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This page is the foundation of the whole service. If you cannot check how we reached a verdict, the verdict is worth nothing, so here is all of it: the vocabularies, the rules, and their limits.
Vocabulary version 2026.09.3
We read every product's INCI ingredient list and look for the terms listed below. Matches are recorded as they are: which ingredient, and where in the list. That is what the analysis on a product page is made of.
The same vocabulary runs over every product in the same way. No product is assessed by hand, and no brand can influence what is said about its products.
The rating rests on two numbers, both counted straight from the matches.
| Rating | Condition |
|---|---|
| Little to note | Both scores are zero. |
| Some things to note | At least one point of either kind. |
| Several things to note | Three or more watchlist points, or at least one watchlist point and at least two irritant points. |
The rating tells you how many things worth noting the formula contains. It does not predict how your skin will react, and it is neither a recommendation nor a warning.
Since August 2026 the catalog also includes hair products: shampoos, conditioners, hair masks and treatments, hair oils, styling products, and scalp care. We read their ingredient lists with exactly the same vocabulary as skincare, because fragrance, sulfates, silicones, and drying alcohols are the same ingredients whatever the product is for.
Two of our categories differ from how the stores shelve these products, and we say so. Hair oils have a category of their own, even though both Cocopanda and Lyko sell them under treatments: oil is the word people search for. Dry shampoos sit with the shampoos, even though both stores sell them as styling products: a dry shampoo is a washing product, and washing ingredients belong in the same comparison. In both cases the stores' shelving had its reasons; it just lost.
One thing we do not do: the acne-prone rating is not calculated for hair products. It rests on a watchlist built for the face, and next to a shampoo it would answer a question nobody asked. For the same reason a hair product gets no skin types and no skin concerns, and we say nothing about which hair or scalp a product is for. The product page states this limit instead of a rating.
We also leave hair dyes, styling tools, brushes, and hair extensions out of the catalog. They are products without an ingredient list to read, and reading ingredient lists is the one thing this service does well.
A shampoo's product page has one number no other product has: dryingness, from 0 to 100. It estimates how strongly cleansing the ingredient list reads: which surfactants it contains, how high up they are, and how much the formula adds of ingredients that bind water, condition the hair, or cling to its surface. The number is calculated for shampoos only. A conditioner or a hair oil contains no surfactant, so the same formula would give it a zero for a reason that says nothing about the product.
Why this number exists, even though we give products no overall score. We do not score products from 0 to 100 on how good they are, and we do not intend to start. An overall score is always a weighted sum of someone's opinions, and because the weights cannot be checked, it is a verdict rather than an observation. The dryingness index does not claim to be a verdict. It measures one mechanism, the strength of the surfactants relative to the softening ingredients in the formula, and every rule, point, and multiplier is on this page. You can work out the same number yourself from the side of the bottle and disagree with it on good grounds. That is exactly what makes this number defensible and a star rating not: one published mechanism, not a synthetic overall verdict.
The count starts at zero. Each ingredient listed below that appears in the list brings its points with it: surfactants push the number up, hydrating and conditioning ingredients bring it down. The points are multiplied by the position multiplier, and the sum is kept within 0–100 and rounded to a whole number. An ingredient is counted only once even if the list repeats it, and the occurrence that counts is the highest, which is the most concentrated one.
The order of ingredients is the only hint about concentration the label gives. The lower an ingredient sits, the less of it there is, and the less it weighs.
| Position in the list | Multiplier |
|---|---|
| 1–5 | 100% |
| 6–10 | 75% |
| 11–20 | 50% |
| 21 or lower | 25% |
The multiplier also applies to the ingredients that subtract points, not only to surfactants. That is an interpretation: the specification mentions the multiplier only for surfactants. We apply it to everything because position reflects concentration whether an ingredient is pleasant or not: argan oil at position 30 is a pinch of argan oil, exactly as a sulfate at position 30 is a pinch of sulfate. Without this, every product with a drop of oil at the tail of its list would look better than it is.
Here is the whole vocabulary: 35 rules and 95 accepted spellings. A name is matched exactly and a partial match does not count, because Sodium Lauryl Sulfoacetate, for example, contains the name of a sulfate without being one. The label cleanses means the ingredient can be the product's actual cleansing agent, which matters for the caveat further down this section.
