What it is
O-Cymen-5-OL is a crystal synthetically made in a lab.
What it does
O-Cymen-5-OL is a preservative that prevents harmful fungi and bacteria from growing in our cosmetic products.
It’s also used as a biocide, a fancy way to say it helps cleanse skin and prevent bad odor by destroying the microorganisms that cause it.
Side effects
O-Cymen-5-OL is generally considered to be safe in concentrations of 1% or less.
4 comments
What do you think about ectoin?
I got a sample of a sunscreen (which says it has an SPF of 30, and both UVA and UVB protection), and I really liked it.
BUT: on that sample only 4 ingredients are listed, and ectoin is the only one that can truly act against Sun’s rays. (The others were olive oil, shea butter and vitamin E. It might be that there wasn’t enough space on the sample pack, and they were just going for the ingredients people will recognize. The site lists the same few ingredients, but I don’t put too much trust in sites.)
I couldn’t find much info on ectoin in English, but that might just mean that the US market doesn’t deal with that ingredient. The few pages I did find had a favourable view of it, but only mentioned UVA rays.
I did find some things in German… which I don’t really speak.
Ana, ectoin is good against UVA rays, but as far as I know, it doesn’t protect against UVB rays. Personally, I’d be very weary of any product that doesn’t have the entire list of ingredients on the packaging. You never know what they may contain. Even if nothing dangerous, there may be nothing in them to justify the claims they make, and so you end up wasting money.
Thanks, Gio – your knowledge is amazing!
You’re welcome, Ana, and thank you. You’re too kind. 😳