INCI: what is it? 3 Things to know!
What is the INCI?
An acronym for International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients, it’s the mandatory international name used to indicate the ingredients of beauty products.
But you can read it? It will have happened to anyone to buy a beauty products without having an idea of the ingredients that make them up. This isn’t a fault, but a simple truth.
The INCI is the tool to make the right choices and is an advantage that we often ignore.
Find out more about Beauty here.
3 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT INCI
1. Nomenclature
Most of the ingredients are always indicated by their Latin name. When this happens it means that have been used in purity, without chemical changes. On the contrary, the ingredients that undergo this modification are indicated with the name in English. Or a numerical code.
The dyes are always indicated with the abbreviation C.I. followed by a five numbers.
2. The order of the ingredients is always decreasing
The ingredients are selected based on the percentage of them present in the total weight of the product, which is why the first ingredient on the list is the one that constitutes the largest share of the product.
Substances less than 1% have no obligation to be mentioned in the INCI. Such as perfumes that don’t necessarily have to be singularly listed.
3. Classification of ingredients
INCI are normally made up of three classes of ingredients such as:
– basic ingredients, substances that are also present in the skin. That it needs to function properly and perform its protective function. Often these are fats and oils;
– active ingredients, substances that have functional effects on the body. For example, among them we find vitamins, enzymes and acids;
– excipients, substances that give the product additional characteristics such as, for example, a good perfume. Among these we find the aromas, fragrances, emulsifiers, preservatives, etc…
To understand if a product is of quality, just add the % of these components. If the result exceeds that of the basic and active ingredients, this indicates that the product isn’t of good quality.
You can check the quality of a product or ingredients through the traffic light logic.
💚💚Great. Ecocompatible substances.
💚Discrete. Substances of vegetable derivation.
💛Good. There may be limitations or doubts.
❤️Sufficient. Substances with great environmental impact.
❤️❤️Not Sufficient. To avoid.
⚫️Forbidden Substance
⚪️Neutro
I didn’t know about INCI. I do want my beauty products to have quality and safe ingredients though. I always check!
I decided to start this column precisely for this. I realized that something that I take for granted is not so for everyone. Glad to have been helpful!
This is great, I had no idea about INCI, never heard of it tbh! Thank you so much for the information, really great.
Oh wow the INCI is news to me. Is it in Italy? I am careful with my skin and really want my beauty products to be of great quality and ingredients I can trust.
INCI is used ALL over the world on ALL cosmetic products!
I have never heard of INCI, but I am aware of labeling rules and how labeling works. I was taught to check ingredients years ago because of the shift to organic ingredients.
I have no idea about this. Thank you for sharing. I’ll be able to read the labels (sort of) and understand what they mean with the help of google. This will make choosing vegan/cruelty-free products a lot easier.
I didnt know about this either! But it is very good to know!
Thank you for the important information. I’m so glad to have INCI in place.
Very happy I get to run through your post. Make me even more interested being keen on products before buying them. You learn something new everyday huh.
I am not 100% familiar to this. It’s interesting to know the importance of knowing exactly what you’re buying. Super informative.
I always check the ingredients in things. I hope companies are starting to remove the toxic ones in order to better our world.
I had NO idea that the order of ingredients was based on decreasing prominence in the product; that’s brilliant and super helpful!
You don’t know how happy all your comments are. There is nothing more beautiful than knowing that you have written a useful blog post.
I have a kid with severe food allergies. I sometimes forget that I have to check cosmetic ingredients, too.
I had never heard of this, but now I know what to look for/how to read the labels on the cosmetics that I buy. Thanks for sharing!
This is so informative. Totally checking labels from now on.
Didn’t know about inci, so very informative and interesting post.
I have never really paid any attention to INCI before or knew of its meaning so this has been so eye opening for me.
This article is so informative and helpful! It’s always good to read the ingredients before purchasing the beauty products or food items.
I’ve never heard of the INCI. I like that they share the basic ingredients as well as the active ingredients. It’s good to know this information so that you know what you’re putting on your skin.
I have to admit, I’d never heard of INCI before. They sound like they’re really on-point with their honesty though 🙂
Louise x
Thank you so much for this information I was very unfamiliar with all this terms now I can be on the lookout on my cosmetics and beauty products
I never had any idea about INCI. Thank you for increasing my knowledge.
Honestly, I never really THINK about ingredients in my beauty products. That sounds so bad! hahah! I need to definitely pay more attention!
I have asthma so I need to know that ingredients are safe so this is good. Chemical fragrances can trigger an asthma attack
I didn’t know about this! I do know that I want to be sure what I put on my face and body have the right ingredients.
I’ve never heard of INCI before, this is awesome!!! Great information, I will share it with my wife. Thanks a lot.
I was not aware of inci. however it is important to know these kind of things. especially when it comes to purchasing cosmetic products.
I have never heard of INCI before but it sure sounds interesting knowing more about it
I have never heard of INCI so I learned about it! It is something that most countries follow?
That’s so great that they have a way of telling how good the beauty products are and what kinds of materials they use in them. I had no clue they had such a system but it’s great I can tell.