30, 20 or just 5, how many ingredients do cosmetics need today?

Have you ever tried to decipher the 20 to 30 ingredients in your moisturizer? Unfortunately, conventional care products are completely confusing. Our tip: Better to use a cream with few additives. Here you can find out why you not only get transparency with it, but also do your skin a favor.

Photo by Matthew Tkocz

Why do cosmetics have so many ingredients today?

For our grandmothers, the daily skin care routine looked very different: you could say minimalistic skin care . They used very simple household remedies such as sugar scrubs, honey or milking fat and could count on one hand what their skin came into contact with. If she was sensitive, it was easy to use elimination to find out why and just leave something out.

Why have the lists of ingredients gotten longer and longer since then? It's simple: because we want to see results the first time we use it! Because we can't judge the long-term effect anyway. So, above all, a care product must smell good, absorb at turbo speed, conjure up an amazing glow on your cheeks, come out of the tube with the same consistency both on a skiing holiday and in midsummer and be durable into the next decade.

Convenience is not only in the foreground when it comes to food, but also includes care products. After all, we've gotten used to the fact that skin care has to feel good first and foremost.

But does it work?

In order to meet the requirements described above, a bunch of additives are needed in the products. Unfortunately, most of these have no benefit for your skin.

If you focus on the benefits instead of the convenience approach, the amount of ingredients - and thus the potential for irritation - can be reduced considerably.

This insight inspired me to found the minimalist natural cosmetics brand FIVE . Our vegan skin care consists of a maximum of five ingredients per product . Five ingredients: absolutely manageable and everything that is necessary. Because if you manage to omit certain substances, the use of dubious fillers or additives becomes unnecessary.

But we also want skincare to be transparent . You should know and be able to understand what you put on your skin every day. Five things are great to remember, as the famous study “The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two” says. Psychologist George Miller found that our short-term memory can only hold 7 +/- 2 things at a time. That's why 5 is the magic number for us.

Why minimalist beauty products?

Even with a very simple care routine , cleansing lotion, day cream and foundation are used in the morning. With 20 to 30 ingredients per product, that alone is a lot of substances that your skin has to process. With the multi-layering trend, which spilled over from Korea and Japan, there are easily 100 and more!

Today, more and more women are complaining about sensitive skin . ^[1] There is also a widespread phenomenon known as stewardess or mannequin disease. Perioral dermatitis is a harmless but unsightly skin condition characterized by patches, scales, and pustules. Both phenomena affect women with an affinity for care, because excessive care disturbs the natural barrier function and causes the skin to become lazy.

What does the reduction in ingredients do?

Our premise is a better skin balance through fewer ingredients . The condition of sensitive skin does not necessarily improve as a result of highly complex formulas, but can also irritate it. At some point she becomes irritated by anything, sometimes even clear water. Those who consistently expect less of their skin do not intervene as much in the skin's own processes and help it to regenerate.

What your skin really needs

Your skin needs ingredients that help it maintain its own skin functions and promote regeneration when the skin barrier is damaged. This is your main line of defense against moisture loss, pollution and oxidative damage to your skin cells. Nature provides you with the right nutrients in the form of natural vegetable oils and active ingredients. That's why it's not just a few, but the right ingredients that count. For FIVE there are a few criteria that automatically lead us to the right ingredients:

1. Only substances of natural origin

🌿 We make natural cosmetics and only use substances that absolutely meet the criteria of natural cosmetics . So mineral oils, silicones, parabens, microplastics and much more, which you would otherwise find on the packaging as an advertising 0% indication, are automatically excluded.

2. No substances without direct benefit

✨ We limit ourselves to substances that bring a specific benefit to your skin. An example: In March 2019 we launched the FIVE face serum , in which we use a ferment for preservation. But this raw material can do even more: it also has a moisturizing effect. Most of our ingredients are such all-rounders, as you can see, for example, in the articles beauty favorite shea butter - care for sensitive skin or beauty elixir jojoba oil - the best oil for oily skin .

3. No added alcohol

🍷 We have declared certain types of ingredients for FIVE as a no-go , although they are otherwise common in natural cosmetics. For example, alcohol (referred to as alcohol, alcohol.denat or alcohol on the INCI list), which is number 1 as a preservative because of its broad-spectrum effect and is usually at the top of the INCI list, i.e. it is contained in abundance. While this is not a bad ingredient, it is a much discussed one. It liquefies the skin barrier layers so that active ingredients can penetrate deeper, but also allows more moisture to escape. ^[2] Since a balanced moisture balance is the be-all and end-all for sensitive skin, we prefer to leave out alcohol and instead use alternatives such as ferments for preservation.

4. We do not use water

💧 We've turned the concept of "cream" inside out and discarded an ingredient that's a key ingredient in just about every cream: water. Because this means that several other groups of ingredients are no longer necessary: ​​preservatives, because it quickly becomes contaminated with bacteria, emulsifiers, so that it combines with lipids, and stabilizers, which give it the consistency. Since all of these substances produce highly undesirable effects, this is a huge win. And water flows super cheaply from the tap at home. Simply apply our waterless Shea Cream to the previously moistened face and the moisturizer is ready.

5. Better organic

👍 We use organic ingredients whenever possible . Because they put significantly less stress on your skin with pesticides and similar substances with which plants are treated in conventional cultivation. We also see it as our duty to make our contribution to healthy soils in the cultivation of raw materials.

Conclusion: Less is more

Care products with just a few ingredients help you gain insight and thus self-determination about your skin care. But your skin will also thank you if it is not burdened with countless ingredients every day.