and raises an eyebrow at the words mineral oil and petrolatum.
    Two lines down, the base of the cream reveals itself: mineral oil, then petrolatum.

    What is the cream actually made of?

    Read the next two lines and the formula shows its hand. Position two is
    Mineral Oil (listed by its EU name, Paraffinum Liquidum). Position three is
    Petrolatum — petroleum jelly. Together they are the base the algae extract is
    suspended in, and they are the reason the cream feels the way it does.

    These are not obscure ingredients. Petrolatum is, per

    CosmeticsInfo.org    , “used widely in cosmetics as a moisturizer as well as in
    OTC drugs as a skin protectant” — the same category of ingredient that is the
    active in Aquaphor and in a jar of plain petroleum jelly. It works by occlusion:
    it sits on the surface and slows the water your skin already holds from
    evaporating. Mineral oil at position two does much the same job. That is a
    genuinely effective way to keep skin from drying out — there is nothing wrong
    with it. It is simply the same mechanism, and the same family of raw materials,
    that costs a few dollars a tub at any pharmacy.

    Crème de la Mer’s moisturizing base
    Mineral oil (#2) and petrolatum (#3) — petroleum-derived occlusives that
    seal in existing moisture. Retails in the hundreds of dollars.
    A drugstore petroleum jelly
    Petrolatum as the single active occlusive — the same sealing mechanism.
    A few dollars a tub.

    The point is not that La Mer is “just Vaseline.” It is not — there is algae
    extract, a spread of gluconate minerals, sesame and almond meals, vitamins, and
    a fragrance blend layered on top. The point is narrower and more useful: the
    part of this cream that does the actual moisturizing is an occlusive system you
    can buy for the price of a coffee. What the premium buys is everything wrapped
    around that base, plus the name.

    Nib counts down the list on stubby fingers, magnifying glass tucked under one arm, looking increasingly surprised.
    Nib keeps counting. Water still has not appeared.

    Why is water the 24th ingredient?

    Count down the list and water — “Water/Aqua/Eau” — does not appear until
    position 24, after the algae extract, the two petroleum occlusives, the waxes,
    the seed oils and powders, and the whole run of gluconate minerals. This is what
    formulators call an anhydrous, or near-anhydrous, cream: a fat-and-wax base with
    very little water in it.

    That is a deliberate choice, not a defect, and it changes what the product
    does. A water-heavy moisturizer leans on humectants that draw water toward the
    skin. A cream like this leans almost entirely on occlusion — sealing in the
    moisture already there. If your skin is very dry, or you live somewhere cold and
    harsh, an occlusive-first cream can genuinely suit you. If you were expecting the
    light, water-based “hydration” the word moisturizer usually implies, this is a
    different animal, and the label is where you find that out.

    This is also the natural place to mention the alternative, and we will be
    plain that it is ours: Evil Goods, the team who publish Ingredient Desk, make a
    beef-tallow
    moisturizer     that works through much the same occlusive idea — a fat that
    sits on the skin and slows water loss — using rendered animal fat rather than
    petroleum. Whether you prefer a petroleum base, a plant base or an animal fat is
    a real preference to have; the useful move is knowing which one you are actually
    buying.

    Nib finally taps the pencil on the word water far down the list and holds up a small hand-written sign reading number 24.
    There it is — water, the twenty-fourth thing on the label.

    Why are there so many fragrance ingredients at the end?

    The tail of the list carries a cluster of named fragrance components:
    Limonene, Geraniol, Linalool, Hydroxycitronellal, Citronellol, Benzyl
    Salicylate, then a catch-all “Fragrance (Parfum).” They are not there by
    accident, and they are not there because the amounts are dangerous. Under
    EU Cosmetics Regulation 1223/2009, a set of specific
    fragrance substances must be declared individually on a leave-on product once
    they exceed a very low threshold, because they are documented contact allergens
    in some people. The regulation’s job is disclosure: it lets a fragrance-reactive
    shopper scan the list and decide for themselves.

    So the honest read is regulatory, not alarmist. Six named allergens plus the
    parfum blend — and, higher up at position ten, Eucalyptus Globulus Leaf Oil,
    another common sensitiser for reactive skin — mean this is a fragranced cream. If
    your skin is easily irritated by scent, that is worth knowing before you spend.
    If it is not, it is simply information the label is required to give you.

    A note on the label itself

    One caveat, in the spirit of a site that asks you to check its work: published
    ingredient lists for this cream vary slightly by source. The brand-page version
    quoted above includes Zea Mays (Corn) Oil and Benzyl Benzoate; the DermApproved
    version omits both and instead lists Citral. That kind of difference usually
    means a regional formula variant or a list captured at a different point in the
    product’s life, not an error — but it means the printed carton in your hand is
    the authority, and if a specific ingredient matters to you, read the box you are
    buying rather than any third-party transcription, this one included.

    So is it worth it?

    That depends entirely on what you thought you were buying. If you wanted a
    rich occlusive balm and you like the ritual, the scent and the jar, La Mer
    delivers a competent occlusive cream — and the algae extract it is named after
    really is the largest ingredient in it. If you assumed a premium price meant a
    premium moisturizing mechanism, the label says otherwise: the sealing is done by
    mineral oil and petrolatum, water sits at 24, and the same occlusion is available
    in a great many cheaper forms. If you would rather that seal came from a
    food-grade fat than a petroleum one, that is where a
    tallow-based
    moisturizer like ours     is worth a look. Either way, the argument for reading
    the whole label — not just the first word of it — makes itself.

    Nib sits down beside the closed jar, magnifying glass in lap, giving a small satisfied shrug as if to say the label told the whole story.
    The label was honest all along. You just had to read past the first word.

  • CeraVe Moisturizing Cream: The Ceramide Formula Built on Petrolatum

    One tub of CeraVe Moisturizing Cream carries a list of 24 things. The three ceramides the brand markets as its defining feature sit at positions 9, 10 and 11. Petrolatum — one of the best-evidenced skin-barrier ingredients in dermatology — is at position 7, ahead of every ceramide. Reading that order does not make CeraVe a bad cream. It changes what you are actually paying for.

    CeraVe is named for ceramides. The word comes from cera, and the brand’s whole story is “3 essential ceramides.” That story is real: the ceramides are on the label, above the preservative, and there is published evidence behind the delivery system. But the label also tells you something the front of the tub does not — which ingredients are doing the heavy lifting, and where the marketed heroes actually fall in line.

    A quick disclosure before we go further: Ingredient Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods, a tallow skincare brand. We read labels for a living and we sell an alternative. We will point at ours once, clearly labelled, near the end. Everything about CeraVe below comes from CeraVe’s own page and the peer-reviewed literature, dated and linked so you can check us.

    Nib, a small round pencil-sketch creature, holds a magnifying glass up to an oversized CeraVe-style tub, squinting at the tiny ingredient list printed on the side.
    Nib does what most of us never do at the shelf: reads the whole list, in order.

    What does the CeraVe Moisturizing Cream label actually say?

    Here is the full ingredient list, quoted verbatim from CeraVe’s own US product page (cerave.com, read 2 September 2026):

    Aqua / Water / Eau, Glycerin, Cetearyl Alcohol, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Cetyl Alcohol, Ceteareth-20, Petrolatum, Potassium Phosphate, Ceramide NP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP, Carbomer, Dimethicone, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, Sodium Hyaluronate, Cholesterol, Phenoxyethanol, Disodium EDTA, Dipotassium Phosphate, Tocopherol, Phytosphingosine, Xanthan Gum, Ethylhexylglycerin

    That is the standard white-tub formula — not the Intensive version, not the Baby version. CeraVe’s page carries its own caveat that formulas are “updated regularly” and asks you to check the physical package, so treat this as the list on the brand’s site on the date above rather than an eternal truth. Ingredient lists are ordered by descending concentration down to roughly 1%, after which the order stops meaning much.

