Paula’s Choice: why not “clean”

[laparente]

Why doesn’t the Paula’s Choice line get the “Clean at Sephora” tag?  From everything I’ve seen, Paula’s Choice is *obsessed* with ingredients. They will criticize a formula for containing essential oil, because that could cause a reaction in some people. 

So I’m dying to know what ingredient PC is using that doesn’t meet Sephora’s standard for “clean.”

I have eczema, so this is a critical issue for me. 

[ChrisCupcakes]

I agree with what everyone else said...read the labels and learn the ingredients. While I say I'm into "clean beauty" that is just an easy to use umbrella term. Our skins are unique so what works well for someone may not work well for you.

Through trial and error I have learned what works or doesn't work for me. I am a little stricter on the "clean" term than most as well. I also suffer from eczema and have found that phenoxyethanol breaks my skin out like crazy and makes me eczema flare up, so I dont use products with that ingredients. Glycolic freaks my skin out but lactic acid doesnt.

Sadly, there is a lot of trial and error in finding what works well for your skin. 

[RGbrown]

@laparente 

Ok, I got curious and fell down a rabbithole investigating ingredient lists...at least one PC cleanser has Sodium Laureth Sulfate in it, which is not allowed under the "clean" label. Meanwhile, here is PC's analysis of the ingredient

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown Whew, I'm glad you did this; you just saved me the time I'd planned to investigate later tonight. 🤣 SLES might not be gentle enough for some folks with sensitive skin, but it's much gentler than SLS. 

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

And on top of that, it's not even the main cleansing ingredient...it's 6th on the list after at least one other cleanser, as well as glycerin to help mitigate any drying effect from the SLES. The overall formula definitely matters moreso in this case than the inclusion of that one ingredient. 

And for reference, it's Paula's Choice CLEAR Pore Normalizing Acne Cleanser 6 oz/ 177 mL 

[WinglessOne]

@laparente  The problem is there’s no industry standard or FDA definition of “clean” for cosmetic products. 

Spoiler

Since there’s no standardized definition or classification, a brand might meet Sephora’s definition of “clean” and fail another retailer’s definition. Though from what I’ve seen, several “clean beauty” brands use essential oils in their products while falsely claiming certain other safe and helpful ingredients are bad/“dirty.” 

“Clean” is nothing but a marketing gimmick based on misunderstandings of the science behind certain ingredients. 

If there are certain ingredients you need to avoid, keep scanning product INCI lists and ignore the “clean” label (or lack of one). I know it’s a pain sometimes: I can’t use lavender oil or extract, I avoid other essential oils, and I’m allergic to one particular ingredient. But “clean” is a very unreliable way to narrow the field of products, so I completely ignore that label. 

As for why Paula’s Choice fails Sephora’s “clean” definition: I guess one or more of their products contain something Sephora doesn’t consider “clean,” though I don’t know what it is. I also don’t know what Sephora’s based their “dirty ingredients” list on. Mineral oil’s on their list, even though it’s a safe ingredient that’s very helpful for dry skin. If Sephora carried CeraVe, some of their products—particularly their petroleum-based healing balm—wouldn’t be called “clean.” 🤦‍♀️ 

[RGbrown]

@laparente 

I heartily second everything @WinglessOne said. "Clean" in no way means safer, or better, or good for eczema; it borders on fear-mongering, frankly. Under Sephora's "clean" rules, alcohol is still allowed, but it's a horrible ingredient for pretty much anyone in most every circumstance, and same for essential oils, as WinglessOne pointed out. I also personally appreciate sulfate-based shampoos, and feel that parabens have been unfairly demonized over the years. "Clean" marketing is dirty business!

Your best bet is figuring out what ingredients work (or don't) for you and always reading ingredient lists...Paula's Choice has a pretty nice ingredient dictionary as well, if you ever want to dive a little deeper into their insights on good vs bad (and all of their opinions are backed up with actual medical research).

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown @laparente  Another good resource for ingredient study and product info is INCIdecoder. You can search that database for products or ingredients. Product ingredients are broken into 3 views: the actual INCI list, a "highlights" list that groups ingredients by category (very handy if you're learning about ingredients in general), and a "skim through" table for those of us whose brains love data presented in tables. Ingredient info comes from scientific data and other good sources (including the Paula's Choice dictionary); they've done a good job of corroborating info. 

And I must give Michelle at Lab Muffin a shoutout: I've been a fan of hers for years, thanks to her chemist background and style of presenting info. 

There are other good resources and folks who are true experts on skincare ingredients and/or products, including board certified doctors (usually dermatologists) and cosmetic chemists. Doctors aren't always on the same page about everything, which is interesting and kinda expected (derms don't always interpret clinical studies and scientific research the same way), so it's good to check various sources while studying up on this stuff so you can corroborate info. 

One terrible resource—and I use the word "resource" very loosely here—is the EWG. I still can't figure out their rating system, beyond the obvious way they favor certain brands (who've likely contributed to their org) over others. And their ingredient ratings are crap. If they've truly based any of their ratings on science as they claim, then they've grossly misinterpreted whatever scientific data they read—or they only read the summaries of clinical studies, and/or they cherry-picked problematic studies. (The parabens study often cited as proof of evil is VERY problematic, so much so that even someone like me who's not a chemist can easily see glaring issues with it.) 

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

I chuckled at your "resource" on EWG. Labmuffin has a quick read on polish ingredients that I steer folks to from time to time, and I love her description of that site in her post: "they have one foot in tinfoil hat territory".

[WinglessOne]

@RGbrown  Lab Muffin recently did a great video about "clean beauty" and the EWG. Watching it was all the validation I needed. "Aha, so their ratings really are crap! See, I'm NOT crazy!" I think they've got a whole campground in tinfoil hat territory by now. 😄 

[RGbrown]

@WinglessOne 

I think her polish article was from 2014/2015, so it's definitely old...I'm sure EWG has expanded their tinfoil theories since then 😐😂

[flagrzyb]

Hello @laparente 

recommend that you download the free Google Chrome extension called Midori Assistant. You can download it through this link here:

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It will help you choose the best products for your skin (you have eczema, this tool is perfect in your search for the best products).
It is also available for the sephora website (amazon and ulta beauty too).
After downloading this extension, when selecting a product of interest, midori reads all the ingredients on the label and gives a score for that product (highlighting the chemical components, if any in the product, which are allergens, cangerogens and hormonal disrupters). It is possible to define conditions such as rosacea and eczema.
Just a random product using the extension:

If the score is low, it indicates other products with a higher score and help you with the best possible choice.

I am sure that, before making any decision before purchasing online, you will check the product scores using this tool. 🙂