Skin Care

How Bad, Really, Is Alcohol in Your Skin Care?

We got the low-down so you can keep your skin safe

by Kristen Bousquet | COMMENT

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The Good and the Bad The good news is, there are many different types of alcohols and not all are bad for you. Joshua Ross, owner of SkinLab West Hollywood, says to watch out for SD alcohols, which can be labeled on ingredient lists as alcohol, alcohol denat, isopropyl alcohol and ethanol, because they "eliminate natural oils, can cause irritation, drying and can lead the skin to overproduction of its biological oils, clogging pores and causing more acne."

Talakoub adds that "the 'bad' alcohols act to give the skin a matte finish, and they thin greasy products out making them lighter on the skin." While this sounds great, it's actually damaging your skin's barrier function in the process.

Thankfully, you don't have to worry about all alcohols that may be in your favorite products. According to both experts, there are specific types of alcohol that can actually be beneficial to the skin. "Fatty alcohols, like cetyl alcohol, stearyl alcohol and lauryl alcohol, can actually help other ingredients to penetrate deeper into the skin," Ross says. "For some serums, those alcohols are super beneficial to allow for greater product penetration."

Talakoub agrees and says these fatty alcohols are often used to stabilize products on the shelf and are in small enough concentrations that they don't make much of a difference.

Image via Imaxtree

SEE NEXT PAGE: How to Safely Use Beauty Products That Contain Alcohol

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