You may have noticed that some labels on cosmetic products are starting to look like a page from an encyclopedia. This is because consumers are demanding to know more about the products they use, and governments are responding with laws that force manufacturers to reveal more about what they make. In fact, by November 2006, all cosmetics sold in Canada will be required by law to list their ingredients on their packages. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it? Well, it is until you realize that there are approximately 10,000 ingredients commonly used in cosmetics today. Health Canada, who has made these lists mandatory, admits, "...most of the names for cosmetic ingredients are technical chemical names that might not be readily understood by the Canadian public". That's an understatement. Unless you aced your high school chemistry course, these ingredients might as well be in a foreign language.

To help you get a better idea of what is in your favourite cosmetic product, here are a few simple steps.

1. Ingredients are listed in descending order by amount. So if "Water" is listed first (as it often is), there's more of it than any other ingredient in the product.

2. In a cream or lotion, what usually follows water are the oils, waxes and emollients in the product. Look for Jojoba Oil, Shea butter or silicones like cyclomethicone.

3. In a shampoo, the foaming and cleansing ingredients usually follow; these often end in "sulphate" or "betaine".

4. At the end of the list are ingredients in small quantities. These are often colours (like D&C Yellow No.10, where D&C means it's a "drug or cosmetic" colour), or sometimes they're listed as "CI1240" (CI meaning "colour index". Other minor ingredients are used to adjust the pH or acidity (sodium citrate, citric acid) and the product's thickness (xanthan gum).

5. If you see terms that look like a foreign language (it's actually Latin), chances are it's a botanical, which is an ingredient from plants. "Chamomilla Recuitia Matricaria" is just chamomile.

6.Anything using the term "paraben", or "carbamate" is a preservative.

7. Zinc oxide and Titanium dioxide are whiteners, and natural sun blocks.

8. The "acid" family of citric, glycolic, lactic and maleic acids are all known as "Alpha Hydroxy Acids", which possess powerful wrinkle reduction benefits. They're also irritating if too much of them are used. Unfortunately, the label won't be much use to you here.

But will the typical consumer benefit from this information? "It's useful if the consumer has an allergy to an ingredient," says Marilyn Patterson, a cosmetic chemist and owner of Natural Cosmetic Solutions in Acton, Ontario. "But it won't help a bit when it comes to the quality of the ingredients used," she says. For example, hyaluronic acid, which is used in cosmetics to firm up the skin, can be purchased for $40 a kilogram, or $400, depending on its purity and potency. Another thing to keep in mind, most of the "actives" in Cosmetics (ingredients that are intended to provide a product's benefits) are often in small quantities in the product. According to the new labelling rules, ingredients that make up less than 1 % of the formula don't have to be listed in order of amount; so you really won't know if a product contains a meaningful amount of these important ingredients. Here's where knowing the company and having confidence in its products is key.

Lot Numbers and Expiry Dates:
Now, aside from ingredients, labels often will carry other useful information. "Lot" (followed by letters or numbers) will let the manufacturer trace the exact time and date the product was made in case there's a problem. Some labels will include "Exp" followed by a date—indicating the "expiration date" of the product, a requirement for drug products like sunscreens, but also useful for cosmetics. Products imported from around the world are likely to have other strange-looking symbols displayed. European products are now showing a drawing of a jar with its lid off, along with a measure of time. This is the so-called "period after opening", the latest evolution of the "best before" date. This new symbol tells the consumer how long the product will be good after the product is opened. European packages will also often show circle with "two arrows" inside, which is a European recycling symbol.

Not Tested On Animals?
And what about the "Not tested on animals" symbols and on many packages? "While the product may not have been tested on animals, many of the individual ingredients were at some point" according to Marilyn. The industry has found many alternative methods to test its ingredients, but the consumer has to regard these statements with some degree of caution.

EXAMPLE
Decoding Biotherm's AquaSource Emergency Hydration Mask

Ingredients:
Aqua/Water, Glycerin, 'Elaeis Guineensis/Palm Oil, Butyrospermum ParkII/Shea Butter, Zea Mays/Corn Germ Oil, Dimethicone, Cetyl Alcohol, Burylene Glycol, Cyclopentasiloxane, -Alcohol Denat, Aluminum Starch Octenylsuccinate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Vitreoscilla Ferment, Copper Gluconate, Zinc Gluconate, Magnesium Gluconate, Maganese Gluconate, Serine, Citrulline, 2-01eamido-l, 3Octadecandediol, Ceramide 3, Hydroxypalmitoyl Sphinganine, Cholesterol, Biosaccharide Gum-1, Panthenol, Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose, Urea, Alanine, Aspartic Acid, Hexylene Glycol, Dextrin, Glutamic Acid, Hexyl Nicotinate, Menthoxypropanediol, Tocopherol, Glycine Soja/Soyabean Oil, Xanthan Gum, Dimenthiconol, Glyceryl Stearate, Peg-100 Stearate, Stearic Acid, Palmitic Acid, Myristic Acid, Polyacrylamide, C 13-14 Isoparaffin, Laureth-7, Triethanolamine, Disodium Edta,
Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Ethylparaben, Butylparaben, Isobutylparaben, Propylparaben, C177891/Titanium Dioxide, C177491, C177492/Iron Oxides, Parfum/Fragrance, Hexyl Cinnamal, Limonene, Benzyl Salicylate, Butylphenyl Meihylpropional, Linalool, Hydroxyisohexyl, 3Cyclohexene Carboxaldehyde, Citral, Benzyl Alcohol.

The Ingredients Explained:
If there ever was a product packed with ingredients, Biotherm's AquaSource Emergency Hydration Mask tips the scales at almost 70 components. Decoding starts with the mask making liberal use of moisturizing oils and waxes (palm oil, shea butter, corn oil), but it's also heavy on sugars (Fructose, Glucose, Sucrose), which are favourites for mask products. There are lots of minerals known to be good to skin (Copper, Zinc, Magnesium, Manganese). In supporting roles are dozens of things like colours (the "CI" numbers) and preservatives (the parabens).

wow, thats aot of info to take in. but
it's good to know what your putting on your face/hair
Thanks!