    One honest note on sourcing: a UK ingredient database, SkinSort, lists a CeraVe “Moisturising Cream” with the ceramides much further down — positions 16, 17 and 24. That is almost certainly the EU formulation, which CeraVe has reformulated regionally over the years. We used the brand’s own US page as the primary source and are flagging the discrepancy rather than picking the more dramatic version. If you want to be certain, the number on your own tub is the only source that settles it.

    Nib stands beside a tall bar chart drawn in pencil; the tallest bars near the front are labelled water, glycerin and petrolatum, while three small bars labelled ceramide sit further back.
    The first seven entries build the cream. The ceramides arrive after that.

    Where does petrolatum sit, and why does that matter?

    Petrolatum is ingredient number seven — ahead of all three ceramides. It is worth being precise about what that ingredient is, because “petroleum byproduct” scares people more than the evidence justifies.

    Petrolatum is an FDA-recognized OTC skin protectant (21 CFR § 347.10). The Society of Cosmetic Chemists, in a 2022 review, calls it “the gold standard topical agent for reducing transepidermal water loss.” And it is not merely an inert seal: a 2016 study in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (Czarnowicki et al., PMID 26431582) found petrolatum upregulated filaggrin, loricrin and antimicrobial peptides in skin — barrier proteins, not just a greasy film.

    So the ingredient at position 7 has decades of evidence behind it for exactly the job a moisturizer is bought to do. The ceramide narrative is stacked on top of a backbone — water, glycerin, three fatty-alcohol emollients, an emulsifier and petrolatum — that is already a competent moisturizer before a single ceramide is counted. That backbone also costs, per gram, a fraction of what the ceramides do.

    Nib peers through the magnifying glass at three tiny jars in a row, each labelled Ceramide NP, AP and EOP, lined up behind a much larger jar marked petrolatum.
    The three marketed ceramides are genuinely here — sitting just behind the workhorse.

    Are the ceramides just for show, then?

    No — and this is where a lazy takedown would overreach. The ceramides are at positions 9, 10 and 11, which puts them above the preservative phenoxyethanol at position 18. That matters: it means they are almost certainly present at more than a trace, unlike a hero ingredient that shows up after the preservative. CeraVe does not publish the exact percentage, and neither will we invent one.

    The evidence for ceramide moisturizers is real but specific. A 2023 systematic review and meta-analysis (PMC10162745) found ceramide-containing moisturizers improved atopic-dermatitis severity scores significantly better than other moisturizers — but the difference in water-loss reduction was not statistically significant. In plain terms: for managing eczema-prone skin, the ceramide formula showed a real edge; for the raw job of holding water in, it was not measurably ahead of other good moisturizers. Petrolatum, meanwhile, is the standout at that one job.

    CeraVe also funds its own supporting research, which the brand is entitled to do as long as it is disclosed. A 2020 study (Draelos, J Drugs Dermatol) — funded by CeraVe’s parent, L’Oréal — reported that four weeks of the ceramide cream raised the skin’s own ceramide content by about 10%. That is a genuine finding worth knowing, and it is industry-funded; both things are true at once.

    Nib sits at a small desk stamped Ingredient Desk, holding a pencil over an open notebook, looking thoughtfully at the tub rather than crossing it out.
    The desk’s verdict isn’t ‘avoid.’ It’s ‘know what you’re paying the premium for.’

    So what are you actually buying?

    You are buying a well-made moisturizer whose moment-to-moment moisturizing comes mostly from glycerin at position 2 and petrolatum at position 7 — a pair with sixty-plus years of evidence between them and a production cost measured in cents per gram — plus a real, above-the-preservative dose of three ceramides and a patented delivery system that the brand has published data on. None of that is a con. The gap worth noticing is only this: the front of the tub sells the ceramides, and the label shows they are the supporting cast to a petrolatum-and-glycerin base you could get, in barrier terms, from a far plainer product.

    If you have eczema-prone skin, that ceramide edge may be worth the premium; the meta-analysis supports that use specifically. If you just want to stop water leaving dry skin, a simpler petrolatum-forward cream does most of the same work.

    There is a third road, which is where we come in. Some people would rather their occlusive be a skin-identical fat than a petroleum distillate — not because petrolatum is unsafe (the evidence above says it is not), but as a preference for a fatty-acid profile closer to skin’s own. That is the case for tallow, and we walk through the honest version of it — including where the evidence is thin — on our own tallow-for-dry-skin page (this one is ours, Evil Goods). We are not going to pretend a head-to-head clinical trial exists; it largely does not. Read it as one option, not a verdict.

    How do CeraVe’s marketed heroes line up on the label?

    Here is the marketing language against the label, position by position:

    Marketed as a hero Position on the label What that implies
    Ceramide NP 9 of 24 Above the preservative; more than trace, exact % undisclosed
    Ceramide AP 10 of 24 Second of the three
    Ceramide EOP 11 of 24 Third of the three
    Hyaluronic acid (Sodium Hyaluronate) 16 of 24 Lower third, near the preservative zone — low concentration
    Dimethicone 13 of 24 Silicone; adds slip and a moisture-retaining film
    Petrolatum (also brand-listed) 7 of 24 Ahead of every ceramide; does most of the barrier work

    To CeraVe’s credit, the brand names petrolatum as a key ingredient itself — it is not hiding it. The label and the marketing are not in conflict so much as differently weighted. The label just tells you the weighting.

    Frequently asked questions

    Where do the ceramides fall in CeraVe Moisturizing Cream?
    On CeraVe’s US product page (read 2 September 2026), Ceramide NP, AP and EOP are ingredients 9, 10 and 11 of 24, ahead of the preservative at position 18.
    Is petrolatum bad for your skin?
    The evidence says the opposite for barrier support: it is an FDA-recognized OTC skin protectant and the Society of Cosmetic Chemists calls it the gold standard for reducing water loss. A 2016 study found it upregulates skin-barrier proteins.
    Are the ceramides present at only trace levels?
    No. They appear above the preservative, which suggests more than a trace. CeraVe does not publish the exact percentage, so we do not either.
    Why do different databases list the ceramides in different spots?
    A UK database shows them much lower, which is likely the EU formula; CeraVe reformulates by region. We used the brand’s US page and flagged the difference rather than choosing the more dramatic order.

    Ingredient Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods. We read labels, cite our sources, and link out at least as often as we link to ourselves. Check anything here against the list on your own tub — that is the point of the exercise.

    Nib, pencil tucked behind, gives a small satisfied nod beside the closed notebook and the tub, the magnifying glass set down — work done for the day.
    Nib’s rule of the desk: read the whole list, in order, and let the label do the talking.

  • Neutrogena Hydro Boost: Hyaluronic Acid Is the 15th Ingredient

    Neutrogena Hydro Boost is sold as a
    “Hyaluronic Acid Water Gel,” but on the original fragranced
    formula’s ingredient list, sodium hyaluronate — the INCI name for
    hyaluronic acid — sits fifteenth out of twenty, after a preservative that
    the EU caps at 1%. The gel you feel is built from silicone: dimethicone is the
    second ingredient and a dimethicone crosspolymer the fourth. The HA is really in
    there, and hyaluronic acid works even at very low levels, but the formula is a
    silicone-and-glycerin gel with the hero ingredient near the bottom of the
    list.

    Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel is one of the best-selling drugstore
    moisturizers in America — stocked prominently at every major US drugstore and
    beauty retailer, with thousands of reviews at each. Its whole identity is hyaluronic
    acid. The name is “Hyaluronic Acid Water Gel.” The marketing copy
    leads with it: “Found naturally in your skin, Hyaluronic Acid hydrates by
    binding to water.” That is the front of the jar.

