Since ancient times, humans have combined strange ingredients to create personal care products. Today, the ingredients are only slightly less bizarre. Here are nine weird items you may not have known about.
1. Sodium Chloride (Table Salt)
Good old table salt is a common ingredient in shampoo, facial cleanser, body wash, bubble bath, and anything else that foams. These products are made using specific combinations of surface-active agents (surfactants), which usually require salt to reach a usable viscosity. The next time you shudder with delight while working your hair into a lather, take a second to peek at the back of that shampoo bottle and see if your friend, table salt, is in the mix.
2. Oleoresin Capsicum (Pepper Spray)
If you’re a police officer, vigilante, or really serious about self-defense, you know Oleoresin Capsicum is the primary component of pepper spray. Specifically, it’s the pepper part. Why, pray tell, would there be pepper spray in your lipstick? Well, there probably wouldn’t be (barring the possibility of a horrible, horrible joke), but there might be some capsicum in any product that causes a warming sensation when applied topically (don’t think lube—external use only!) and in many over-the-counter pain and itch creams.
3. Diatomaceous Earth (a Component in Dynamite)
Also known as diatomite, this is one of the two components of dynamite (along with nitroglycerin). DE is a silica-based powder made of the fossilized remains of diatoms, a kind of spherical, hard-shelled algae. Because the particles are hollow, they are very porous; it is even utilized in cat litter and water filtration processes. In cosmetics, diatomaceous earth finds a home in natural toothpastes, deodorant, absorbent powders, cuticle cream, and in mild-exfoliation products due to its gentle abrasiveness.
4. Albumen (Egg Whites)
Egg whites are sticky and gooey, but they constrict very efficiently when dried, and are used in skin-firming products for just this reason. Processed for purity and spray-dried for industrial use, albumen doesn’t exactly resemble your breakfast. But the next time you take half an hour to use that peppermint hydrating peel-off mask, think about the eggs you left in that pan this morning.
