The Neutrogena® Hydro Boost Hydrating Cleansing Gel is designed to boost hydration, leaving skin feeling soft and supple. This lightweight gel cleanser transforms into a silky lather, effectively removing makeup and impurities. To understand how this cleanser works, let's delve into a detailed review of its ingredients.
Core Ingredients and Their Functions
Water (Aqua)
Good old water, aka H2O, is the most common skincare ingredient of all. The water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized, meaning that almost all the mineral ions inside it are removed. Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water is usually the main solvent in cosmetic products.
Cocamidopropyl Betaine
A thickening and foam-boasting co-surfactant with an amphoteric structure, meaning its head contains both a positively and a negatively charged part (surfactants are most commonly anionic, meaning their head has a negative charge). It's very mild and gentle, comes from coconut oil, and is readily biodegradable. A real oldie but a goodie, it is a very mild and gentle thickening and foam-boasting co-surfactant that comes from coconut oil.
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
A cleansing agent that's claimed to be so gentle on the skin that it hardly impacts the skin barrier. It also gives a rich, creamy foam, is based on vegetable fatty acids, and is readily biodegradable. It's an especially important and popular ingredient in "syndet bars" (or soapless soaps).
Glycerin
Dr. A mild and non-drying cleanser that gives skin a nice and soft after-feel.
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Sodium Hydroxide
The unfancy name for it is lye. It’s a solid white stuff that’s very alkaline and used in small amounts to adjust the pH of the product and make it just right. For example, in the case of AHA or BHA exfoliants, the right pH is super-duper important, and pH adjusters like sodium hydroxide are needed. BTW, lye is not something new. It was already used by ancient Egyptians to help oil and fat magically turn into something else. It still often shows up in the ingredient list of soaps and other cleansers. Sodium hydroxide in itself is a potent skin irritant, but once it's reacted (as it is usually in skincare products, like exfoliants) it is totally harmless.
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid
Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid is a low molecular weight, chemically chopped up version of the naturally big molecule and current IT-moisturizer, Hyaluronic Acid (HA). The TL; DR version of HA is that it's a huge polymer (big molecule from repeated subunits) found in the skin that acts as a sponge helping the skin to retain water, making it plump and elastic.
- 100-300 kDa version: Apart from moisturizing, this size might also help the skin to repair itself by increasing its self-defense.
- Below 50k, around 10k Da version: There is a Japanese version trade named Hyalo-Oligo that has only a 10k molecular weight and is claimed to penetrate the skin very well, have a unique touch and give deep and long-lasting moisturization.
Ethylhexylglycerin
If you have spotted ethylhexylglycerin on the ingredient list, most probably you will see there also the current IT-preservative, phenoxyethanol. A handy multifunctional ingredient that works as a preservative booster, as well as an antioxidant and soothing agent.
Phenoxyethanol
It’s pretty much the current IT-preservative. It’s safe and gentle, but even more importantly, it’s not a feared-by-everyone-mostly-without-scientific-reason paraben. It’s not something new: it was introduced around 1950 and today it can be used up to 1% worldwide. It can be found in nature - in green tea - but the version used in cosmetics is synthetic. Other than having a good safety profile and being quite gentle to the skin it has some other advantages too.
PEG-120 Methyl Glucose Dioleate
It's a common little helper ingredient that helps water and oil to mix together.
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Sodium Chloride
Sodium chloride is the fancy name of salt. If (similar to us) you are in the weird habit of reading the label on your shower gel while taking a shower, you might have noticed that sodium chloride is almost always on the ingredient list. The reason for this is that salt acts as a fantastic thickener in cleansing formulas created with ionic cleansing agents (aka surfactants) such as Sodium Laureth Sulfate. A couple of percents (typically 1-3%) turns a runny surfactant solution into a nice gel texture. If you are into chemistry (if not, we understand, just skip this paragraph), the reason is that electrolytes (you know, the Na+ and Cl- ions) screen the electrostatic repulsion between the head groups of ionic surfactants and thus support the formation of long shaped micelles (instead of spherical ones) that entangle like spaghetti, and viola, a gel is formed. Other than that, salt also works as an emulsion stabilizer in water-in-oil emulsions, that is when water droplets are dispersed in the outer oil (or silicone) phase.
Citric Acid
Citric acid comes from citrus fruits and is an AHA. But according to a comparative study done in 1995, citric acid has less skin improving magic properties than glycolic or lactic acid. Super common little helper ingredient that helps products to remain nice and stable for a longer time. It does so by neutralizing the metal ions in the formula (that usually get into there from water) that would otherwise cause some not so nice changes.
Fragrance (Parfum)
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it. Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice.
Tocopherol
It’s the most commonly used version of pure vitamin E in cosmetics. A form of vitamin E that works as an antioxidant.
Other Ingredients
Some other notable ingredients often found alongside those mentioned above include:
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- Sodium Laureth Sulfate (SLS): The famous or rather infamous SLS (not to be confused with SLES). It is a cleansing agent known for being too good at the job and potentially irritating the skin. But, on the positive side, it can produce copious, creamy and luxurious foam compared to the more gentle and thus nowadays much more commonly used Sodium Laureth Sulfate. In fact, SLS is so good at irritating the skin that it is very commonly used in dermatological studies just for that. It is a so-called "primary irritant", a substance that irritates the skin in one go (without prior sensitization) but doesn't do any other big harm (such as being carcinogenic or systematically toxic - those claims are not true).
- Propylene Glycol: Read all the geeky details about Propylene Glycol here >> A common glycol that improves the freeze-thaw stability of products.
- Cocamidopropyl Hydroxysultaine: A versatile and biodegradable cleansing agent with high cleaning power and strong foaming properties.