    The back of the jar — the actual ingredient list, ordered roughly by
    weight down to about the 1% mark — tells a story you can check yourself in
    about a minute. We read the whole label. Here is where everything actually
    sits.

    Where does the hyaluronic acid actually land on the label?

    Here is the full list, quoted verbatim from the product page at
    Ulta.com,
    read on 1 September 2026 (HTTP 200). This is the original fragranced Water Gel
    — the bestselling variant. The same twenty names, in the same order, appear
    on the ingredients as listed at CVS.com (product page, read via search index,
    1 September 2026):

    Water, Dimethicone, Glycerin, Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylamide, Cetearyl Olivate, Sorbitan Olivate, Dimethiconol, C13-14 Isoparaffin, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, Chlorphenesin, Carbomer, Laureth-7, Sodium Hyaluronate, Ethylhexylglycerin, Fragrance, C12-14 Pareth-12, Sodium Hydroxide, Blue 1.

    Sodium Hyaluronate is the fifteenth name on that list of twenty. It appears
    after water, two silicones, glycerin, a preservative, a film-forming polymer, two
    emulsifiers, more silicone, a solvent, another silicone, a second preservative, a
    thickener and an emulsifier. On a label ordered by weight, the marketed hero
    ingredient in fifteenth place is near the bottom of the formula, not the top.

    One position tells you more than the rest. Sodium hyaluronate (#15) sits
    after phenoxyethanol (#5), a preservative the EU restricts to a maximum
    of 1% in all cosmetics (EU Annex V). If the preservative is present at 1% or
    less, everything listed below it is present at 1% or less too. So the HA is
    almost certainly under 1% of the jar. We can’t read an exact percentage off
    a label — Neutrogena has said in a retailer product Q&A that the
    percentage of each ingredient is proprietary — and the EU cap is not a US
    law, but US formulators routinely use phenoxyethanol at or below 1% as well. The
    position and the preservative both point the same way.

    Marketed hero
    Hyaluronic Acid (sodium hyaluronate)
    Position on label
    Fifteenth of twenty, after the preservative
    Building the gel
    Dimethicone (#2) and a dimethicone crosspolymer (#4)
    Source of list
    Ulta.com, read 1 Sep 2026 (HTTP 200); corroborated at CVS.com
    Nib the small round pencil-sketch creature holds a magnifying glass up to a squat blue jar labelled Hyaluronic Acid Water Gel, squinting at the tiny type on the back rather than the big words on the front.
    The front of the jar sells hyaluronic acid. Nib turns it over to find where the HA actually lands.

    So what is actually building the gel you feel?

    Two silicones near the top of the list are doing the work your fingers read as
    “water gel,” and neither is on the front of the jar.

    Dimethicone sits at position two. It is a silicone, and the
    Cosmetic Ingredient Review classifies it as a “skin-conditioning
    agent—occlusive” and antifoaming agent
    (CIR
    Final Report, Methicones, March 2022    ). It provides a smooth, non-greasy film
    and slows water loss from the skin surface. It is the primary skin-feel
    ingredient in the formula — the second-largest thing in the jar — and
    it is not hyaluronic acid.

    Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer sits at position four.
    It is a silicone elastomer. The CIR lists dimethicone crosspolymers as “film
    formers, skin-conditioning agents—emollient, slip modifiers… viscosity
    increasing agents”
    (CIR
    Final Report, Dimethicone Crosspolymers, September 2012    ). Translated: this is
    the ingredient that turns a liquid into that springy, bouncy gel texture. There
    is a third silicone gel-former, Dimethicone Crosspolymer, at position eleven.

    The gel you press into your skin is a silicone elastomer gel. The
    “water” in “water gel” is real — water is the first
    ingredient — but the springy feel is silicone, and the actual humectant
    drawing water toward your skin is glycerin at position three, not the HA at
    fifteen.

    Position Ingredient What it does
    2 Dimethicone Silicone occlusive; the smooth, non-greasy film and skin feel
    3 Glycerin Humectant; the actual water-binding workhorse here
    4 Dimethicone/Vinyl Dimethicone Crosspolymer Silicone elastomer; builds the springy gel texture
    6 Polyacrylamide Film-forming polymer; carries a residual-monomer flag (below)
    15 Sodium Hyaluronate The marketed hero; a humectant, low on the list

    None of this makes it a bad moisturizer. Dimethicone is a genuinely good
    skin-feel and occlusive ingredient, glycerin is one of the best-studied humectants
    there is, and the product feels pleasant for a reason. The point is narrower and
    fairer: it is a silicone-and-glycerin gel with a small amount of hyaluronic acid,
    sold as a hyaluronic acid gel. If you bought it for the HA, you mostly bought the
    dimethicone.

    Nib runs a pencil down a numbered ingredient list and stops near the top at two large drums marked Dimethicone and a crosspolymer, far bigger than a small droplet lower down.
    Positions two and four, both silicone. This is where the gel feel actually comes from.

    What is polyacrylamide doing at position six?

    Nine places above the hyaluronic acid, at position six, is polyacrylamide
    — a film-forming and thickening polymer. It is common, and it is legal in
    the United States. It is worth a sentence for one reason, and it is a regulatory
    note, not an alarm.

    Polyacrylamide is made from acrylamide monomer, and a tiny amount of
    unreacted monomer can remain in the finished polymer. The CIR’s safety
    assessment concluded polyacrylamide is safe as used when residual acrylamide is
    kept at or below 5 ppm in the finished formula, and it notes plainly that
    acrylamide itself is “a demonstrated neurotoxin in humans and a carcinogen
    in animal tests” — while concluding that the levels attainable from
    cosmetic use at those limits do not reach that threshold
    (CIR
    Polyacrylamide re-review, 2022    ). The EU is stricter, capping residual
    acrylamide at 0.1 ppm for leave-on products. The polymer itself does not
    penetrate skin; the residual monomer can.

    We are not going to tell you this product is dangerous — that is not
    what the CIR found and it is not ours to say. What we can tell you is what the
    regulators wrote and where the limits sit, and let you read the assessment
    yourself. No public test data for the actual monomer level in this specific
    product was available to us.

    Nib peers through the magnifying glass at a single tiny droplet marked HA at position fifteen, sitting just below a small bottle labelled Phenoxyethanol.
    The hero ingredient at fifteen, tucked in below a preservative Europe caps at one percent.

    Does the low position mean the HA does nothing?

    No — and this is where being fair matters more than being harsh.
    Hyaluronic acid is effective at strikingly low concentrations. In a 60-day
    randomized controlled trial, formulations containing just 0.1% sodium hyaluronate
    across a range of molecular weights produced statistically significant
    improvements in skin hydration and elasticity versus placebo
    (Pavicic et al., J Drugs
    Dermatol, 2011    ). So the criticism here is not “there’s
    too little HA to do anything.” A tenth of a percent can measurably do
    something.

    The honest criticism is about naming and positioning. The product is named
    for, priced on, and marketed around hyaluronic acid, while the formula that
    actually determines how it feels and behaves is led by silicone and glycerin,
    with HA as a minor component near the bottom of the list. You’re paying a
    hero-ingredient price for a supporting-ingredient amount — and mostly
    paying for dimethicone.

    Two more label notes for the careful reader. Fragrance sits at position
    seventeen; fragrance is a known contact-sensitization risk for some people, so if
    you react to scented products, this is a fragranced formula. And the springy
    blue-green tint comes from Blue 1 at the very bottom, position twenty —
    purely cosmetic. There is a separate fragrance-free Hydro Boost Gel Cream
    with an entirely different formula, in which sodium hyaluronate sits far
    higher, at position six, alongside amino acids and sodium PCA. That is a
    different product with a different story; today’s reading is the original
    fragranced Water Gel only.

