5. Plastics
In addition to the obvious packaging role, plastic serves as a film-former in hair gel, hairspray, barrier products, and liquid bandages. Used as polyvinyl alcohol and various other forms, plastics are easily incorporated into many skin and hair care products. Plastic keeps your coif in that perfect Flock of Seagulls swoop, makes your waterproof mascara waterproof, and suspends those little beads in your eye gel. Speaking of beads, tiny polyethylene spheres are frequently used in exfoliating scrubs. The products are generally marketed as “extra gentle,” since they are perfectly round and do not damage the skin’s surface when used in moderation.
6. Simethicone (Gas Relief Drops)
To all mommies who have lain awake with a fussy baby, this ingredient is better known as gas relief drops. (Mylicon is a popular brand.) For cosmetic and industrial purposes, the generic name “antifoam” is usually applied. For the same reasons we ingest it, simethicone is used in cosmetics during the manufacturing process to reduce the surface tension of air or gas bubbles, causing them to collect and rise upward. In a baby, this is called “burping” and the process is identical in cosmetic manufacturing, although it lacks the distinctive noise and cuteness.
7. Urea (Formerly Extracted From Urine)
As a cosmetic ingredient, urea is a functional skin-softener and humectant, which means it helps to collect and hold moisture in the skin. And thank goodness it isn’t extracted from horse urine anymore, because a form of urea (diazolidinyl urea, specifically) is widely used in all manner of cosmetics, household cleansers and hair products as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial and preservative. (These days, urea is made using the Wöhler synthesis.)
8. Propylene Glycol (Not Antifreeze)
Commonly mistaken for its lethal and less human-contact friendly cousin, ethylene glycol (antifreeze), propylene glycol gets a bad rap. Used to moisturize the skin and hair, as a primary ingredient in “self-warming” products (this time, think lube), and to extract herbal ingredients for greater stability and efficacy than water, propylene glycol is a multi-tasker in the cosmetic quiver of tricks. While it is not toxic or harmful, propylene glycol just so happens to share a few of its unsavory relative’s anti-freezing effects; it is commonly used on the wings of aircraft to prevent the accumulation of ice crystals and excess moisture, which can cause drag and erratic flap control.
9. Hydrogenated Vegetable Oil (or, as My Granny Called It, Shortnin’)
This is the exact thing that you buy in the giant metal can, and that comes in a twenty-pound brick for the food service industry. Topically, hydrogenated vegetable oil is an amazing skin-softener, emollient, and barrier ingredient. You can find it in most heavy body and foot creams, lip balms, and in some suntan products. Although the trans fat content is a legitimate reason to avoid eating it, it actually improves the cosmetic performance of the ingredient—many substitutions for petrolatum contain a hefty proportion of hydrogenated vegetable oil.
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