Why is water on the label?
Here is what you need to know.
IF THE PRODUCTS ARE WATERLESS, WHY IS WATER ON THE LABEL?
We never put water first, as is the case with traditional emulsions. Our emulsion builds up entirely without water, which is why the Olea Europaea cell elixir comes first for us. However, water can be contained elsewhere in the INCI’s as a breakdown from other ingredients of the respective product beyond the emulsion base.
In Europe, all cosmetics must include on their label, without exception, the ingredients list. This is known as the INCI (International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients). It is a set of rules established in the early 1970s by the CTFA (Cosmetic, Toiletry, and Fragrance Association) to clearly regulate the way to denominate the different ingredients that make up the product. To date, this list has become an international standard with more than 16,000 registered ingredients.
When submitting a product under the European Commission Regulations, the product must be reviewed by an expert. There are many different experts on the panel and you are not always given the same expert to review your product and, because of this, the INCI can present differently for different products and some ingredients names may be listed interchangeably (for example: aqua / water / eau).
For example, here at Olive Tree People, while we don't add water to our products, you can still find it listed on the INCI as aqua or water as a breakdown from other ingredients beyond the emulsion base. Different experts that review our products, may list this in different places on the INCI and that is why it varies from product to product.
Further, the ingredients on the INCI are ordered according to their proportion (from highest to lowest), although those ingredients with a proportion
lower than 1% may be mentioned without a particular order. Thus, there is a greater amount of the first ingredient than the last ones (for instance, the first ingredient may constitute 70% of the final formula while the second can be only 10%).
You can read more about Cosmetic Ingredient Review Procedures & Support to the Expert Panel for Cosmetic Ingredient Safety here
