Glycolic Cleanser safety rating

Glycolic Cleanser safety rating | Greenlens

Raters split

Ingredient safety

A 52-point gap between the two loudest voices.

42Greenlens Precautionary ScreenIndependent

94Greenlens Tolerance ScreenIndependent

050100

See why, ingredient by ingredient

All 4302 cleaner options, safest first We show the best 12, including the strongest on each axis.

Every rater, every axis

Ingredient safety

52 pts apart

A government authority. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
A government authority. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →

Also screened, nothing found: California Proposition 65 · ECHA SVHC Candidate List · US NTP Report on Carcinogens · EU Harmonised Classification (CLP Annex VI) · IARC Monographs

Recognized on a safer-ingredients list: US EPA Safer Choice recognizes 50% of ingredients as safer choices — a marker, never a score.

Environmental

Also screened, nothing found: EU Microplastics Restriction

Labor

Run by a nonprofit. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →

Coverage & match quality

6 ratings · 2 of 4 axes

Some ratings rest on an automatic match that has not been human-reviewed.
Fewer raters reach smaller-brand products, so a missing rating is not a clean bill of health, only a gap.

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composite recomputes live

Ingredient safety1.0×

Environmentalno rating

No rater covers this axis for this product, so its weight can't move the score.

Labor1.0×

Packagingno rating

No rater covers this axis for this product, so its weight can't move the score.

0 means ignored. Higher = more weight in your composite.

Ingredients, decoded

Data availability

Robust18 of 18 characterized

Our sources have reference data on all 18 listed ingredients.

Worth a look (6)

Alcoholcommonly dryingfragrance · antimicrobial · antifoaming

What these ingredient tags mean (4)

These describe what an ingredient is, not whether it is a problem. The stance marks above are the ratings; these are not.

commonly dryingAlcohol
- Alcohol: A fast-evaporating solvent that leaves a dry finish. International Chemical Safety Card ICSC 0044, Ethanol (anhydrous), prepared by an international group of experts for the ILO and WHO: "The substance defats the skin, which may cause dryness or cracking." Bommannan et al., as reported by Lachenmeier DW, "Safety evaluation of topical applications of ethanol on the skin and inside the oral cavity", J Occup Med Toxicol 2008;3:26, DOI 10.1186/1745-6673-3-26, open access, reference 82: "Bommannan et al. found in vivo in humans that ethanol enters the skin and removes measurable quantities of the lipid barrier material from the stratum corneum." Both describe stronger exposures than a cosmetic formula.
undeclared fragrance blendFragrance/Parfum
- Fragrance/Parfum: A blend the label does not itemize, so what is in it cannot be read from the ingredient list. EU Regulation (EC) 1223/2009 permits the collective term "parfum"; the SCCS Opinion on Fragrance Allergens (SCCS/1459/11) reviews the contact-allergy evidence for the substances it can contain.
exfoliating acidGlycolic Acid
- Glycolic Acid: An alpha hydroxy acid that loosens surface skin cells; it also makes skin more sun-sensitive while you use it. FDA, "Guidance for Industry: Labeling for Topically Applied Cosmetic Products Containing Alpha Hydroxy Acids as Ingredients" (announced at 70 FR 1721, 10 January 2005; FDA web pages title it "Labeling for Cosmetics Containing Alpha Hydroxy Acids"), which names this acid and recommends the statement "Sunburn Alert: This product contains an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that may increase your skin's sensitivity to the sun and particularly the possibility of sunburn."
humectantGlycerin
- Glycerin: A humectant, and one of the two ingredients a comparison of moisturiser components found made a significant difference to skin hydration. FDA OTC skin protectant monograph, 21 CFR 347.10(h), lists glycerin as a skin protectant at 20 to 45%. On the humectant half: Jeong CB, Han JY, Cho JC, Suh KD, Nam GW, "Analysis of electrical property changes of skin by oil-in-water emulsion components", Int J Cosmet Sci 2013;35(4):402-410, DOI 10.1111/ics.12059, PMID 23621673, found that "glycerine and urea showed significant skin hydration effects compared with other humectants".