A while ago, I fell for an pretty aggressive sales pitch and bought an insanely expensive face exfoliator.
Unfortunately for me, the stuff actually works and my skin feels amazing.
Here is the ingredient list excluding everything I was able to immediately rule out (full list in spoiler tags at the end).
Propylene Glycol, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Dehydroacetic Acid, Polysorbate 20, Ethylhexylglycerin, Ascorbic acid(VC), Linalool
I've read that Carbomer can act as a mild exfoliator, but I'm not sure if that's the case here.
So if anyone has pointers for products I can try (which are available in Europe), I'd appreciate it!
!Aqua, Propylene Glycol, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice, Anthemis Nobilis (Chamomile) Flower Extract, Triethanolamine, Carbomer, Phenoxyethanol, Gingo Biloba Leaf Extract, Coix Lacryma-Jobi (Job’s Tears) Seed Oil, Fragrance, Borago Officinalis (Borage) Seed Oil, Dehydroacetic Acid, Oenothera Biennis ( Evening Primrose) Oil, Vitis Vinifera (Grape) Seed Oil, Lavandula Angustifolia (Lavender) Oil, Rosmarinus Officinalis (Rosemary) Leaf Oil, Polysorbate 20, Ethylhexylglycerin, Ascorbic acid(VC), Limonene, Linalool!<
It looks like it is the acids (dehydroacetic acid and ascorbic acid) that do the exfoliating in this recipe.
Small correction: dehydroacetic acid is a preservative so it's actually only ascorbic acid (also known as Vitamin C) that's doing the exfoliation. So if you want products that achieve the same thing then its most likely Vitamin C you should be looking for, and luckily there's plenty of them these days.
I highly recommend checking out Paula's Choice Skin Care Ingredient Checker for this kind of stuff! You paste in an ingredient list and it will give you tons of useful information. How well an ingredient is regarded, what its function is and so on.
Here's the results for OP's product for example.
Thanks, that's a great resource!
From my limited research it seems as if Vit C shouldn't have an immediately noticeable effect on the skin. Additionally, the product comes in a clear container, so Vit C wouldn't remain stable for long in my product.
That's why I suspected Carbomer as the main exfoliant, since I observe some balling upon contact with the skin.
Here the link where I found the information https://labmuffin.com/fact-check-friday-do-peeling-gels-really-peel-off-my-skin/
Ah sorry I thought it was a chemical exfoliant and not a physical peel 😅 It's probably something about how the product is formulated that causes carbomer to ball up so I don't think just because a product has carbomer it will have that effect. Usually carbomer is used to enhance the texture of a product. You can read more about it here and here.
Unfortunately it doesn't say whether it's chemical or physical.
It's pretty scummy and I'm genuinely annoyed that I can't call it snake oil because it clearly has an effect on my skin.
Well it sounds like it's the physical exfoliation/peeling that's giving you the effect you like so much, and I don't think it's THAT important exactly which ingredient is causing that effect. Unfortunately I'm a bit too scared it will be too harsh for my skin so I don't have any experience with that product segment and can't give much further advice than that when it comes to specific products and so on. Hopefully someone more experience can chime in!
Thanks! Do you happen to know any products that use those?
Sorry, don't exfoliate myself so no clue.