Category
Glossary
148 entries
- Physical Exfoliation (Term)the mechanical removal of surface dead cells using abrasive particles, textured tools, or friction. It offers immediate smoothness but requires a gentle touch, since...
- Chemical Exfoliation (Term)the use of acids or other soluble agents to dissolve the bonds holding dead cells together on the skin's surface, allowing them to shed...
- Exfolianta product or ingredient that helps remove dead cells from the skin's surface, either by dissolving the bonds between them or by physically sloughing...
- Brightening Agentan ingredient used cosmetically to promote a more radiant, even-looking complexion, often by targeting dullness and the appearance of uneven tone. Brightening agents such...
- Depigmenting Agentan ingredient used to reduce excess pigment in the skin by interfering with the production, transfer, or accumulation of melanin. Depigmenting agents are commonly...
- Soothing Agentan ingredient added to skincare to calm the sensation and appearance of irritation, helping skin feel more comfortable and less reactive. Soothing agents such...
- Anti-Inflammatory (Skincare)a category of ingredients and formulations intended to calm visible signs of skin inflammation such as redness, warmth, and irritation. These products aim to...
- Keratolytican ingredient or agent that helps loosen and shed the outer layer of dead skin cells by weakening the bonds that hold corneocytes together....
- Comedogenesisthe process by which a clogged pore, or comedo, forms when dead skin cells and sebum accumulate within a hair follicle. It involves excess...
- Sebocytea specialized cell within the sebaceous gland that produces and releases sebum, the skin's natural oily secretion. Sebocytes mature while filling with lipids and...
- Tight Junctiona sealing structure between adjacent skin cells that closes the gaps in the space between them, forming a secondary barrier deeper within the epidermis....
- Desmosomea specialized cell-to-cell junction that anchors adjacent skin cells together, providing mechanical strength to the epidermis. In the outer skin layer these structures become...
- Corneocytea flattened, non-living skin cell that makes up the outermost layer of the epidermis, the stratum corneum. Formed as keratinocytes migrate upward and lose...
- Lamellar Structurethe highly organized, layered arrangement of lipids in the skin's outermost layer, where fatty molecules stack into orderly sheets between skin cells. This ordered...
- Barrier Lipidsthe fatty molecules, mainly ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, that fill the spaces between cells in the skin's outermost layer. Together they form...
- Skin Florathe community of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms that naturally live on the skin's surface, also called the skin microbiome. This ecosystem helps defend...
- Humectant Magnet Effectan informal way of describing how humectant ingredients attract and bind water molecules, drawing moisture toward the upper layers of the skin much like...
- Chelating Agentan ingredient that binds trace metal ions, such as iron and copper, that can enter a formula through water or raw materials. By locking...
- Antioxidant Networkthe interconnected system in which multiple antioxidants work together to neutralize free radicals and regenerate one another after they have been used up. In...
- Nano vs Non-Nanoa distinction based on particle size in mineral sunscreens, where nano particles measure under 100 nanometers and non-nano particles are larger. The size affects...
- Water Resistance (SPF)a measured claim describing how long a sunscreen maintains its stated SPF while the skin is wet from swimming or sweating, expressed as either...
- Broad-Spectrum SPF (Term)a labeling designation indicating that a sunscreen protects against both UVB rays, which cause sunburn, and UVA rays, which contribute to premature aging and...
- Reef-Safe (Term)an unregulated marketing label suggesting a sunscreen is formulated without ingredients thought to harm coral reefs and marine ecosystems, most often oxybenzone and octinoxate....
- Cruelty-Freea designation indicating that a product and, ideally, its ingredients were not tested on animals at any stage of development. Because the term is...
