Active Ingredients Spotlight: Centella, Banana Oil, Retinal, & Edelweiss

I'm a sucker for interesting ingredients

Hello Gorgeous!

Here’s a quick post about interesting ingredients showing up on my desk (and in my hair and on my face).

Why active ingredients matter

For the most part, I like to highlight the active ingredients that matter most in a product. I say active because far too many products include a trending ingredient just to say they did.

What are active ingredients anyway?

An active ingredient is included in a product to directly create a reaction. In the case of skincare or haircare, active ingredients target specific concerns. That could mean anything from softening the look of wrinkles to fading sun damage. It’s a little tricky though since the FDA has a more rigid definition of active ingredients to mean topical drugs or those having almost medicinal effects.

Not all actives are created equal

There’s an extremely elastic p…