    Nib taps the pencil against an open reference book, next to a small vial marked 0.1% with a checkmark, nodding thoughtfully.
    A fair note from the desk: hyaluronic acid does real work even at a tenth of a percent.

    How do you read any ingredient list this way yourself?

    The method here is not special to Neutrogena, and you do not need a chemistry
    background for it. Find the actual ingredient list — the long one, not the
    “key ingredients” callout the brand writes. Ingredients are listed in
    descending order of weight down to about the 1% mark, so where a name sits is a
    rough proxy for how much is in the jar. Then find the ingredient the front of the
    package is selling and see how far down it is. A useful shortcut: locate the
    preservative — here, phenoxyethanol, which the EU caps at 1% — and
    anything below it is present at roughly a percent or less.

    If the hero is in the top few names, the marketing and the formula agree. If
    it is fifteenth, below the preservative, they do not, and something cheaper is
    usually doing the work the label credits to the hero. If what you actually want is
    a moisturizer where the thing on the front is the thing doing the work, that is a
    different kind of product — we make a beef-tallow one, and here is exactly
    what a tallow moisturizer is and how it differs:
    what’s in a
    tallow moisturizer    . Full disclosure: Ingredient Desk is published by the team
    behind Evil Goods, so read that knowing it is ours — but it is the honest
    next question after this one.

    FAQ

    Where is the hyaluronic acid in Neutrogena Hydro Boost Water Gel?
    On the original fragranced formula, sodium hyaluronate is the fifteenth of twenty
    ingredients, listed after phenoxyethanol — a preservative the EU caps at
    1%. On a label ordered by weight, that places the HA near the bottom, most likely
    under 1%.

    What is actually building the gel in Hydro Boost?
    Silicone. Dimethicone is the second ingredient and a dimethicone/vinyl dimethicone
    crosspolymer is the fourth; a third silicone crosspolymer sits at eleven. The
    springy “water gel” texture is a silicone elastomer gel. Glycerin at
    position three is the main humectant.

    Does the low position mean there is too little HA to work?
    No. Hyaluronic acid is effective at very low levels — a 2011 randomized
    trial found measurable hydration and elasticity gains from 0.1% sodium
    hyaluronate. The fair criticism is that the product is named and priced on HA
    while the formula is led by silicone and glycerin.

    What about the polyacrylamide at position six?
    It is a film-forming polymer. The CIR found it safe as used when residual
    acrylamide monomer is kept at or below 5 ppm; the EU limit is 0.1 ppm for leave-on
    products. We link the CIR assessment so you can read the finding yourself. No
    public test data for this specific product’s monomer level was available.

    Is the fragrance-free Hydro Boost the same formula?
    No. The fragrance-free Gel Cream variant has a different formula in
    which sodium hyaluronate sits much higher, at position six, alongside amino acids
    and sodium PCA. This analysis is only about the original fragranced Water Gel.

    Nib sets down the magnifying glass, closes a little notebook titled Ingredient Desk, and gives a small satisfied nod beside the fully-read blue label.
    Label read, front claim checked against the back. The HA is real. The gel you feel is mostly silicone.

  • “Pure Epsom Salt” Is the Brand Name. Epsom Salt Is the 9th Ingredient.

    On Dr. Teal’s Body Wash with Pure Epsom Salt (Vanilla Comfort), magnesium sulfate — the “Epsom Salt” in the brand name — is the 9th ingredient of 23. It sits after three surfactants, table salt, fragrance and two botanical extracts. In this kind of rinse-off formula, cosmetic ingredient databases list magnesium sulfate’s job as viscosity control, not a skin-benefit active.

    The bottle leads with two words: Pure Epsom Salt. It’s the name of the product. So the reasonable assumption is that Epsom salt — magnesium sulfate — is the thing doing the work. The label tells a quieter story, and it’s worth reading before you decide what this body wash is to you.

    INCI read from the Ulta.com product listing (SKU 2654160) on 2026-08-31. Dr. Teal’s reformulates scents from time to time, so an older bottle in your cabinet may differ from this list.

    Nib, a small round pencil-sketch creature, holds a magnifying glass up to a tall body-wash bottle labelled Pure Epsom Salt.
    Nib reads the front of the bottle first, like everyone does. “Pure Epsom Salt” — in the brand name, no less.

    Where does magnesium sulfate actually sit on the label?

    Here is the full ingredient list, quoted verbatim from the retailer page:

    Water (Aqua, Eau), Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Cocamidopropyl Betaine, Sodium Chloride, Fragrance (Parfum), Sodium Laureth Sulfate, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Elettaria Cardamomum Seed Extract, Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt), Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice (Decolorized), Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Peg-4 Rapeseedamide, Glycerin, Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose, Sodium Peg-7 Olive Oil Carboxylate, Tetrasodium Edta, Polyquaternium-7, Citric Acid, Methylchloroisothiazolinone, Methylisothiazolinone, Sodium Hydroxide, Peg/Ppg-18/18 Dimethicone.

    Magnesium sulfate is ninth on that list, of twenty-three lines in total. Under the standard INCI convention, ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration down to the 1% mark, after which they may appear in any order. A useful rule of thumb: in a rinse-off product, fragrance usually runs somewhere between 0.01% and 1%. Fragrance is fifth here. Everything below it — including the magnesium sulfate at position nine — is very likely present at or below one percent. We can’t state the exact figure without a certificate of analysis, and we won’t pretend to; position is all the label lets us read.

    Nib turns the bottle around and squints through the magnifying glass at the small-print ingredient list on the back.
    Then Nib flips it over. The real story is always on the back, in the type nobody reads.

    What is magnesium sulfate doing in a body wash?

    This is the part that surprises people. In a surfactant system like a body wash, magnesium sulfate isn’t classified as a skin-benefit active at all. Independent ingredient databases describe its cosmetic function as bulking and viscosity control — it helps set the texture of the wash, the same practical job that Sodium Chloride (table salt, fourth on this list) is doing.

    COSMILE Europe (EU cosmetic ingredient database)
    Lists magnesium sulfate’s functions as bulking and viscosity controlling only — not as an active. This is the EU regulatory reference source.
    The Skin Formulary
    Classifies it as a viscosity controller / emulsion stabiliser.
    Incidecoder (this product line)
    Tags magnesium sulfate as viscosity controlling on Dr. Teal’s own body wash.

    None of that means the ingredient is bad, or that the product is bad. It means the mineral on the front of the bottle is, on the evidence of the label, most plausibly there in a texture-and-formula role rather than as the star of the show.

    Nib runs a pencil down a long INCI list, counting ingredients one by one, brow furrowed in concentration.
    Counting down the list with a pencil: one surfactant, two, table salt, fragrance… and still no magnesium.

    Does topical magnesium even get into the skin?

    Set the body wash aside and ask the bigger question, because it’s the one shoppers are really chasing: can magnesium applied to skin actually be absorbed? The honest answer is that the evidence is mixed and mostly built on small studies.

    • A 2017 systematic review in Nutrients concluded that transdermal magnesium is not well supported by the science: magnesium ions are water-loving and don’t readily cross the skin’s oily outer layer, and hair follicles (a possible shortcut) cover only about 0.1–1% of the skin’s surface.
    • A newer 2026 ex vivo study found minimal magnesium permeation across intact skin, rising only when the skin barrier had been deliberately disrupted — the authors note that delivery from simple water-based solutions is unlikely under normal conditions.
    • For balance, it’s not all one way: a 2016 human-skin study did find some magnesium passing through, facilitated by hair follicles, in a time- and concentration-dependent way. The effect appears real; the open question is at what scale it matters.

