I’ve mentioned it in previous Skin Talk posts, but this topic deserves its own post.
Alcohol comes in many forms when you’re talking about skincare and cosmetics. Sometimes, it comes in benign forms (like the following) that help bring moisture to the skin:
Lauryl alcohol
Cetyl alcohol
Cetearyl alcohol
But when they come in the following forms, they are extremely drying and irritating for your skin. Beware of the following forms of alcohol on the ingredient list:
Ethanol
Denatured alcohol
Ethyl alcohol
Methanol
Benzyl alcohol
Isopropyl
SD alcohol
Denatured alcohol also shows up as “Alcohol Denat.” on packging. If you see any of these on the ingredients list, put the product down! It doesn’t matter what other benefits the item will bring to your skin if it’s also going to irritate it and cause free-radical damage. The only exception you should make is if they’re at the end of the ingredients list, in which case there may not be enough of it to affect the skin.
Be bright, be beautiful!
Isopropyl alcohol is listed as damaging to your skin, but in the DIY: Brush Cleaner post you recommend it for cleaning brushes. Does the alcohol only negatively affect your skin when directly applied?
The alcohol doesn’t come into contact with your skin. It’s a brush cleaner, so you will wash it off before drying and using the brush.
Ohh I see. Thank you for clearing that up
You’re welcome.
I am constantly amazed at the vast number of skincare products and cosmetics that have the “bad” alcohols listed as one of the first 5 ingredients. What are the companies thinking??