When we chooses a cosmetic product for our body care, it is essential to do so on the basis of the components it contains, which are not always safe for our health, but, on contrary, may actually be particularly harmful both to humans and to the environment.
This is why it is important to know how to read the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients), i.e. the internationally recognised and used nomenclature that serves to classify all the ingredients contained in the various cosmetic products that we use on our skin every day and that are listed on the label.
Did you know that INCI is compulsory on all cosmetic products? Because of this, the list of ingredients contained by Nuvò Cosmetic snail slime products is printed on the back of their packaging!
How to read the INCI
Being able to decipher the INCI may seem a simple task to perform, but this is not always the case. Very often, we do not know the criteria according to which the various ingredients are listed.
The first thing to know is that the order in which the components appear is by no means random. Instead, they are listed in descending order according to the quantity in which they are present within the product.
For example, the Nuvò Cosmetic snail slime face cream for oily skin, composed of 80% snail slime, will be ranking first.
Snail slime will be followed by all the other ingredients contained in the product that will progressively rank in the list according to their lower quantities. such as retinol, vitamin E, jojoba oil and shea butter.
Another clarifying point concerning the INCI of a product is the term used to define the various ingredients contained.
With regard to the language used, several distinctions can be made.
The first concerns the compounds written in Latin with their original name. This occurs when using botanical ingredients or those found in the pharmacopoeia.
Reference is also made to components that have not undergone any chemical modification but have been incorporated into the product keeping their original formulation intact.
All other elements that have undergone a chemical alteration are instead referred to either with their English term or numerical type codes.
Ingredients to be avoided in the INCI
Let us now analyse the ingredients we should all stay away from, both for our own health and for the environment.
First of all, surfactants derived from petroleum refining such as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate should definitely be avoided together with all other ingredients derived from petroleum, such as Paraffinum Liquidum and Petrolatum, which are frequently present in cosmetic products and, all too often, also in those used as emulsifiers for the care of young children.
It is also advisable to stay away from other types of polluting ingredients, which are obviously very dangerous to nature, such as EDTA, MEA, etc.
Silicones are also to be avoided as they are highly harmful both to the environment and to our hair which, through the use of products containing this type of ingredient, appears shinier and apparently healthier. However, this is actually only due to the film that silicones create on its surface.
The same applies to our face and body skin, which does not benefit in any way from being treated with creams or oils containing these substances, but also risk being damaged over time.
Finally, another category we should refrain from using iincludes all those highly allergenic components, considered to be purveyors of a very harmful substance: formaldehyde. These mainly include ingredients that are used as preservatives such as Triclosan.
Why choose cosmetic products that are as natural as possible?
After discovering which substances to avoid in the INCI, we should bear in mind that, fortunately, there are also many product lines on the market that are free of these ingredients. The Nuvò Cosmetic products based on snail slime, for example, do not contain the harmful substances mentioned above, but only products that are safe for our skin.
In fact, the company is strongly committed to avoid any negative impact of its products on the ecosystem.
Just think of the huge damage that a widespread use of products containing polluting ingredients can cause to our planet. No one is able to quantify the harmful consequences this can have in the short but, especially, in the long term, due to the toxic waste released.
It is therefore high time we chose more carefully among the many face and body skincare products available on the market so as to buy only those free of the above-polluting substances!
