How To Read Product Ingredient Labels

Hello ladies!  Often at times we forget the importance of reading the labels of our products before purchasing them.  Not only do you want to make sure there is nothing that is going to cause a reaction on your skin, but you also what to know if the product you are using will actually work.  Advertising and marketing have a very clever way of catching our attention and making us believe things that might not necessarily be true. Its important to know which ingredients they are making claims about and how much of that product they have actually included in their ingredients.

The FDA does not require approval of cosmetics before their manufacture and sale.  The FDA regulates cosmetics only in the areas of safety, labeling, and the claims made for a product.  Ingredients must be listed in descending order of predominance, starting with the ingredient having the highest concentration and ending with the ingredient having the lowest concentration.  Ingredients with a concentration of less than 1 percent may be listed in any order.  This is why it is so important to match the marketing claims made by a company with the ingredients listed on the back.

For example, yesterday I told you that I’ve tried several anti-cellulite treatments.  St. Ives has always been one of my favorite drugstore body moisturizers, so when they came out with St. Ives Cellulite Shield Advanced Body Moisturizer, I was very excited to try it.  However, my results were not as apparent as they were with Caudalie’s.  These are the ingredients St. Ives advertises as their main innovative ingredients in this anti-cellulite moisturizer:

• Green Tea- Known for attacking free radicals
• Caffeine- Known to stimulate the skin’s circulation, targeting “imprisoned fat”
• Citrus Extract- Known to rejuvenate and energize the skin
• Menthol- to invigorate tired, sluggish skin as it cools
• Glacial Water and Botanicals- Known to moisturize and hydrate the skin

Now although their claims about these ingredients have been proven to be true, to be highly effective, these ingredients must be listed toward the beginning of the ingredients list.  Without being in a high enough concentration, the potency of these ingredients becomes diminished. So I took a look at the ingredients list and checked to see just how much of these wonderful ingredients are actually in this anti-cellulite treatment.  Here is what I found out:

• Green Tea- Listed at ingredient number 45 out of 52
• Caffeine- Listed at ingredient number 12 out of 52
• Citrus Extract- Listed at ingredient number 50 and 51 out of 52
• Menthol- Listed at ingredient number 29 out of 52
• Glacial Water and Botanicals- No specific evidence of “glacial” water and botanicals listed all throughout the lower half of the list

So I took this information and now understood why this product might not have worked as well as I had originally thought it would.  It still acted as a great moisturizer and I still love St. Ives lotion just because of the experiences I’ve had with it before, but I’ll be more careful now before I jump on the bandwagon.  It was obvious that although St. Ives Cellulite Shield Advanced Body Moisturizer did contain these active ingredients, they were not in a high enough concentration to be effective in the way they had intended.

So next time you run out to your nearest store just because you saw a great ad or commercial on some new innovative product, make sure you do your research first.  And since its beneficial for you to have one, I recommend purchasing Milady’s Skin Care and Cosmetic Ingredients Dictionary. It’ll help you understand why certain things are in your product, what those chemicals listed really do, and translate all the latin names for you.  It’s a great little thing to take with you on your next trip to the department store.

Until next time ladies…  xoxo