Ethylhexylglycerin is an effective ingredient when it comes to skincare and is completely safe to use on your skin. As we’ll see in this article, it often replaces other more harmful ingredients that should be avoided. Keep reading to learn more about ethylhexylglycerin for skin and how it is used in skincare.
IN A NUTSHELL
Ingredient Category: Humectant, Emollient
Main Benefit: Ethylhexylglycerin has a multitude of uses, but it’s perhaps best known as a preservative.
Find It In: So Clean! Facial Cleanser, Rose and Shine Rose Water Toner, Nectar of the C Vitamin C Serum, Just Dew It Hydrating Serum, ‘A’ Game Retinol Serum, Eyes Eyes Baby Anti-Aging Eye Cream, Crème de la Cream Brightening Moisturizer, Youth Fairy Retinol Moisturizer, and H2 Oh Yeah Hydrating Moisturizer.
What is Ethylhexylglycerin?
Throwing it back to science class for a sec, ethylhexylglycerin is a kind of alkyl glyceryl ether. A colorless liquid, this synthetic compound is derived from vegetable glycerin (which often comes from palm or coconut oil). If you’re super-into science, its chemical formula is: C11H24O3.
Ethylhexylglycerin Skin Benefits
So, what does ethylhexylglycerin actually do? Here’s a list of just some of its benefits:
- Ethylhexylglycerin increases the shelf life of products - It will keep your products viable longer because it essentially works as a preservative.
- Ethylhexylglycerin is safe in skincare products - The Cosmetic Ingredient Review, an organization that “reviews and assess the safety of ingredients in an open, unbiased, and expert manner,” has done extensive testing and has deemed ethylhexylglycerin to be safe.
- Ethylhexylglycerin replaces dangerous parabens - Because ethylhexylglycerin can be used as a preservative, it can take the place of parabens.
- Ethylhexylglycerin helps keep the ingredients in products “stick” together - It helps keep ingredients from separating once they’re together, acting as a binding agent.
- Ethylhexylglycerin is a humectant - They essentially pull moisture from the environment, bring them to the skin’s surface, and hold them there. This makes the skin dewy and well-hydrated.
- Ethylhexylglycerin is an emollient - It softens the skin directly and helps make the products themselves softer so they feel better on the skin.
- Ethylhexylglycerin is stable - When an ingredient like ethylhexylglycerin is deemed “stable,” it means that it will help the product do what it’s supposed to do and not mess up any delicate formulas. This is crucial to making sure products work the way they’re supposed to for however long you have them.
- Ethylhexylglycerin is a surfactant - By acting as a surfactant, ethylhexylglycerin can get ingredients like oil and water to not only mix but stay mixed. This is really crucial, as most of our skincare products would otherwise be layers of different ingredients.
- Ethylhexylglycerin helps to purify the skin - It helps to keep skin free of organisms that might harm it.
What Products Contain Ethylhexylglycerin?
You may not be aware of it, but ethylhexylglycerin is in many of the products you buy. Used in everything from deodorants, hair spray, makeup, shampoos, lotions, and sunblock. As more and more companies discover that it is a much better alternative to harmful preservatives like parabens, you’ll most likely find it more and more often in your ingredients labels.
How To Use Ethylhexylglycerin in Your Skin Care Routine
As you can probably guess, ethylhexylglycerin is in so many products already, you’re probably using it right now without even realizing it. Typically, you will find it at or near the bottom of an ingredients list, which means there is a very small percentage of it in the formula. Most clean skincare brands, Fleur & Bee included, only add the tiniest amount of ethylhexylglycerin to their formulas– just enough to do its job, and nothing more.
Let’s go through a typical skincare routine so you can see which products may include it:
1. Cleansing
The basis of any great skincare routine is a clean face. Our So Clean! facial cleanser is perfect for cleansing the skin without drying it out. Featuring botanical ingredients like organic coconut oil to remove dirt and oil, organic aloe to hydrate the skin, and you guessed it – ethylhexylglycerin – it will gently cleanse and prep your skin for the rest of your skincare routine.
2. Toning
Just a spritz or two of Rose and Shine rose water toner is all you need to hydrate and freshen up the skin after cleansing. Made with just a handful of ingredients including rose hydrosol and water, it contains ethylhexylglycerin to prolong the shelf life.
3. Using Serum
The third step is your chance to treat your skin. Serums are ideal for this, as the concentrated ingredients penetrate deeper into your skin and render them more effective. Brighten your skin and restore radiance with a vitamin C serum like Nectar of the C. In addition to giving skin back its glow, it evens out skin tone, gets to work on dark spots, and softens the look of fine lines. You’ll find natural ingredients like camomile, clary sage, organic jojoba seed oil, and pink grapefruit seed oil in Nectar of the C; it also contains ethylhexylglycerin. For those with dry or dehydrated skin, try Just Dew It hydrating serum. We packed this serum with ultra-hydrating ingredients, such as hyaluronic acid, sea buckthorn oil and prickly pear seed oil, to keep your skin plump and hydrated all day long.
4. Moisturizing
Even with gentle, non-drying skincare products it’s crucial that you make sure you moisturize your skin. Both our Crème de la Cream brightening moisturizer and our H2 Oh Yeah hydrating moisturizer contain nourishing ingredients like organic jojoba oil for moisture, organic aloe vera leaf juice to soothe and hydrate, and, of course, ethylhexylglycerin.
5. Protecting the Skin Around Your Eyes
No matter what your age, it’s imperative that you protect the skin around your eyes with a good eye cream. Our Eyes Eyes Baby eye cream contains organic sunflower seed oil, organic aloe vera leaf juice, squalane (from olive oil), niacinamide (vitamin B3), and you guessed it– ethylhexylglycerin.
We hope that sheds some light on this mouthful of an ingredient. Whether or not you can pronounce it correctly, we think you’ll find that ethylhexylglycerin is a necessary and effective ingredient in your skincare products.