    A rinse-off body wash is the hardest case for that already-thin evidence, for a pair of practical reasons: skin contact is brief, and then you rinse it down the drain. We couldn’t find a single study looking specifically at magnesium delivered from a rinse-off wash. That’s not a knock on the product — it’s just the reality of what’s been tested.

    Nib points the pencil at the ninth line on the ingredient list, having finally found magnesium sulfate near the middle.
    There it is — ninth. The hero mineral, sitting below the fragrance line.

    So is the body wash worth buying?

    If you want a pleasant, fragranced body wash, this is one — the surfactants at the top of the list are what clean, and the vanilla scent is what most reviews are actually responding to. Just buy it for what it is. If your reason for reaching for it is the magnesium on the front, the label suggests that reason is doing more work in the marketing than in the bottle.

    If it’s genuinely topical magnesium you’re after, a leave-on format keeps the ingredient on your skin instead of rinsing it away, which is the more sensible way to give the (still-modest) evidence a chance to apply. Evil Goods — the team behind this site — wrote up the safety question on our own blog if you want to read where the science lands before spending anything.

    Frequently asked questions

    Is there really any Epsom salt in Dr. Teal’s body wash?
    Yes — magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) is genuinely on the ingredient list. It appears ninth of 23, after the fragrance line, which on standard INCI reading suggests it’s present at roughly one percent or less.
    Why is magnesium sulfate so far down the list?
    In a body wash it functions mainly as a bulking / viscosity-control ingredient rather than an active, so it’s used at the small level that job requires. Table salt, a few lines above it, is doing a similar texture job.
    Does the magnesium in a body wash absorb into my skin?
    The evidence for topical magnesium absorption is limited and mostly from small studies, and it’s weakest for a rinse-off product with brief skin contact. No study has tested magnesium delivery from a body wash specifically.
    Is a leave-on magnesium product better for this?
    For keeping the ingredient in contact with skin, yes — a balm or lotion stays on rather than being rinsed off. Whether that translates to a meaningful effect is still an open scientific question.
    Where did you read this ingredient list?
    From the Ulta.com listing for SKU 2654160 on 2026-08-31. We always date our reads because formulas change.
    Nib sets down the magnifying glass, holding the bottle at arm's length with a thoughtful, unbothered expression.
    Nib isn’t cross about it. It’s just useful to know where the headline ingredient actually lives before you decide what it’s worth to you.

  • Gold Bond Shea Butter Lotion: Where the Shea Actually Sits

    Gold Bond Softening Hydrating Cream & Lotion is
    sold on African Shea Butter, but on the ingredient list shea butter extract sits
    sixteenth on a list of forty-five — below petrolatum, two silicones and a
    run of emulsifiers. The ingredients actually holding moisture in your skin are
    petrolatum at position seven and dimethicone at position four, neither of which
    the brand features on the front. The shea is present, low on the list, as an
    extract that the industry safety data reports at up to 5% in leave-on
    products.

    Gold Bond’s Softening Cream is one of the most widely stocked body
    lotions in America, and its whole pitch is shea. The brand’s own product
    page lists “African Shea Butter” first among its Key Ingredients,
    alongside cocoa butter, coconut oil and a handful of vitamins. That is the front
    of the bottle. The back of the bottle — the actual ingredient list, which
    is ordered roughly by weight down to about the 1% mark — tells a different
    story, and it is a story you can check yourself in about a minute.

    We read the whole label. Here is where everything actually sits.

    Where does the shea butter actually land on the label?

    Here is the full list, quoted verbatim from the product page at
    goldbond.com, read on 30
    August 2026. The brand’s FAQ confirms this is the same formula previously
    sold as Gold Bond Ultimate Softening — only the name changed — and
    that the cream and lotion share it:

    Water, Glycerin, Hydroxyethyl Urea, Dimethicone, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Jojoba Esters, Petrolatum, Steareth-21, Cetyl Alcohol, Distearyldimonium Chloride, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Stearyl Alcohol, Cyclopentasiloxane, Cetearyl Alcohol, Behentrimonium Methosulfate, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract, Glyceryl Stearate, Methyl Gluceth-20, Theobroma Cacao (Cocoa) Seed Butter, Silk Amino Acids, Panthenol, Ceramide NG, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Magnesium Ascorbyl Phosphate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Retinyl Palmitate, Hydrolyzed Jojoba Esters, Palmitoyl Hexapeptide-12, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Extract, Acacia Farnesiana Flower Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, PEG-10 Phytosterol, Butylene Glycol, Dimethiconol, C12-15 Alkyl Benzoate, Propylene Glycol, Stearamidopropyl PG-Dimonium Chloride Phosphate, Polysorbate 60, EDTA, Methylparaben, Fragrance, Potassium Hydroxide, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Extract, Isopropyl Myristate, Tribehenin.

    Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter Extract is the sixteenth name on that
    list, which runs to forty-five entries in all. It appears after water, glycerin, a urea
    humectant, dimethicone, coconut oil, jojoba esters, petrolatum, five emulsifiers
    and conditioners, aloe, and a second silicone. On a label ordered by weight, a
    hero ingredient in sixteenth place is in the lower half of the formula, not the
    top.

    One more detail matters. The label does not say “shea butter.” It
    says shea butter extract — a diluted or fractionated form rather
    than the raw butter. The Cosmetic Ingredient Review’s safety assessment
    reports that this extract form is used at up to 5% in leave-on skin products
    (CIR
    Safety Review, shea butter, 2016    ). We cannot read an exact percentage off a
    label — no brand is required to disclose one — but the position and
    the “extract” wording both point the same way: this is a small
    fraction of the bottle, marketed as the main event.

    Marketed hero
    African Shea Butter
    Position on label
    Sixteenth of forty-five names (as “shea butter extract”)
    Doing the moisturizing
    Petrolatum (#7) and dimethicone (#4)
    Source of list
    goldbond.com, read 30 Aug 2026 (HTTP 200)
    Nib the round pencil-sketch creature holds a magnifying glass up to a tall lotion bottle whose front reads African Shea Butter, squinting at the tiny type on the back.
    The front of the bottle says shea butter. Nib flips it over to see where the shea actually lands.

    So what is actually moisturizing your skin?

    Two names near the top of the list are doing the heavy lifting, and
    neither is on the front of the bottle.

    Petrolatum sits at position seven. It is the most effective
    occlusive in the formula by a wide margin. In the Journal of Cosmetic
    Science    , a review notes that petrolatum “is one of the most common and
    effective occlusive agents,” slowing water loss measured as
    transepidermal water loss (TEWL) by more than 50%, while certain other oils
    reduce it by less than 20%
    (Journal of Cosmetic Science,
    vol. 73    ). That is the mechanism behind “softening hydrating”: a
    thin occlusive film that stops your own water from evaporating. Shea butter is a
    gentler occlusive; petrolatum is the one carrying the result.

    Dimethicone sits at position four. It is a silicone
    film-former, and it is where the silky, non-greasy slip comes from — the
    reason a petrolatum-heavy lotion feels light instead of like a jar of ointment.
    It is doing real work on the skin-feel that makes the product pleasant to use.
    It is also, again, not one of the ingredients the front of the bottle asks you
    to buy the product for.

    Position Ingredient What it does
    4 Dimethicone Silicone film-former; the silky slip and non-greasy feel
    7 Petrolatum The main occlusive; slows water loss by more than 50%
    13 Cyclopentasiloxane (D5) Volatile silicone; spreads then evaporates
    16 Shea butter extract The marketed hero; a gentle emollient, low on the list
    19 Cocoa seed butter Also on the front label; sits even lower

    None of this makes it a bad lotion. Petrolatum is a genuinely good occlusive
    and dimethicone is a genuinely good skin-feel ingredient. The point is narrower
    and fairer: the formula is a petrolatum-and-silicone moisturizer with a modest
    amount of shea extract, sold as a shea butter moisturizer. If you bought it for
    the shea, you mostly bought the petrolatum.

