Cosmetics Ingredient Dictionary

alcohol. Group of organic compounds that have a vast range of forms and uses in cosmetics. In benign form they are glycols used as humectants that help deliver ingredients into skin. When fats and oils (see fatty acid) are chemically reduced, they become a group of less-dense alcohols called fatty alcohols that can have emollient properties or can become detergent cleansing agents. When alcohols have low molecular weights they can be drying and irritating. The alcohols to be concerned about in skin-care products are ethanol, denatured alcohol, ethyl alcohol, methanol, benzyl alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, and sd alcohol, which not only can be extremely drying and irritating to skin, but also can generate free-radical damage (Sources: “Skin Care—From the Inside Out and Outside In,” Tufts Daily, April 1, 2002; eMedicine Journal, May 8, 2002, volume 3, number 5, www.emedicine.com; Cutis, February 2001, pages 25–27; Contact Dermatitis, January 1996, pages 12–16; and http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/arh27-4/277-284.htm). In a product where these ingredients are at the top of the ingredient list, they will be problematic for all skin types; when they are at the bottom of an ingredient list, there most likely is not enough present to be a problem for skin.