Anionic detergents that wash oil away efficiently and can therefore dry the hair fiber and the scalp. They are almost always the product's primary surfactant, which is why they sit high in the list.
Dodecyl is the systematic name for lauryl: Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate is the same substance as Sodium Lauryl Sulfate.
The carbon-chain range varies by supplier (C12-14, C14-16, C14-18); it is the same detergent family, so all of them carry the same weight.
Ether sulfates and related anionic detergents. They clean efficiently but are typically milder than the lauryl sulfates.
The degree of ethoxylation is often written into the name (Laureth-2, Trideceth-2). It is the same ether sulfate, so the variants score the same. The ammonium salt is included for the same reason the spec separates ammonium lauryl sulfate.
The spec's "TEA-Sulfate" is not an INCI name. We read it as the triethanolamine sulfate family, whose real names are TEA-Lauryl Sulfate and TEA-Laureth Sulfate.
Salts and acids that do not cleanse but can add to a drying impression. The points are small because the effect depends on concentration more than it does for the surfactants.
Bind water in the formula and at the hair surface, offsetting the drying impression of the wash.
This name only. Hyaluronic Acid, Hydrolyzed Hyaluronic Acid and Sodium Hyaluronate Crosspolymer often appear in the same list, and crediting all of them would give one raw material a multiple discount.
Lipids that remain on the fiber surface and soften the impression the wash leaves.
"Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil" and "Cocos Nucifera Oil/Coconut Oil" are the same ingredient. The coconut fruit extract is not the oil and is not credited.
Macadamia Integrifolia Seed Oil is the newer INCI name for the same oil.
Cationic polymers, silicones and proteins that deposit on the fiber and smooth out the roughness a wash leaves behind.
Hydroxypropyl Guar Hydroxypropyltrimonium Chloride is the same cationic guar conditioner with further substitution, and it is more common on Nordic labels than the form the spec writes.
Only the numbers 6, 7 and 10 are listed. The Polyquaternium number is an identifier, not a scale: Polyquaternium-37 is a different polymer and is not credited.
Keratin only. Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Hydrolyzed Collagen and plain Keratin are different ingredients and are not credited.
Isethionates, taurates, glucosides and amphoteric surfactants. They strip less oil than the sulfates and usually replace them outright.
| Points | In words |
|---|---|
| 0–20 | Practically non-drying |
| 21–40 | Mildly drying |
| 41–60 | Moderately drying |
| 61–80 | Strongly drying |
| 81–100 | Very strongly drying |
Dryingness vocabulary version 2026.08.1
These are all the terms we look for. The list is here in full, not as examples.
The product contains fragrance or declared fragrance allergens.
The EU requires 26 fragrance allergens to be declared separately. We flag both the generic Parfum/Fragrance entry and those allergens, because they are the most common source of irritation on sensitive skin.
The product contains a volatile alcohol high in the ingredient list.
Volatile alcohols (Alcohol Denat., SD Alcohol, Ethanol) make a texture feel light but can dry and irritate skin at high concentrations. We do not flag fatty alcohols such as Cetyl Alcohol or Cetearyl Alcohol — those are conditioning emulsifiers, not drying.
The product contains essential oils or plant extracts that naturally carry them.
Essential oils are natural fragrance. They can irritate sensitive skin even when a product is marketed as fragrance-free, because they do not have to be declared as Parfum.
The product contains silicones.
Silicones are not shown to clog pores, but some people avoid them for texture or cleansing reasons. We flag them so they can be filtered — not as a warning.
The product contains an ingredient commonly considered pore-clogging.
This list is based on widely cited ratings of how likely an ingredient is to clog pores. Those ratings originate from rabbit-ear testing and do not transfer directly to human skin. That is why it is a watchlist, not a ban: we show what is in the product and where in the list, and leave the decision to the reader. It was expanded on 13 August 2026 under a two-tier policy: only ingredients that several independent sources rate 3–5 are scored, while contested or ubiquitous ingredients moved to a mention tier that appears in the ingredient tooltip alone and changes no classification.
The product contains a sulfate-based surfactant.
Sulfates clean efficiently but can strip the skin barrier. We flag them because oily and acne-prone skin is often steered toward them — when over-cleansing tends to make things worse.
Strongly and gently cleansing surfactants have a section of their own, because they make up the cleansing mark on cleansers: Strongly cleansing and gentle.
