Alcohol in skincare products: Must read

Depending upon the type of alcohol, it can be good or bad for your skin

Nidhi Gudwani

April 13, 2022

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Nidhi Gudwani

CEO at Skinayu Organics |
Email: nidhi@skinayu.com |
http://www.skinayu.com

About alcohol?

There is a lot of information available online that unveils the problems of using alcohol in skincare.

Alcohol as main ingredient in any cosmetic or skincare product can do more of harm than benefit to your skin. Depending upon the type of alcohol, it can be good or bad for your skin.

In this article we will discuss about the following:

Different types of alcohol are used in skincare products.
Can alcohol ever be good for the skin? The difference between fatty and denatured alcohol.
The bad side of ethanol or denatured Alcohol.
Why is denatured alcohol used in skincare products?
Look at the location of alcohol on the ingredients list.
How to find the right type of alcohol for your skin.

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Types of alcohol used in skincare products

There are different types of alcohol that are used in formulations of various skincare products. There are broadly 2 types of Alcohols found in skincare products, viz.,

Fatty Alcohol: – Fatty alcohols are safe for your skin as they act as a skin barrier. These alcohols are derived from amino acids and are usually plant derived (palm or coconut).

They are non-irritant & beneficial for skin. They are often used in emulsions like serums, creams, lotions, conditioners etc.

Example – Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, etc.

Ethanol or denatured alcohol: – Denatured alcohol is ethyl alcohol that has a low molecular weight. They are used as cleansing (antibacterial) & penetrating agents in skincare products.

These can be drying and sensitizing to the skin. Denatured alcohol in skincare can be harsh as it can strip off skin’s moisture and make it dry over time. So, in the long run, it is best avoided.

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Can alcohol ever be good for skin? Difference between fatty & denatured alcohol

As discussed above, there’s a class of ingredients known as fatty alcohols, which are not harmful for skin eg- Cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol.

These types of alcohols are used as emollients and thickeners in skincare products. Fatty alcohols are not irritating rather they are beneficial for dry skin. Do not confuse them with the bad alcohols, such as ethanol and denatured alcohol.

This type of ethanol alcohol is used to penetrate the skin, preserve the product, and make heavy feel product feel lightweight when applied.

They are unlikely to be harmful if added in smaller amounts, but people with sensitive, dry, or eczema-prone skin should refrain themselves from using it.

Fatty alcohols are skin’s friends and are actually beneficial in skincare to help draw in and hold moisture, but Ethanol or Denatured Alcohol are drying and damaging for most skin types, especially those with sensitive and dry skin.

Bad side of ethanol or denatured alcohol

Using denatured alcohol or isopropyl alcohol on skin erodes the protective barrier on the skin. Our skin has some good bacteria that helps our skin remain healthy.

As, alcohol is a good cleansing agent it wipes off the good bacteria, natural oil and all the other substance too that helps in keeping the skin healthy. By eroding top protective moisture barrier, it welcomes all foreign harmful particles to get into the skin.

This may cause skin irritation & may give rise to kin allergies. This causes more of harm than benefit. So, it’s more like an enemy that hides under the face of a friend. So, using alcohol in skincare makes skin even more dry & irritant.

It may give rise to various skin allergies. Due to loss of moisture barrier, it even makes skin dehydrated due to TEWL.

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Why denatured alcohol is used in skincare products?

After reading the harshness & drying effect of alcohol on skin, a question arises that why is it even added to skincare products?

There must be a good reason that so many skincare companies include alcohol in their products. There are only two primary explanations.

Firstly, alcohol can make a thick skincare product feel almost weightless, creating a deceptively pleasant aesthetic.
Secondly, they act as a good penetrator. They help other active ingredients in serums or other treatment night creams to penetrate in the skin to give maximum benefits. Alcohol helps retinol and vitamin C penetrate into the skin more effectively.

But major problem lies in the fact that it breaks down the skin’s barrier in order to let other ingredient penetrate the skin – this destroys the very substances that keeps the skin healthy over the long term.

Above reasons tells why cosmetic companies include ethanol or alcohol in their formulas but it does not justify the harm it eventually does to the skin after longer use.

Alcohol in cosmetic skincare should be in low percentage if its important to include in the formulation.

Its potency in the formulation can be judged & estimated by looking at its place in the sequence of ingredient list. Let’s see how.

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Look at the location of alcohol on the ingredients list

Just like a food label, to how much alcohol is in a product examine where it lands on the ingredients list. If alcohol is one of the top ingredients, it’s likely to be drying as it is in the highest percentage.

So, this could disrupt your skin’s barrier. A disrupted skin barrier allows moisture to escape from the skin and gives easy entry to potential irritants that results in redness and inflamed skin. A reasonable place for alcohol to appear is lower on the ingredients list.

For example- if you read the ingredient list, the first thing mentioned in the list is usually used as the basis for that product. You will generally read like DM Wate r/ Aqua / CCTG / Denatured Alcohol / LLP etc.

The ingredient list is always mentioned in decreasing order of the percentage of the ingredient present in the formulation.

How to find the right type of alcohol for your skin:

For oily skin: If you have very oily skin, you might want to use a low-weight alcohol in it that evaporates quickly & gives non-tacky feel. It will remove oil, dirt & grim accumulated due to high sebum production in the skin.

It will also help in reducing the bacterial proliferation on the skin. but keep in mind that ethanol should be added in just little quantity & should not be used as a base. Refer ‘Look at the Location of Alcohol on the Ingredients List’ paragraph for detail knowledge.

For dry skin: People with dry skin should look for products with higher molecular weight alcohols that give a more moisturizing feel. These are the Fatty alcohol like Cetyl and stearyl. They act as a barrier to stop Trans epidermal water loss & also acts as a skin emollient.

For sensitive skin: Those with sensitive skin—especially those with eczema—should refrain from using denatured alcohols. They should always conduct a patch test before using any product with fatty alcohols too.

Although they are moisturizing, high molecular weight but no product can guarantee 100% allergy free. Cosmetic companies use hypoallergenic raw materials in their formulation that do not contain allergens.

But that does not assure safety from allergies. So people with allergy prone skin should always do a patch test before trying any new product.

“Alcohol for the skin is as bad as alcohol for the gut. “Over is always bad.” -NIDHI GUDWANI

By NIDHI GUDWANI
Author is CEO at SKINAYU ORGANICS

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