    Nib runs a pencil down a long numbered ingredient list and stops at two jars near the top marked Petrolatum and Dimethicone, both larger than the small shea nut lower down.
    Positions four and seven, doing the real occlusive work. Neither one is on the front of the bottle.

    What is cyclopentasiloxane doing at position thirteen?

    Three places above the shea, at position thirteen, is cyclopentasiloxane
    — a volatile silicone usually called D5. It is a spreading agent: it
    carries the formula across the skin and then evaporates, leaving the other
    ingredients behind. It is common and it is legal in the United States.

    It is worth a sentence because Europe is treating it differently. The EU has
    classified D5 as very persistent and very bioaccumulative and is restricting it
    to no more than 0.1% in leave-on cosmetics from 6 June 2027, having already
    restricted it in rinse-off products
    (EU
    Regulation 2024/1328    ). We are not going to tell you it is dangerous —
    that is the regulator’s call, not ours, and the US FDA has not restricted
    it. What we can tell you is that an ingredient sitting above the marketed hero in
    a US leave-on lotion is one the EU is actively phasing out of that same category.
    Read the regulation and decide for yourself.

    Nib peers at a single small bottle marked D5 at position thirteen, holding the magnifying glass close and glancing at a folder stamped with an EU flag.
    A volatile silicone at thirteen that Europe is phasing out of leave-on products by 2027.

    Should the vitamins and cocoa butter on the front change your mind?

    The Key Ingredients callout also names cocoa butter and vitamins A, C and E.
    Cocoa seed butter is at position nineteen — below the shea. The vitamins
    are lower still: magnesium ascorbyl phosphate (a vitamin C derivative) at
    twenty-four, tocopheryl acetate (vitamin E) at twenty-five, retinyl palmitate (a
    vitamin A ester) at twenty-six. These are real ingredients, and at those
    positions they are present in small amounts. That is normal for a mass-market
    lotion; it is only worth flagging because every one of them is on the front of
    the bottle, and every one of them sits in the back third of the list.

    If what you actually want from a body moisturizer is a short list where the
    occlusive doing the work is the thing on the front, that is a different kind of
    product. We wrote about the trade-off between a long lotion INCI and a
    single-ingredient occlusive in
    Tallow vs. Lotion:
    What’s Actually in the Bottle     — that is our own site (Ingredient
    Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods), so read it knowing that, but
    it is the honest next question after this one.

    Nib taps the pencil against a cluster of tiny vitamin drops sitting far down the label, well below the shea nut, each one small.
    Cocoa butter and the vitamins are on the front too. On the back they sit in the final third.

    How do you read any ingredient list this way yourself?

    The method here is not special to Gold Bond, and you do not need a chemistry
    background for it. Find the actual ingredient list — the long one on the
    back or the tab the brand buries below the marketing copy, not the Key
    Ingredients callout. Ingredients are listed in descending order of weight down to
    about the 1% mark, so where a name sits is a rough proxy for how much is in the
    jar. Then find the ingredient the front of the bottle is selling, and see how far
    down it is. If the hero is in the top few names, the marketing and the formula
    agree. If it is sixteenth, they do not, and something cheaper and more effective
    is usually doing the work the label credits to the hero.

    That is the whole trick, and it is why an ingredient list ordered by weight is
    one of the few pieces of genuinely honest information on a cosmetic package. The
    brand chooses the front. The regulator sets the order of the back.

    FAQ

    Where is the shea butter in Gold Bond Softening Hydrating lotion?
    Sixteenth on a list of forty-five, written as “shea butter extract,”
    below petrolatum, dimethicone and a second silicone. On a label ordered by
    weight, that places it in the lower half of the formula.

    What is actually moisturizing in Gold Bond Softening lotion?
    Petrolatum at position seven is the main occlusive — it slows water loss
    more effectively than most oils. Dimethicone at position four gives the light,
    silky feel. Both sit above the shea, and neither is on the front label.

    Is Gold Bond Ultimate Softening the same as Softening Hydrating?
    Yes. The brand’s FAQ states the name changed from Ultimate Softening to
    Softening Hydrating with no change to the formula, and the cream and lotion share
    that formula.

    Should I worry about the cyclopentasiloxane in it?
    It is a volatile spreading silicone, legal in the US and unrestricted by the FDA.
    The EU has classified it as very persistent and very bioaccumulative and is
    restricting it in leave-on cosmetics from June 2027. We link the regulation so
    you can read it and decide.

    Is Gold Bond Softening a bad lotion?
    No. Petrolatum and dimethicone are effective, well-tolerated ingredients. The
    honest criticism is narrower: it is a petrolatum-and-silicone moisturizer with a
    small amount of shea extract, marketed as a shea butter product.

    Nib sets down the magnifying glass, closes a little notebook titled Ingredient Desk, and gives a small satisfied nod beside the fully-read label.
    Label read, front claim checked against the back. The shea is real. It is just not the one doing the lifting.

  • The Ordinary Copper Peptide Serum: Reading the Whole Label

    The Ordinary’s Multi-Peptide + Copper Peptides 1%
    lists Copper Tripeptide-1 at the fourth position on a long label, with 1%
    disclosed. The hero is genuinely near the top and the brand tells you the
    concentration — which is more than most copper peptide serums do. The
    story is not a buried active. It is what fills the positions below it, and one
    small ingredient near the bottom that decides whether any of it reaches your
    skin.

    Most of the “read the label” pieces we write here end with the
    marketed hero sitting embarrassingly far down the ingredient list, somewhere
    below the preservatives. This one does not, and that is exactly why it is worth
    reading. The Ordinary put the copper peptide where it belongs and told you how
    much is in there. So the interesting question changes. When the active is real
    and the concentration is honest, what does the rest of a very long
    label tell you?

    We read every name on the label, top to bottom. Here is what it says.

    Nib the round pencil-sketch creature holds a magnifying glass up to a tall serum bottle labelled with the number 49, squinting at the tiny type.
    Forty-nine names on one label. Nib starts at the top, where the copper peptide actually lives.

    Where does the copper peptide actually sit?

    Here is the full list, quoted verbatim as it appears on the product page at
    Ulta,
    read on 29 August 2026 (a matching list appears at another major retailer,
    dated 15 August 2026):

    Aqua (Water), Glycerin, Lactococcus Ferment Lysate, Copper Tripeptide-1, Acetyl Hexapeptide-8, Pentapeptide-18, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1, Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7, Palmitoyl Tripeptide-38, Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate, Acetylarginyltryptophyl Diphenylglycine, Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer, Sodium Hyaluronate, Allantoin, Glycine, Alanine, Serine, Valine, Isoleucine, Proline, Threonine, Histidine, Phenylalanine, Arginine, Aspartic Acid, Trehalose, Fructose, Glucose, Maltose, Urea, Sodium PCA, PCA, Sodium Lactate, Citric Acid, Hydroxypropyl Cyclodextrin, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Hydroxide, Butylene Glycol, Pentylene Glycol, Acacia Senegal Gum, Xanthan Gum, Carbomer, Polysorbate 20, Dimethyl Isosorbide, Sodium Benzoate, Caprylyl Glycol, Ethylhexylglycerin, Phenoxyethanol, Chlorphenesin.

    Copper Tripeptide-1 — GHK-Cu, the molecule the whole product is named
    after — is fourth on the list, right behind water, glycerin and a
    postbiotic ferment. The label states 1%. On a label, where things are ordered
    roughly by weight down to about the 1% mark, fourth place with a disclosed
    percentage is close to the best a shopper can hope for. The copper is there,
    near the top, and you are told how much. Credit where it is due.

