A Look at Skin Care Ingredients and Terminology

If you’re new to the world of do-it-yourself skin care, then sometimes the terminology that is used can seem quite daunting. Words like cosmeceuticals, skin actives, and active ingredients may seem unfamiliar. Then of course there is learning about the skin care ingredients themselves and trying to learn how they fit and what their benefits can be to you.

Getting familiar with the world of cosmetics and skin care doesn’t have to be difficult. To help you get started we have put together this brief guide to common terms you’ll find. This isn’t a definitive list of terminology. Moreover it will give you a start in understanding articles and recipes that you find for DIY skin care.

Cosmeceuticals, Active Ingredients, and Skin Actives

First let’s take a look at three very common terms in the world of skin care. All three of these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, but each one does have a slightly different meaning.

Comeceuticals – The term cosmeceuticals refers to products that have both cosmetic and pharmaceutical benefits (it’s also a combination of those two words). As an example White Willow Bark extract is used for exfoliating (a cosmetic benefit). It also provides sebum control (a pharmaceutical benefit). The term may be applied to a single ingredient or a whole product, and it is often used in cosmetic advertising.

Active Ingredients – The active ingredients in any skin care recipe are those ingredients that actually serve a purpose related to skin care. Most recipes will include several ingredients to make a cream or scrub, and only one or two active ingredients.

Skin Actives – Here’s a term that you will find often in the world of cosmetics and skin care. The term “skin actives” is often used to refer to the active ingredients in many recipes. It is also included in the name of a number of cosmetic products, brands, and used in cosmetic advertising.

Other Important Terms Related to Skin Care Ingredients

There are also other terms you will find often when reading about skin care. If you browse any ingredient on our site, it shows that skin care ingredient’s properties in a list. Here are the quick definitions of some of the most common terms (as they apply to skin care ingredients).

Antioxidant - any substance capable of reducing oxidization and counteracting the damaging effects of oxidization on the skin.

Anti-inflammatory – any substance capable of reducing and/or preventing swelling in the skin

Skin elasticity – Refers to the ability of the skin to pull itself tight. As we age there is a fall in elasticity which often results in the formation of wrinkles.

Capillary health – any substance capable of promoting blood flow and cellular regeneration of the capillaries in the skin

Collagen production – substances that promote the production of collagen (provides strength and resilience to skin cells, thus reducing wrinkles and fine lines)

Emulsifiers – substances that promote the mixing of substances that wouldn’t normally mix together well

Exfoliating - substances that promote the removal of dead skin, thus revealing the healthier layer below.

Skin lightening – substances capable of reducing skin pigmentation

Skin brightening – substances that promotes proper pigmentation and reduces discoloration due to age spots, etc

Wrinkle Tightening – substances that help to increase skin elasticity and reduce wrinkles

Oil control (or sebum control) – Sebum is the oil responsible for blemishes that come with acne. Substances that control the production of oil can reduce acne.

With a brief look at some terminology it is very likely that you’re ready to start making your own skin care products. An easy way to get started is with our skin care recipe list. Each recipe links to the specific ingredients you will need, and provides instructions on how to make your next skin-care creation.

When it comes to skin care, the products you choose are important. Just because a product advertises that it is anti-aging, or anti-inflammatory, doesn’t mean that it will work. In fact, with most commercially made products, the chemicals they use in making them work to reverse the positive effects that they could have had.

That store bought product likely includes detergents, chemical fragrances, dyes, and other toxic substances.  Your skin absorbs whatever you put on it. Using store-bought skin creams, and cleansers, simply put – can be a bad idea.

Even worse, many skin care product manufacturers work on the idea of label value.  By putting a minimum amount of the active skin care ingredients in their product, they can list it on their label.  The consumer then ends up buying an overpriced beauty product that has absolutely no affect on the skin.

Luckily there is a better way!

By making your own skin care products, also known as DIY skin care, the consumer now has the ability to tailor make a good product at a fair price.

Many people hold onto the idea that the best health products are naturally made. The same is true with skin care; choosing to make your own products is healthier.  It also allows you more freedom in choosing the right ingredients for the job.

There are actually many reasons why homemade products are better than their commercially made alternatives. Firstly you get the freedom to choose what products you put on your skin, and you get to rest assured that you know what you’re using. Most commercial products use long or invented names for common ingredients, or ingredients are included at ‘label value’ (just enough so that they can be listed on the label, but not enough to actually do anything useful). There are also other reasons: it will save you money, and it’s very rewarding to know that the anti-aging cream that you made actually worked!