The “pore clogger” lists going around lump together two very different groups. For some ingredients, several independent sources give a rating of 3–5; those are on the watchlist above, and they count toward the rating. The rest are ingredients backed by a single table, by figures that contradict each other, or by a rating of 2 for a raw material found in every other basic cream.
We do not score these, but we do not stay silent about them either: when an ingredient matches the list below, its info box on the product page says “Mentioned on lists of pore-clogging ingredients; the evidence varies and concentration is not taken into account.” No number, and no effect on the rating. If the ingredient is already on the watchlist, the mention is left out, because the same thing said twice in different words would look like two findings.
Not all alcohols are alike. Fatty alcohols work in a formula as emollients and thickeners, not as drying solvents, so they are explicitly left out of the flags: Cetyl Alcohol, Cetearyl Alcohol, Stearyl Alcohol, Behenyl Alcohol, Myristyl Alcohol, Lauryl Alcohol. The same goes for preservatives and solvents such as phenoxyethanol and butylene glycol.
People search for these ingredients by name, so we highlight them. Highlighting an ingredient is not a claim that it works.
The Potent and Mild marking applies to the ingredient named in the product's name, and it is based only on the order of the ingredient list. Potent means the ingredient is among the first three in the list when water is not counted; otherwise the marking is Mild. Weak precursors such as retinyl palmitate never count as potent wherever they sit, and we do not read a percentage printed in the product name. Sunscreens, cleansers, hair products and makeup get no marking at all. The marking says where the ingredient sits in the list, not how the product works.
PotentMild
An example: the list of a product called Niacinamide Serum starts Aqua, Glycerin, Niacinamide. Water is not counted, so niacinamide is ingredient no. 2. The limit is 3, so the mark is Potent.
No mark is shown at all if the product name mentions no key ingredient, if the named ingredient is not in the ingredient list, or if the product is a hair product. Nor is it given to these product groups: sunscreens and cleansers.
The ingredient is recognized from the product name by these words:
The cleansing mark is given to facial cleansers only, and it is based on which surfactant is among the first three ingredients on the list, water not counted. Strongly cleansing means one of the strongly cleansing surfactants, such as SLS, SLES, or a soap, is there; a product like that may feel tight. Gentle, but cleans well means a milder surfactant, such as coco-glucoside or cocamidopropyl betaine, is there and no strong one is. If both are at the top, the strong one decides. There is no mark when neither kind is at the top, as in many oil and balm cleansers and micellar waters. The mark describes the composition and promises no effect. Cleansers get no Potent mark, because for them we measure only how strongly they cleanse.
Strongly cleansingGentle, but cleans well
Surfactants are recognized in the ingredient list by these names. A name is matched exactly, never as part of a longer one.
The product contains a strongly cleansing surfactant: a sulfate-based surfactant, an olefin sulfonate or a soap.
The list holds eleven surfactants: sodium lauryl sulfate (SLS), sodium laureth sulfate (SLES), sodium coco-sulfate, ammonium lauryl and ammonium laureth sulfate, sodium C14-16 olefin sulfonate, and the soaps sodium palmate, sodium palm kernelate, sodium cocoate, sodium laurate and potassium cocoate. They wash oil away strongly, and a product with a lot of them may feel tight. A facial cleanser gets the Strongly cleansing mark when one of them is among the first three ingredients, water not counted. The mark does not affect the acne-prone classification. Milder surfactants, such as the glucosides, betaine and isethionate, have a list of their own (Mild surfactant).
The product contains a surfactant generally regarded as milder than sulfates and soaps: a betaine, a glucoside, a glutamate, a sarcosinate, a taurate or an isethionate.
The list holds ten surfactants: cocamidopropyl betaine, the glucosides coco-glucoside, decyl glucoside, lauryl glucoside and caprylyl/capryl glucoside, the glutamates sodium cocoyl glutamate and disodium cocoyl glutamate, and sodium lauroyl sarcosinate, sodium methyl cocoyl taurate and sodium cocoyl isethionate. They cleanse, but they are generally regarded as milder than sulfates and soaps. A facial cleanser gets the Gentle, but cleans well mark when one of them is among the first three ingredients, water not counted, and no strongly cleansing surfactant is there. The mark describes the composition, and it does not affect the acne-prone classification.
Matching against a vocabulary is a blunt tool, and it is only honest to say so.