    Marketed hero
    Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu)
    Position on label
    Fourth from the top
    Concentration disclosed?
    Yes — 1% stated on the label
    Source of list
    Ulta product page, read 29 Aug 2026; corroborated at a second major retailer, 15 Aug 2026

    The reason copper peptides get talked about at all is that the biology is not
    imaginary. In a review of the GHK-Cu literature, Pickart and Margolina describe
    the peptide stimulating fibroblast activity and collagen and elastin
    production in skin, with small clinical studies reporting improved skin density
    over twelve weeks of use
    (Pickart & Margolina, 2018).
    That is a genuine evidence base, and it is why the ingredient is worth putting
    near the top of a label rather than a fingernail of it near the bottom. So far,
    so good.

    Nib runs a pencil down a long numbered ingredient list, tapping position four where a bright coin-shaped copper mark sits near the top.
    Position four, one percent, printed in plain sight. For once the hero is not hiding.

    What fills positions 15 to 29?

    This is where the label gets more talkative. Positions fifteen through
    twenty-five are eleven amino acids in a row: glycine, alanine, serine, valine,
    isoleucine, proline, threonine, histidine, phenylalanine, arginine and aspartic
    acid. Positions twenty-six through twenty-nine are four sugars: trehalose,
    fructose, glucose and maltose. Add urea and the sodium PCA / PCA / sodium
    lactate cluster just after, and a large stretch of the middle of this formula is
    one thing: Natural Moisturizing Factor components.

    None of that is a bad ingredient. NMF compounds are the humectants your own
    skin already uses to hold water at the surface, and they do a real, modest job.
    But a couple of points are worth saying plainly. First, they are among the cheapest
    inputs in a cosmetic chemist’s cabinet — amino acids and simple sugars are
    commodity bulk. Second, a long stretch of the label — roughly a third of
    every slot on it — is taken up doing surface hydration that a much shorter
    humectant system could cover. That is not deception. It is a formula padded out
    with inexpensive, plentiful material, and the label makes it plain.

    Label positions What sits there What it does
    4 Copper Tripeptide-1 (1%) The marketed hero; real evidence base
    5–11 Seven further peptides Below 1% each, by position
    15–25 Eleven amino acids Surface hydration; cheap commodity bulk
    26–29 Four sugars More NMF-family hydration; cheap
    44 Dimethyl Isosorbide Penetration helper — but near the bottom
    Final block Five preservatives Formula stability, not actives
    Nib stands beside a stacked column of eleven identical little amino-acid blocks and four round sugar cubes, counting them on stubby fingers with a puzzled look.
    Eleven amino acids and four sugars in a row. Cheap, tidy, and occupying a third of the label.

    Can the copper peptide actually get where it needs to go?

    Here is the part of the label that made us stop. A GHK-Cu molecule is small
    — about 340 daltons, under the rough 500-dalton ceiling for passive skin
    penetration — but it is also charged, and charged peptides struggle to
    cross intact skin regardless of size. Work summarised by specialist writers
    citing Li and colleagues describes near-zero permeation of GHK-Cu through intact
    human skin without help, with meaningful amounts reaching the dermis only after
    the skin barrier was physically breached
    (research summary, EvenSkyn, 2026;
    the underlying primary source is Li et al. in Pharmaceutical Research).

    So the single dedicated penetration enhancer on the label matters a great deal.
    Dimethyl Isosorbide sits at position forty-four — below the
    thickeners, below the emulsifiers, near the very end of the label.
    Penetration enhancers of that type are commonly used at something like 10–20%
    to genuinely shift a hard-to-absorb active across the barrier. At position
    forty-four, the amount present is almost certainly far lower than that.

    We are careful here: you cannot read an exact percentage off a list, and at a
    low level Dimethyl Isosorbide may be doing a perfectly sensible job as a
    solubiliser for other ingredients rather than as a delivery vehicle for the
    copper. What the label can tell you is that this formula does not appear to lean
    hard on penetration enhancement to carry GHK-Cu into the skin. Whether that
    matters for the result is an open question the ingredient list cannot close.

    Nib peers at a single small bottle marked D M I sitting alone near the very bottom of the list, holding the magnifying glass close and raising an eyebrow.
    The one penetration helper sits at forty-four. Nib wonders whether there is enough of it to matter.

    Is the preservative system the real irritation story?

    The last five names on the label — sodium benzoate, caprylyl glycol,
    ethylhexylglycerin, phenoxyethanol and chlorphenesin — are the
    preservative system, and phenoxyethanol is the name ingredient-savvy communities
    argue about most. Copper peptides themselves can, in a minority of people, cause
    mild transient irritation, and copper contact allergy is real but uncommon, so a
    patch test is sensible for anyone with metal-sensitive skin
    (GHK-Cu tolerability overview, Klow, 2026).

    The point worth holding onto is that when someone reports a serum “broke
    me out,” the peptide is not automatically the culprit. A stack of five
    preservatives is a more common source of reactive skin than a well-tolerated
    tripeptide. If you are sensitive, patch-test on the inner forearm for a few days
    before it goes near your face — and if you react, the preservative block
    gives you several other suspects before you blame the copper.

    So is it worth it, and what does a different formula look like?

    On its own terms, this is an honest product. The active is real, near the top,
    and quantified. The rest of the label is cheap NMF hydration and a competent
    preservative system, with a delivery question hanging over the whole thing that
    the ingredient list raises but cannot answer. If you want an affordable, widely
    stocked copper peptide serum and you understand that a large share of the formula
    is inexpensive humectant bulk, it is a defensible buy.

    What would you change if you were reading this label as a formulator?
    Probably fewer commodity NMF placeholders and a harder look at delivery. That is
    the thinking behind the copper peptide serum we make —
    Evil Goods’ Copper Peptide Blue Honey Serum (our product),
    built around copper peptides, hyaluronic acid, Manuka honey and niacinamide. In
    fairness we owe you the same scrutiny we just applied: The Ordinary discloses its
    1%, and Evil Goods does not publish a copper concentration for ours, so on that
    one measure of transparency they are ahead of us. If you are weighing a serum
    against a cream for copper peptides, we walk through the trade-off in
    serum versus cream.
    Ingredient Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods, so read our
    comparisons knowing that.

    FAQ

    Where is the copper peptide in The Ordinary Multi-Peptide + Copper
    Peptides 1%?
    Fourth on the label, with 1% disclosed — near the top, and quantified.
    That is unusually transparent for the category.

    Why are there so many amino acids and sugars in it?
    Positions fifteen through twenty-nine are eleven amino acids and four sugars,
    all Natural Moisturizing Factor components. They provide real surface hydration
    and are among the cheapest ingredients available, which is how a formula ends up
    with a long run of them.

    Will the copper peptide actually absorb?
    GHK-Cu is small but charged, and research summaries citing Li et al. describe
    near-zero permeation through intact skin without help. The formula’s one
    penetration enhancer, Dimethyl Isosorbide, sits at position forty-four, which
    suggests a low level. The ingredient list raises the question but cannot answer
    it.

    Could this serum irritate my skin?
    A minority of people get mild transient irritation from copper peptides, and
    copper contact allergy is uncommon but real, so patch-test if your skin is
    metal-sensitive. The stack of five preservatives is also a plausible
    source of reactions.

    Is The Ordinary being honest with this label?
    On the hero ingredient, yes — disclosed position and concentration. The
    open questions are the share of cheap NMF bulk and the delivery of the active,
    neither of which the brand hides; they are simply readable off the label.

    Nib sets down the magnifying glass, closes a little notebook titled Ingredient Desk, and gives a small satisfied nod beside the fully-read label.
    Label read, bottom to top. The copper is real. The question is everything sitting around it.

  • What Does ‘Aluminum-Free’ Actually Tell You About a Deodorant?