The main reason that most people choose this route though, is the versatility if gives them. With homemade skin care products you can use recipes that are specifically made to target a certain type of problem.

Anti-Aging DIY Skin Care

One reason people seek out information and recipes for skin care, is for anti-aging products. There are literally thousands of products out there that claim to be wrinkle tightening, or wrinkle relaxing. Very few of them actually work, and the ones that do will likely cost you hundreds of dollars for a small amount.

With homemade skin care, you can choose ingredients like DMA bitartrate, L-ascorbic acid, CoQ10, Idebenone, or Ascorbyl Tetraisopalmitate (among others). All which are clinically proven to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, or have other anti aging qualities. There are also many ingredients that are meant for UV damage protection, or UV damage repair, which can reduce the aging of the skin in the first place.

Anti-Inflammatory DIY Skin Care

The next reason to make your own skin care products is for anti-inflammatory treatments. Store bought products, of this type, often include steroids in their ingredients. Steroids can  have many other adverse effects.

Ginkgo Biloba, Green Tea EGCG, Grape Seed Proanthocyanidins are just a few of the ingredients that you can use to take a holistic approach to anti-inflammatory cream.

Home Made Antioxidants

The term antioxidant is all the rage in health circles lately. As we learn more about oxidization, free radicals, and their effects on our health antioxidants have become an important part of health in general.

When you choose to make your own skin care products you can choose from scientifically proven anti-oxidants such as silymarin, Pine bark Proanthocyanidins, or Pomegranate extract; all of which have many other benefits to your skin.

Anti-Acne DIY Skin Care

Another area where homemade skin care products are better is for acne prevention. Commercially made acne products include very harsh chemicals, such as Benzyl Peroxide, which is a proven carcinogenic substance.

When you choose to make your own skin care products acne you can use ingredients such as salicylic acid, or White Willow Bark. Both of which provide sebum control, and get to acne at its source!

Scar Care

The last area that I will discuss in this article is scar care. Commercially made products for this purpose often include chemicals that aren’t good for your skin at all.

With DIY skin care you can use ingredients like Centella asiatica. This particular substance has been clinically tested for stretch mark reduction, scar care, and has wound healing properties. There are also other natural products that have been tested for the same purpose (with very good results).

The truth of the matter is that along with all of the health benefits, making your own skin care products is rewarding, and it will save you a lot of money. When you’re ready to get started, take a look at our skin care recipes. There you’ll find all the instructions you need to get started with DIY skin care!

Made in China – Getting to the Heart of the Matter

After getting a couple of emails about products manufactured in China, I wanted to take the time to write about this hot topic a little bit. In our industry the simple truth is that some of our products can’t be sourced from anywhere else, in fact in every industry there is likely to be an element of Chinese manufacturing involved.

Unlike our biggest competitor who will adamantly avoid this topic , I have long taken the stance that honesty is the best policy.

We do openly state where our products are sourced from, and we have no problem sharing the truth. Each of our ingredient-products comes with a COA (certificate of analysis) that clearly states where the source materials came from, and what percentages of materials make up the finished ingredient product.

Even with that though, let’s take a little time to get to the heart of the matter. Whether you support China as a country or not, the simple fact remains that it isn’t likely that you can live without Chinese-manufactured goods in your home. Even the products that don’t state “Made in China”, very likely do contain Chinese-made ingredients or parts.

China as an Exporter

The first thing that we should note is that China is one of the world’s largest exporters. According to the US-China Business Council (USCBC), in 2007 China exported 1.218 trillion dollars worth of goods to the world[i]. Think about that number for a moment – that’s trillions of dollars!

According to the World Trade organization that number puts China in second place for international exports. They have an 8.8% share of the total export business in the world, and they are now second only to Germany with the US following closely behind as the 3rd largest exporter[ii].

In other words, China has taken its foothold in the world as an exporter, and no matter where you live; there are Chinese-manufactured goods in a store near you.

Food and Pharmaceutical Ingredients

Where things begin to get interesting is when you look at the types of products that China exports. Of course their biggest exports are machinery, power generation equipment, medical equipment, and other completely-manufactured goods. Ranking 8th on the list of exports though is inorganic and organic chemicals.

Let’s look closer at this one area, since the biggest controversy surrounding China’s exports at the moment was due to a case of adding melamine to milk powder and pet foods to increase the apparent protein content in those products.

It should be noted that those responsible for these scandals have been sentenced to death[iii], the Chinese government does not easily accept anything that might damage its image as a reliable source of manufacturing and export.

However, it should also be taken note of that similar types of scandals happen all over the world.

