Which acids are important?

In my previous post, “What you need to know about chemical peels and acids” I have talked about the ubiquity of acids in skincare products. They really are everywhere. Just to remind you its these acids that I am referring to:

I’ll add Gluconolactone and Polyhdryoxy Acids (PHA) to the mix too as these are very fashionable ingredients to (apparently) talk about.

BUT as a consumer, out of all these acids which should you really care about?

To answer this question, I looked at the Ingredient labels of 74 products from the Sephora USA website. I looked for the number of iterations or frequency of each acid in the Ingredient labels.

The product categories were:

  • Cleansers (filtering for “AHA/Glycolic Acid” and then “Top 25 Bestsellers”)
  • Toners (filtering for “AHA/Glycolic Acid” and then “Top 25 Bestsellers”)
  • Face Mask (filtering for Top Selling Masks only)

The underlying excel spreadsheet is available at this LINK

Conclusion

This is my main finding:

  • Glycolic Acid is the most common acid, present in more than 1 in 3 products, followed by Lactic Acid (present in 1 out of 4 products) and Salicylic Acid (present in 1 out of 5 products)
  • All other acids (Malic Acid, Tartaric Acid, Gluconolactone, Mandelic Acid, Pyurvic Acid) are present in fewer products.

For those of you who prefer a table…

frequency of acids in products

Conclusion

We should only be focussed on 3 acids: Glycolic, Lactic and Salicylic Acids and that’s what my next blogs will focus on.

See also:

https://happyskindays.com/what-you-need-to-know-about-acids-and-chemical-peels/

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Happy Skin Days ©  2021.  © Angeli Sinha 2021. All rights reserved. The contents of this blog, including images are protected by copyright law.  My content cannot be replicated without my consent. You can write to me at email@happyskindays.com

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