    “Aluminum-free” tells you one thing a deodorant
    leaves out. It does not tell you what the formula is built from, or where the
    ingredients the marketing leans on actually sit. On the label of one of the
    best-selling aluminum-free sticks, the shea butter and coconut oil the brand
    names on the front appear seventh and ninth in a fourteen-item list — after
    the fragrance. The absence of aluminum is real. The “skin-loving” story is
    mostly at the bottom of the jar.

    Aluminum-free is one of the loudest phrases in the deodorant aisle, and it
    is doing something specific and legitimate: aluminum salts are the active in
    antiperspirants, the ingredient that actually blocks sweat. A deodorant without
    them does not stop you sweating; it works on odor instead. That is a real,
    honest distinction. The trouble is that the phrase has quietly come to stand in
    for “clean,” “gentle,” and “good for your skin” — qualities it does not
    measure at all.

    The only way to answer those is to read the ingredient list. So let us read
    one.

    What does the label on a real aluminum-free stick say?

    Here is the full INCI list for Native’s reformulated aluminum-free stick,
    quoted verbatim from two public retailer listings — the Ocean & Timber
    and Cashmere & Rain scents on Hannaford’s grocery site, both read on 28
    August 2026. Both scents carry the identical base:

    Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Stearyl Behenate, Magnesium Oxide, Tapioca Starch, Cyclodextrin, Fragrance, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Tribehenin, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil, Piroctone Olamine, Bisabolol, Oryza Sativa (Rice) Bran Wax, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract.

    An INCI list is ordered by concentration down to 1%, so position is
    information. The leading items on the list — a lightweight emollient oil,
    a wax, magnesium oxide and tapioca starch — are the structure and the
    odor-and-moisture control. That is a perfectly reasonable way to build a
    deodorant. Nothing here is a problem.

    What is worth noticing is where the ingredients the brand advertises land.
    The product page describes it as “made with naturally-derived ingredients you
    can feel good about, like shea butter and coconut oil.” On the label,
    Butyrospermum Parkii (shea butter) is seventh and Cocos
    Nucifera     (coconut) oil is ninth — both below Fragrance at position
    six. In a formula ordered by weight, that means each of the two hero
    ingredients is present at less than the fragrance is, and the fragrance is
    already into the tail of the list. This is not a scandal. It is simply the gap
    between what a front-of-pack line implies and what the label states.

    Pencil sketch of a small creature admiring the front of a cosmetic jar
    The front of the jar is a marketing document.

    Is the fragrance in a natural deodorant worth a second look?

    Fragrance sitting at position six is the line most worth pausing on, and not
    because “fragrance” is a dirty word. It is because deodorants are, specifically,
    one of the product categories dermatology literature flags most often for
    fragrance contact allergy.

    The numbers are worth stating with their strength rather than rounded up.
    In the general population, roughly 0.7–4.5% of adults show a positive
    patch test to standard fragrance markers, depending on the study and the panel
    used
    (Allergic
    Contact Dermatitis to Fragrances, PubMed 32475515    ). Among patients who are
    patch-tested because a rash sent them to a dermatologist, that figure
    rises to somewhere between 5% and 25%
    (American
    Contact Dermatitis Society review, Fragrances: Contact Allergy and Other Adverse
    Effects    ). The European Commission’s independent scientific committee puts it
    plainly: perfumes and deodorants are the most frequent sources of fragrance
    sensitization in women
    (European
    Commission, Perfume Allergies    ).

    Most people who wear a fragranced deodorant will be completely fine. But if
    you are one of the minority who reacts, an underarm — warm, occluded,
    freshly shaved — is close to the worst place to find out. That is a real,
    sourced reason a fragrance-sensitive person might prefer a fragrance-free stick,
    and it has nothing to do with the aluminum question the front of the pack is
    answering.

    Pencil sketch of the creature turning the jar around to squint at the back
    The back of it is the actual one.

    Does “baking soda free” mean the same on every stick?

    The claim
    “Baking soda free” is a common front-of-pack line on
    natural deodorants, because sodium bicarbonate is a well-known underarm
    irritant for some people at the pH it sits at.
    The catch
    It is a per-formula claim, not a per-brand one. Native’s
    reformulated stick above carries no sodium bicarbonate. But some of the same
    brand’s older or scent-specific formulas historically listed it, and other
    “natural” brands still do. The phrase on one box does not travel to the box next
    to it.
    The check
    Read the ingredient list on the exact product you are
    holding, not the brand’s reputation. “Sodium Bicarbonate” is baking soda; if it
    is in the list, the stick contains it whatever the marketing says elsewhere.

    We have written before about a stick whose own label contradicted its
    “baking soda free” flag — a good reminder that the two live in different
    places on the package and are not automatically consistent.

    Pencil sketch of the creature reading a label through a jeweller's loupe
    Ingredient lists run in order of weight. That is the whole trick.

    How should you actually read an aluminum-free label?

    Four habits get you most of the way, and none of them require chemistry:

    What the front says What it actually claims Where to verify it
    Aluminum-free No aluminum salts — so it is a deodorant, not
    an antiperspirant. Says nothing about gentleness.    		 True by definition if
    labelled; check it is a deodorant, not that it “detoxes.”
    Made with shea butter / coconut oil Those ingredients are
    present. Not that they are present at a meaningful level.    		 Their position
    in the INCI list — near the top means a lot, near the bottom means a
    trace.
    Baking soda free This formula omits sodium bicarbonate. Scan the list for “Sodium Bicarbonate” on the exact product.
    For sensitive skin A marketing position, not a regulated
    term.    		 Look for fragrance; a fragrance-free stick is the safer bet if you
    react.

    If you have reacted to fragranced sticks before and want a tallow-based
    option built around fat rather than starch-and-wax, our own
    Evil Goods Tallow
    Deodorant     is one alternative — and yes, this site is published by the
    team behind Evil Goods, so treat that as us pointing at our own shelf. It is a
    deodorant, not an antiperspirant, for the same reason every aluminum-free stick
    is: no aluminum salts, so it does not block sweat. Read its list the same
    sceptical way you would read anyone else’s.

    Pencil sketch of the creature at a desk working down an enormous unrolled list
    Counting down to where the hero ingredient actually lands.

    The bottom line

    “Aluminum-free” is a true and useful thing to know: it tells you the product
    is a deodorant, not an antiperspirant. It is just not the whole label. The
    concentration story, the fragrance question, and the baking-soda question all
    live further down the list, in the order the ingredients are printed —
    which is exactly where most shoppers never look. Reading three lines of INCI
    tells you more than the biggest word on the front ever will.

    FAQ

    Does aluminum-free mean the deodorant is safer?
    It means no aluminum salts, so it works on odor rather than blocking sweat. It
    does not measure irritation, allergy risk, or ingredient quality — those
    depend on the rest of the list, not on the aluminum claim.

    Why do shea butter and coconut oil sometimes appear low on the
    list?
    Because INCI lists are ordered by concentration down to 1%. An ingredient named
    on the front but printed near the bottom is present at a low level. That is
    legal and common; it just means the marketing is louder than the dose.

    Is fragrance in a deodorant a problem?
    For most people, no. But deodorants are among the products most often linked to
    fragrance contact allergy in dermatology data, so if you have reacted before, a
    fragrance-free stick is the lower-risk choice.

    How do I check if a “baking soda free” deodorant really is?

    Scan the ingredient list on that exact product for “Sodium Bicarbonate,”
    which is baking soda. The claim is per-formula, so it will not always match
    across a brand’s whole range.

    Ingredient Desk is published by the team behind Evil Goods. We read the
    labels either way — including our own.

    Pencil sketch of the creature tipping the jar upside down; a single drop falls into a teaspoon
    The hero ingredient, actual size.