I expand on what I covered in last week’s FutureDerm post about the functions of ethanol in skin care. Here’s the link and enjoy!
http://www.futurederm.com/2012/04/19/is-ethanol-in-skin-care-products-safe/
I’ll respond to comments made here or on FutureDerm. It’s up to you guys!
Nice post! Very helpful.
I have a question – If I use a lot of serums/moisturisers with silicone, would that significantly impact upon my chemical sunscreen’s ability to bind to my skin? Or should I not worry about that? Or perhaps, use alcohol to help with that, or use less silicone-based things in the morning?
Hey Victoria,
Well it depends on what order you apply your products. If you apply your chemical sunscreen first, then you should be fine. However, if you apply it after say a primer or moisturizer, and that product contains non-volatile silicones, then you might be in a bit of trouble. Ethanol will definitely help with the evaporation of those ingredients, but I wouldn’t risk it, because how much it evaporates is partly based on how much ethanol is present. And you can’t know the concentration based on the ingredient list. So yeah, try applying the chemical sunscreen first! The most ideal would be that you can find a sunscreen that can double as your moisturizer, just so we don’t have to worry about a separate moisturizer interfering with your sunscreen’s ability to protect your skin.