Expectations...
- alcohol.free -
product contains no alcohol
and reality...
There are hundreds of different molecules which come under the chemical group known as the ‘alcohols’. However, this term only refers to ethanol. On the label of your cosmetics bottle ethanol may also be written as ‘SD alcohol’, ‘alcohol denat.’ or ‘isopropyl alcohol’. Scientists have identified this specific alcohol as being aggravating and drying on the skin. But, there are also many other types of alcohols - such as cetyl, stearyl, and cetearyl alcohols. These molecules are perfectly skin-friendly! So the ‘alcohol-free' label can actually be very useful for consumers as it signals the absence of the bad alcohols.