On the back of every pack there\u2019s a list of Latin names \u2014 that\u2019s the product\u2019s ingredient list. It looks complicated at first, but it\u2019s easy to read once you know how. Here\u2019s a short guide that works for our products and for any other cosmetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By law, ingredients are written with their international INCI names, in descending order of quantity. The first three or four are practically the whole product. Anything under 1% can be listed in any order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s the most useful thing on the label, and almost nobody uses it. If the expensive oil is eighteenth in a list of twenty ingredients, the product isn\u2019t that oil \u2014 it just has a little of it. If water comes first, you\u2019re mostly buying water. Either way, the label has told you, calmly and without advertising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One rule worth knowing: ingredients under 1% can be listed in any order. So if an expensive ingredient sits right after the first three or four, with ten more after it, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean there\u2019s a lot of it \u2014 it may be under 1% but written further up so it gets noticed. Preservatives are a good guide: most are used at up to 1%, so everything after them is in even smaller amounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The length of the list isn\u2019t a grade.<\/strong> A soap with six ingredients and a scrub with sixteen are different products, not a better and a worse one. An emulsion needs more things to stay an emulsion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the ingredient list of every product we make, each ingredient carries a small number \u2014 1, 2, 3 or 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The numbers weren\u2019t invented for the website. They\u2019ve been in our ingredient lists for a long time. The only new thing is that they\u2019re explained here, in one place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Certain fragrance ingredients must be named individually once they pass a set concentration \u2014 0.001% in a product that stays on the skin and 0.01% in one that\u2019s rinsed off. The rule applies the same whether they come from a synthetic fragrance or from an essential oil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Limonene occurs naturally in lemon and orange oil. Linalool \u2014 in lavender. Geraniol \u2014 in rose and geranium. There is no lavender oil without linalool; it\u2019s part of the lavender, not something added on top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why, in our lists, these ingredients carry the number 4. Seeing them there isn\u2019t a sign of chemicals \u2014 it\u2019s a consequence of there being real essential oil inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you know you\u2019re allergic to one of the declared fragrance ingredients, that line of the label is there for you. Read it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The front says marketing. The back says ingredients. \u201cNatural\u201d, \u201cclean\u201d, \u201ceco\u201d have no single legal definition in cosmetics \u2014 anyone can write them on anything. The one thing that can\u2019t be written at will is the ingredient list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So when a brand claims something, the question is always the same: where can I check it? The answer is the same for every brand \u2014 in the ingredient list. Only there can you see whether a product really is natural, organic or whatever it claims to be. We publish the list on every product, and every ingredient has its own page \u2014 open it and you\u2019ll see exactly which products it goes into.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The open-jar symbol.<\/strong> 6M, 12M \u2014 how many months the product stays good once you open it. That\u2019s different from the expiry date of the unopened pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The batch number.<\/strong> A short code, usually next to the expiry date. It tells the maker exactly when the product was made \u2014 if you have a question or a complaint, quote it and you\u2019ll get an answer faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who makes it, and where.<\/strong> The pack must show the name and address of the company responsible for the product \u2014 so you always know who to turn to.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe four labels we use<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Why the list says \u201cLimonene\u201d and \u201cLinalool\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNatural\u201d isn\u2019t a protected word. The ingredient list is.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Three more things on the pack<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Plastic, and where the ingredients come from<\/h2>\n\n\n\n