Dictionary
The ingredient dictionary.
Every ingredient that does something in the five products, what it does, how good the evidence is, and the paper behind it. Sorted by how much we can prove, which is not the same as how much we like it.
Good evidence
Ceramides
Ceramide NP, Ceramide AP, Ceramide EOP
The largest lipid family in the mortar between your stratum corneum cells. Roughly half of that mortar, by mass, is ceramide. When it runs short, the wall leaks.
In Baby's Bottom
Ceramides + Cholesterol + Fatty Acids
Ceramide NP + Cholesterol + Linoleic Acid
The three lipid families that build the skin barrier, delivered together in a deliberate ratio. Individually they are ingredients. Together, in proportion, they are the barrier's own vocabulary.
In Baby's Bottom
Cholesterol
The same molecule with the bad dietary reputation, doing an entirely different job. In the stratum corneum it is about a quarter of the lipid mortar, and it is the one whose production falls off most steeply with age.
In Baby's Bottom
Fermented Hyaluronic Acid
Lactobacillus Ferment, Saccharomyces Ferment Filtrate, Sodium Hyaluronate
Hyaluronic acid fermented in our lab into a spectrum of sizes, so about a third of it is small enough to get past the surface and the rest holds water on top.
In Mixed Signals
Ferulic Acid
A plant phenolic found in rice bran, oats and coffee, where it cross-links cell walls. In a vitamin C serum it is the ingredient that stops the other two from giving up.
In Bright Side
Glycerin
A small three-carbon alcohol that holds water. It is one of the oldest ingredients in dermatology and still one of the few with a mechanism, a receptor-level transport story and a long clinical record all pointing the same direction.
In Clean Slate
L-Ascorbic Acid
Ascorbic Acid
Vitamin C in its native, unesterified form. It is the version the body actually uses and the version nearly all of the topical research was done on. It is also the version that oxidizes if you look at it wrong.
In Bright Side
Niacinamide
Vitamin B3 in its amide form. Water soluble, stable, cheap, unglamorous, and backed by more human trial data than most ingredients three times its price.
In Mixed Signals
Retinal
Vitamin A one oxidation step away from retinoic acid, the form skin actually acts on. Retinol needs two steps. Retinal needs one, which is why it works faster than retinol without a prescription.
In Coming of Age
Squalane
The saturated, shelf-stable version of squalene, which is the single largest polyunsaturated component of human skin surface lipid. It is the ingredient that makes a strong active feel survivable.
In Coming of Age, Baby's Bottom
Vernix Lipid Complex
Squalane, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Butter, Beta-Sitosterol, Oleic Acid, Glyceryl Behenate, Polyglyceryl-4 Isostearate, Ceramide NG, Ceramide NP, Lecithin, Tocopherol
A patent-pending lipid complex from our lab, modeled on the coating newborn skin arrives in: squalane, wax esters, plant sterols, two ceramides and a fatty acid, in the proportions vernix uses.
In Baby's Bottom
Vitamin C + E + Ferulic
Ascorbic Acid + Tocopherol + Ferulic Acid
Fifteen percent L-ascorbic acid, one percent alpha-tocopherol and half a percent ferulic acid in one low-pH solution. It is one of the best documented topical antioxidant systems in dermatology and the reason Bright Side exists.
In Bright Side
Interesting research
Caffeine
The same molecule in your coffee, applied to the scalp instead of drunk. It is one of the more genuinely strange findings in hair biology, and the strongest data comes from human follicles kept alive in culture.
In Human Condition, later
Copper Tripeptide-1
A three amino acid peptide that binds copper, occurs naturally in human plasma, and declines steeply with age. It is also what makes the serum blue.
In Mixed Signals
Free Fatty Acids
Linoleic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Stearic Acid
The third lipid family in the barrier, and the smallest share of the three. Linoleic acid is the one that cannot be made from scratch by the body, which is why it is called essential.
In Baby's Bottom
Hexapeptide-11
A six-amino-acid peptide, Phe-Val-Ala-Pro-Phe-Pro, originally isolated from yeast fermentation and now made to high purity. In Mixed Signals it is paired with copper tripeptide-1 in one complex from our lab.
In Mixed Signals
Hydrolyzed Protein
Hydrolyzed Keratin, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Hydrolyzed Rice Protein
Whole proteins chopped into fragments small enough to interact with hair. Keratin, wheat and rice are the common sources. Molecular weight is the variable that matters, and almost nobody puts it on the label.
In Human Condition, later
Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4
A five amino acid fragment of type I collagen, with a palmitic acid tail bolted on so it can cross the stratum corneum. The idea is that the fragment reads to skin as evidence that collagen has been broken, and prompts it to make more.
In Mixed Signals
Panthenol
The alcohol form of pantothenic acid, vitamin B5. Small enough to penetrate both skin and the hair cortex, which is unusual for a hydrating ingredient and is most of why it is in everything.
In Human Condition, later
Schizophyllan
A beta-glucan our lab ferments from the split-gill mushroom, Schizophyllum commune: a long chain of glucose with a side branch every third sugar, which is the shape that makes it hold water and calm skin.
In Coming of Age
Vitamin E
Tocopherol
The main fat-soluble antioxidant in cell membranes and in the skin's surface lipids. In a vitamin C serum it does two jobs at once: it protects the lipid phase, and it keeps the vitamin C company.
In Bright Side
Wax Esters
Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Jojoba Esters
Long-chain esters, chemically distinct from the triglycerides in most plant oils. They are the dominant lipid class in vernix caseosa, the coating a newborn arrives in, and in human sebum. Jojoba oil is the best available plant source.
In Baby's Bottom
Formulation base
Behentrimonium Methosulfate
The cationic conditioning agent in most rinse-out conditioners worth using. Derived from rapeseed or colza oil, with a 22-carbon chain, which is unusually long for this class and is why it deposits well.
In Human Condition, later
Cetearyl Alcohol
A blend of two long-chain fatty alcohols, cetyl and stearyl. Waxy, solid at room temperature, and nothing like the drying alcohols people are told to fear. It is what gives a conditioner its body.
In Human Condition, later
Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
A coconut-derived cleansing agent, the one that makes syndet bars behave like soap without behaving like soap. It builds a dense, creamy foam at a pH close to skin's own.
In Clean Slate
Sensory choice
Jojoba Beads
Jojoba Esters
Small colored spheres of hardened jojoba wax suspended in the cleanser. They are there because they look good, and because they melt on contact rather than scratch.
In Clean Slate
Sandalore
Sandalore (synthetic sandalwood odorant)
A synthetic sandalwood aroma molecule, consistent from batch to batch. It is the sandalwood note in Pep Talk.
In Human Condition, later
By product
- Clean SlateFace + Body Cleanser
- Glycerin, Jojoba Beads, Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate
- Bright Side15% Vitamin C + E + Ferulic Serum
- Ferulic Acid, L-Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin C + E + Ferulic, Vitamin E
- Mixed SignalsCopper + Multi-Peptide Serum
- Copper Tripeptide-1, Fermented Hyaluronic Acid, Hexapeptide-11, Niacinamide, Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4
- Coming of Age0.1% Retinal Serum
- Retinal, Schizophyllan, Squalane
- Baby's BottomVernix-Inspired Barrier Cream
- Ceramides, Ceramides + Cholesterol + Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Free Fatty Acids, Squalane, Vernix Lipid Complex, Wax Esters
Want the papers in one place? The receipts. Want to know which product to buy? Compare all five.