How to read the ingredient list of your cosmetic products?

In cosmetics, it is mandatory to list the ingredients on the product. This list is called the INCI list (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). It is not written any old how, and as a European brand, the European Directive imposes many rules on us that we must respect (under penalty of reprisals that can be very costly). But for you, the consumer, it is quite tedious to decipher, yet it is essential to understand what you are applying to your skin. At Cahé, we have developed products with short formulas! Whether it's our Beauty Oils or The Crème de la Crème, everything is explained in the product sheets to help you find your way!

Here are a few things to know:

The ingredients in a cosmetic product are listed in order of importance

Ingredients are listed in descending order, meaning from the most present in the product to the least present. The first ingredients listed are therefore present in large quantities in the product. It's worth noting that, in emulsions particularly, the first two ingredients often represent nearly 50% of the formula, which is huge. This is also the case for the composition of our "Crème de la Crème" cream. It was therefore essential for us to offer you a clean and effective cream without "filler" ingredients that don't do much. Our first two ingredients are 100% natural:

Aloe vera juice which we love for its hydrating effect

Orange blossom known for its antioxidant effect, skin radiance, and delicious scent

You've probably seen the term aqua as the first ingredient in your creams. This is simply water, which means that your product contains the largest quantity of... water. It's an excellent solvent, used for years, but, between us, it's also a very, very inexpensive ingredient.

Also note that ingredients present at less than 1% in the product can be placed in the order desired by the manufacturer (i.e., the brand). If you have 0.8% fragrance and 0.4% jojoba oil, we can place the jojoba before the fragrance.

The quantity of ingredients is not everything

Active ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid (or sodium hyaluronate on the INCI list), are sometimes at the end of the list. If you've followed the previous point, this means they represent a small percentage in the product. However, this does not mean they will be ineffective. Indeed, active ingredients are created and tested in laboratories and then used during product manufacturing. Technical sheets for these ingredients (their "identity cards," if you will) contain concentration indications for laboratories to use them correctly.

For example, if we take the example of the hyaluronic acid present in our "Crème de la Crème" cream, its minimum effective concentration is only 0.1%! We added a little more because we are generous (we can't tell you the exact percentage, that's our manufacturing secret). Even if this figure seems small, our cream is super hydrating.

In Latin or English: this allows you to read the INCI list anywhere in the world. Although Latin isn't really easy! We've all seen butynospermum parkii and thought "what the heck?", but it's simply the Latin name for shea butter (yes, it's that simple). As if it wasn't already hard enough to know what's in our products, INCI lists are written in Latin. Sometimes, we find terms in English, which is already easier (normally).

"Easy" terms to understand in the ingredient list

I advise you to identify certain terms in the ingredient list of a cosmetic product, especially those in English, which can be easily recognized:

Flower water: floral water
Seed oil: oil for oil and seed for seed, so it's a vegetable oil derived from a seed or pit
Radish root ferment: fermented radish root (and I'm far from "fluent in English")
Gum: these are gelling agents (think of the texture of chewing gum)

Don't (always) be fooled by scary-sounding terms. For example, in our cream, Citric acid is simply a natural pH adjuster derived from lemon.

At Cahé, we believe it is also our role as a brand to be transparent about our compositions. You will therefore find all descriptions for each ingredient as well as our formulations in French.

Applications for deciphering cosmetic product ingredients

In the early 2000s, scandals about endocrine disruptors shook up the cosmetics market. Consumers began to pay attention to what they were applying to their skin. This is when the natural cosmetics market developed, to become almost a standard in beauty today.

To best decipher this famous INCI list, many applications have emerged, such as Yuka, Clean Beauty, Mireille App, etc. This is a good alternative to avoid hours of research on each ingredient that makes up your product. However, I encourage you not to believe everything written there. Take a step back and form your own opinion, because applications only decipher one ingredient and not the product as a whole. Furthermore, the human, local, and/or ethical aspects are not taken into account in the final rating.

I recommend the CLAIRE application, created by the Fédération des Entreprises de la Beauté (FEBEA). It provides information sheets for nearly 25,000 ingredients used in cosmetics. It scans the list of ingredients on the product (and not the barcode), which allows you to genuinely see the ingredients present in the product. Importantly, it does not rate products, so it's up to you to judge and make your own choice.

Tips: And also, Google is often your friend. Even if you pay attention to the source, for the slightest doubt, you can ask Google.

Reminder on Greenwashing: It is important to decipher ingredient lists, especially to avoid being fooled by greenwashing (you know, when your cream is decorated with green, flowers, and natural terms, and sometimes the product is not as clean as they want you to believe). So we keep in mind that:

Green is not necessarily a sign of eco-responsibility
Flowers and trees are not necessarily a sign of naturalness
Mentions like "based on natural ingredients" do not mean the product is 100% clean
"Free-from" claims sometimes hide something (why talk about what the product doesn't have?)
Mentions like "based on organic fruit oil" do not mean the product is organic, but only the mentioned fruit oil is.

Some ingredients to avoid

Letters + numbers: these are often chemically modified ingredients, which can be harmful and bad for the environment, such as PEG-101 for example
Mineral oils: derived from petrochemicals, they are very polluting. These are paraffinum liquidum, petrolatum, mineral oil...
Silicones: they end in -one or -xane and are bad for the environment and of no benefit to the skin.

Personally, I pay attention to ensure that fragrance is not high on the list, as this means it is present in large quantities in the product and can irritate my skin. But that is entirely personal.

The ingredients to avoid are therefore primarily those that you, personally, do not want! Indeed, if you are allergic to lavender essential oil, it will then be on your list of ingredients to ban. If you are vegan, honey is on your list. If you are pregnant, you will avoid other ingredients, and your list will evolve. Everyone is different and does not have the same needs or beliefs, and that's okay! ☺

If you want to go further, I recommend the book "Adoptez la Slow cosmétique" by Julien Kaibeck. It is very comprehensive, simple, and delves deeply into the subject to guide you towards more responsible and healthy cosmetics. You can also request your free E-book on the Slow Cosmétique website.

Reminder about labels: they do not guarantee that the product is harmless, but certain ingredients, especially those bad for the environment, will not be present in your product.

To recap: