Alcohol in skincare: good or bad? Which alcohols dry your skin and which care for it

NATURAL SKINCARE

Is alcohol in skincare bad for your skin?

Alcohol in skincare is usually only a problem when it is a volatile, short-chain alcohol in a high proportion and your skin is sensitive to it. Even so, the blanket fear of the word is understandable, because ethanol noticeably strips oil from the skin’s surface. A study in the British Journal of Dermatology tested alcohols at concentrations of 60 to 100 per cent in patch tests: the skin barrier, measured by water loss, and redness did not change significantly, but skin hydration did fall significantly. In a washing test, a detergent irritated the skin more than alcohol did. The study comes from hand hygiene rather than facial skincare, but it shows the key point: in the test, alcohol did not damage the healthy barrier, but it did dry it out.

A review in the Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology adds two points. Ethanol acts as a penetration enhancer, making it easier for other substances to get into the skin. And ethanol is associated with skin irritation or contact dermatitis, especially in people with a deficiency of the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase. For resilient skin, a little ethanol in one product is rarely relevant. For dry, mature or irritated skin, the effect adds up when it turns up every day and in several products. This article is about alcohol as an ingredient. What drinking alcohol does to your face is covered in our article on alcohol and skin.

Which alcohols dry out your skin?

The alcohols that dry skin out are mainly short-chain, volatile ones: Alcohol denat., Alcohol, SD Alcohol and Isopropyl Alcohol. They evaporate quickly, dissolving oils from the skin’s surface as they go and taking moisture with them. That is exactly why a product with a lot of ethanol feels fresh and light and dries quickly, which many people find pleasant. Incidentally, Alcohol denat. is nothing more than ethanol with a bitter or unpleasant substance added so that nobody drinks it. For your skin, this denaturing makes little difference. How much a product dries your skin out depends mainly on the amount. If one of these alcohols is among the first three to five ingredients, the proportion is usually high. If it only appears far down the list, it is often just a solvent for a plant extract and plays a minor role in terms of quantity. You are most likely to come across high amounts in clarifying products, sprays, light fluids and some sunscreen textures. If you are wondering whether a traditional toner with alcohol is necessary at all, the guide Do you need a toner? has the answer.

Why are fatty alcohols like Cetearyl Alcohol good for your skin?

Fatty alcohols condition the skin because they have long carbon chains and therefore behave like waxes, not like ethanol. Rather than evaporating, they stay on the skin, make it supple and reduce the feeling of roughness. In a formulation they have a second job: they give creams body and help to bind water and oil together in a stable way. Cetearyl Alcohol is a blend of Cetyl Alcohol and Stearyl Alcohol and is usually obtained from plant oils such as coconut or palm oil. Other members of the group are Cetyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol and Myristyl Alcohol. Without these thickeners, many creams would be runny or would separate.

Fatty alcohols are not trouble-free for everyone either, but problems are rare. A case series in the Australasian Journal of Dermatology describes five contact allergies to cetostearyl alcohol and notes that emulsifiers are an uncommon cause of allergic contact dermatitis. All five people also had other positive test reactions, mostly to creams containing corticosteroids. If you already have a known allergy to ointment bases, you should therefore read the INCI list carefully. For everyone else, there is no reason to avoid fatty alcohols.

How do you spot the different alcohols on an INCI list?

You can tell which type of alcohol you are dealing with from its full name and its position on the list, not from the word “Alcohol” on its own. Above a certain quantity, ingredients are listed in descending order of proportion, so position tells you a lot. The basics are covered in the guide on how to read an ingredient list. For alcohols, four checks are enough:

1. If “Alcohol”, “Alcohol denat.”, “SD Alcohol” or “Isopropyl Alcohol” stands on its own, it is a short-chain, volatile alcohol.
2. If it is preceded by a long name such as Cetyl, Stearyl, Cetearyl or Behenyl, it is a fatty alcohol with a conditioning function.
3. If an ingredient is called Glycerin or ends in “Glycol”, such as Pentylene Glycol or Propylene Glycol, it is a polyhydric alcohol and usually a humectant.
4. Check the position: among the first five ingredients, the alcohol counts; far down the list, it is usually a minor detail.

A classic source of confusion is panthenol: the name ends in “-ol”, and chemically it really is an alcohol, but it is provitamin B5, which binds moisture rather than drying the skin out. The same goes for glycerin, which is chemically an alcohol and yet one of the best-known humectants. There is more on this in the article on glycerin in skincare. One example of a list that contains all three groups is The Duo: it contains Cetearyl Alcohol as a plant-based fatty alcohol, Glycerin, Pentylene Glycol and Panthenol, but no Alcohol denat. and no ethanol. In a review on Judge.me, J.D. writes of being delighted “with the whole concept and the great transparency regarding ingredients” (review translated from German). That kind of transparency is exactly what you need to assess an ingredient list for yourself.

Why is alcohol so common in natural skincare?

Alcohol is common in natural skincare because ethanol is obtained from plants and does several jobs at once that would otherwise call for synthetic ingredients. First, it dissolves plant actives: many extracts are made with ethanol, and some of it ends up in the finished product as a solvent. Second, in higher amounts it supports preservation, because microorganisms grow less well in alcohol-rich water. Third, it creates a light, quickly absorbed texture without silicones. That explains why Alcohol so often appears near the top of the list in natural skincare in particular. Natural does not automatically mean kind to skin, though: ethanol from organic grain dries the skin out just as much as any other ethanol. So a natural skincare label tells you nothing about the alcohol content. How little terms such as “natural” or “no additives” mean legally is shown in the article on Swiss skincare without additives. In the end, the ingredient declaration is the only thing you can rely on.

If you have sensitive skin and are looking for natural skincare without drying alcohol, you do not have to give up natural skincare – you just have to read more carefully. Creams usually manage entirely without ethanol, because they get their texture from oils, fatty alcohols and emulsifiers. With toners, sprays, gels and very light fluids, it pays to take a second look.

When should you avoid skincare with alcohol?

You should avoid skincare with a lot of Alcohol denat. or ethanol if your skin is dry, mature, red or irritated, or if it stings and feels tight after you apply a product. With skin like this, the lipid layer is already thin, and every extra step that strips away oil makes itself felt. This applies especially to products you use twice a day over large areas, in other words serums and creams. A sunscreen spray with alcohol on the odd day matters less than a serum that goes on your skin every morning and evening. Skin also tolerates alcohol less well than usual after exfoliating or shaving, or in dry, heated indoor air in winter. You can be less strict if your skin is oily and resilient, as a light, quick-drying texture can even feel pleasant on it.

It is important to know where skincare ends and medicine begins: if every product stings, your skin flakes or redness persists for weeks, the cause may be rosacea, eczema or a contact allergy. That belongs with a dermatologist, and skincare then plays only a supporting role. If you are specifically looking for a gentle cream, check for fragrance as well as alcohol – there is more on this in the article on fragrance-free moisturisers.

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