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Skin and face
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Tools

The words, in the order you meet them

By Dwight Davis, Founder

Updated

On this page5

Skincare's vocabulary is mostly borrowed from chemistry and regulation, and both arrive in supplier conversations where not knowing a term is expensive.

Formulating

Emulsion. Droplets of one liquid suspended in another, held apart by an emulsifier. Oil-in-water for most lotions, water-in-oil for richer barrier products.

HLB. Hydrophilic-lipophilic balance. A number describing how water- or oil-loving an emulsifier is; oils have a required HLB and matching them is what makes an emulsion work.

Phase. The water side or the oil side. Heated separately, combined hot.

Cool-down. The stage where heat-sensitive things are added: preservative, actives, fragrance, each at or below its stated temperature.

Anhydrous. No water. Changes the preservation question entirely.

Preserving

Water activity. How available the water is, as distinct from how much there is. Above roughly 0.75 supports microbial growth.

Preservation system. Water activity, preservative blend, pH, chelators and the package together. Not an ingredient.

Chelator. Binds metal ions, which otherwise catalyze oxidation and assist organisms.

Broad spectrum. Effective against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, yeast and mold. Usually requires a blend.

Testing

USP <51>. The antimicrobial effectiveness test. Five organisms, 28 days, counts at 0, 2, 7, 14 and 28.

Accelerated stability. 40 and 45 °C for four and eight weeks; roughly a year of real time at 40, with caveats.

Freeze-thaw. Three to five cycles between −10 and +25 °C.

Compatibility. Whether the formula and its actual package get along.

PAO. Period after opening.

Selling

INCI. The standardized ingredient nomenclature required for declaration, in descending order of predominance.

MoCRA. The federal regime introducing facility registration and product listing, with small-business exemptions that do not extend to safety substantiation.

Safety substantiation. The documented assessment that a product is safe for its intended use. No exemption at any size.

Cosmetic versus drug. Decided by the claim, not the ingredient. An SPF makes it a drug.

References

United States Pharmacopeia <51>, Antimicrobial Effectiveness Testing. The US standard for preservative challenge testing: five organisms, 28 days, counts at days 0, 2, 7, 14 and 28.
Fair Packaging and Labeling Act, and INCI nomenclature for ingredient declaration in descending order of predominance.
Written from published standards and peer-reviewed work, not from a laboratory of our own. Your own challenge and stability results, your supplier's specifications and a qualified safety assessment override anything general said here. Nothing on this site is a safety substantiation.