Short INCI list: why you should read the ingredients of your cosmetics

On the back of every cosmetic sold in Europe is a list of ingredients, written in a language common to all countries: the INCI nomenclature (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). Plants are named in Latin, molecules in English. This list is compulsory and it is the only information that can really be compared from one product to another. Here is how to use it.

Three rules for reading an INCI list

1. Order matters. Ingredients are ranked by decreasing quantity; below 1%, they may be listed in any order. The first name is the main ingredient; often it is Aqua, water
2. Latin names the plant. Olea Europaea is the olive tree, Argania Spinosa the argan tree, Nigella Sativa black cumin, Salvadora persica the arak tree that siwak is cut from. The word that follows gives the part used: Fruit Oil, Kernel Oil, Seed Oil, Root
3. Soap reads differently. Sodium Olivate is olive oil turned into soap with sodium hydroxide; Potassium Olivate is the same with potassium hydroxide, for a liquid soap. Sodium Hydroxide and Potassium Hydroxide appear on the list because they are used for that transformation

Why a short list is easier to understand

A four-name list can be checked in ten seconds. A thirty-name list needs a dictionary. With a short list, you know what you are putting on your skin: every ingredient has a function in the formula, and it can be named.

What a short list does not tell you

Short does not mean good, and long does not mean bad. A cream, for instance, mixes water and oil; it needs an emulsifier to hold them together and a preservative because water gets contaminated. Its list will necessarily be longer than that of a pure oil, and that is no flaw. The right reflex is not to count the names but to be able to say what each one does.

One detail worth knowing: when a product contains an essential oil, some of its natural components, Limonene, Linalool, Geraniol, must be listed above a certain threshold, because they are allergens that have to be declared. They make the list longer without any ingredient being added.

Examples of short lists

• Aleppo soap 1% laurel: Sodium Olivate, Aqua, Sodium Laurus Nobilate, Sodium Hydroxide. Olive oil, water, laurel berry oil, sodium hydroxide. Four names, and the same list across our traditional Aleppo soaps
• Organic argan oil: Argania Spinosa Kernel Oil. One name, the oil of the argan kernels
• Alum stone: Potassium Alum. A mineral, nothing else
• Siwak: Salvadora persica. A root, how to use it here
• And for comparison, our organic clay and siwak toothpaste: about twenty names, because a toothpaste combines water, clay, olive soap, plant extracts and essential oils. Each name has its function, and we can give it

A simple habit

Turn the product over before you buy it and read the full list. If the first names mean something to you, you know the essentials of what you are buying. For any question about the composition of one of our products, contact us.