If you want a recent example of problems like this occurring within other countries, see the current Peanut recall in the US [iv]

On Monday February 9th, FBI agents raided The Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia. This US company is accused of knowingly shipping salmonella tainted products now linked to nearly 600 illnesses, including eight deaths, in 43 US states. The Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations launched a probe of the company on January 30. [v]

Getting back to it, when it comes to food and pharmaceuticals, China is the largest manufacturer of chemical ingredients in the world. They produce more ingredient products than any other country in the world.

Even if that drug or food manufacturer is based in the US or in Europe, the ingredients that go into those products very likely came from China. This is especially true when it comes to vitamins that are put into the foods we eat and products we use.

To provide an example, according to a study done by the company Beijing Orientbit Technology Co., Ltd: “every year about 90 per cent of vitamin C used by US pharmaceutical, supplement and drink manufacturers is sourced from China”[vi]

Since vitamin C is a common ingredient in many food and pharmaceutical products, if you eat, or take medicines or supplements, it’s very likely that you’re ingesting Chinese-manufactured products. I could further this example if I wanted to get into vitamins like vitamin: A, E, B2, B5, B12, etc.

The point is that it isn’t very likely that you can go through your day without ingesting something that was manufactured in China. This brings us to the topic I want to discuss, China and the beauty industry.

China and the Beauty Industry

We already know that China is one of the leading manufacturers for chemical and organic ingredients. In our industry specifically, these ingredients make up the larger portion of what is used to make skin care and other beauty-related products.

It isn’t just the ingredients that you purchase to make your own products (those which we sell), it’s the products that go into your favorite skin cream, that makeup you bought last week, and even that shampoo that you use to wash your hair.

Yes, that bottle may state “Made in the USA”, but that label just refers to the manufacturing process, not to the ingredients that went into the product.

The only way to find out where the ingredients came from is to phone the manufacturer and ask them.

In other words, for every item of makeup in your make-up-kit, for every facial cleanser, cream, or body wash you buy, if you want to know where the source ingredients came from you better get on the phone. Here’s the other part:

They aren’t required to tell you where they get the ingredients from!

The Bottom Line

What am I getting at here, what is my point?

Just that avoiding products made in China would be difficult at best, and more likely impossible. Even if you make a point of avoiding every label that states “Made in China”, in the food we eat, the medicines you take, and the products you use it’s very likely that at least some portion of the source material came from China.

As it applies to us at BulkActives, I am going to continue what I normally do. I may not like China’s politics or their political stances. In fact I don’t!

But, trying to not sell ingredients that include at least a portion of Chinese-sourced materials would be near impossible. The products we sell are quality controlled when they are imported by our distributors, and we do include a COA with every product we sell.

Yes, some of our products include Chinese source materials. But then, so do many other products you use and ingest every day. When you take the time to get to the heart of the matter, it becomes apparent that for most of us “Made in China” is impossible to avoid.

Those consumers who still insist that they would “never put anything made in China on their face” ( a direct quote from one email I received), may be interested in reading the following articles:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07315/832952-85.stm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19508453/

In conclusion, If you do not wish to buy from us because our product are from China, then please make sure you get a written and public assurance from our competitors, clarifying exactly in which country their raw materials are grown, processed, and manufactured.

A refusal to supply this info, either via email or on a forum, can only be an indication that your supplier is unwilling to acknowledge that they too are buying and selling “made in China” products.

References:

[i] USCBC’s Website Page: US-China Trade Statistics and China’s World Trade Statistics, no author listed. Accessed January 30, 2009 from www.uschina.org/statistics/tradetable.html

[ii] World Trade Organization, Press Release WTO: developing, transition economies cushion trade slowdown. Accessed January 30, 2009 from , www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres08_e/pr520_e.htm see Appendix Table 4 Merchandise trade: leading exporters and importers, 2007

[iii] BBC News Story, Chinese milk scam duo face death, Accessed January 30, 2009 from news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7843972.stm

[iv] US Food and Drug Administration Recall of Peanut-Containing Products: Salmonella Typhimurium, no author listed. Accessed January 31, 2009 from www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/salmonellatyph.html

[v] FBI raids peanut butter plant suspected in outbreak, no author listed. Accessed February 19, 2009 from http://edition.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/10/peanut.butter.raid/

[vi] The Free Library, Article: Price of vitamin C fluctuated considerably in 2007, by Ba Yanfeng, Beijing Orientbit Technology Co., Ltd. Accessed on January 31, 2009 from: www.thefreelibrary.com/Price+of+vitamin+C+fluctuated+considerably+in+2007.-a0176371912