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In skincare, a higher percentage can sound impressive. If 2% is good, surely 10% must be better, right?
Not necessarily.
Ingredients are not simply numbers that can be pushed higher and higher. Each one has a useful range, and the best percentage is the amount that allows it to perform well within a complete, stable formula. Sometimes increasing an ingredient adds no meaningful benefit. In other cases, it can make a product irritating, unstable, sticky, gritty, or simply unpleasant to use.
At Garden of Wisdom, we do not choose percentages because they make an exciting number for the front of a label. We choose them because they make sense in the formula.
More Is Not Always Better
Many skincare ingredients have what formulators call an effective usage range. Below that range, an ingredient may not contribute enough. Within that range, it can do exactly what we want it to do. Above it, the benefits may level off while the possibility of irritation or formulation problems increases.
Niacinamide is a familiar example. It can be a wonderfully versatile ingredient, but a customer does not necessarily need the highest percentage available to receive its benefits. Acids must also be considered in relation to their type, pH, and the rest of the formula, not judged by a percentage alone. Peptides may be effective at surprisingly small amounts, particularly when supplied in concentrated form.
A thoughtful formula is not timid because it uses an ingredient at a lower percentage. It may simply be better balanced.
Percentages Do Not Always Tell the Whole Story
Comparing percentages between products can be surprisingly misleading.
Some formulators work with a pure ingredient. Others use a prepared solution supplied as a blend of the active ingredient with water, glycerin, or another carrier/solvent. A company may state the percentage of the entire prepared blend, while another may refer to the actual amount of active material. Those numbers can look very different even when the finished products contain a similar amount of the ingredient that matters.
This is one reason we are cautious about declaring that one product is stronger, or better ~ based only on the largest number printed in the description.
The Whole Formula Has to Work Together
A skincare formula is a system, not a collection of headline ingredients.
The pH must be appropriate. Ingredients must remain dissolved or evenly dispersed. The preservative system must protect the product. The texture has to remain usable, and the formula must stay stable in its packaging. Most importantly, the ingredients need to be compatible with one another and appropriate for the skin.
Supporting ingredients matter too. Panthenol, beta-glucans (oat in our case), humectants, emollients, botanical extracts, and other components may not receive the same attention as the fashionable active on the label, but they can make an enormous difference in how balanced and comfortable the finished product feels.
Adding more of the star ingredient does not automatically create a better product if it disrupts everything around it.
Why We Formulate This Way
Garden of Wisdom has always been interested in ingredients, but we are not interested in turning formulation into a competition for the biggest number.
When we choose a percentage, we consider the ingredient itself, the supplier’s specifications, the form in which it is supplied, its compatibility with the other ingredients, and the purpose of the finished product. We also pay attention to how the formula looks, feels, and behaves over time.
That may not produce the loudest marketing claim. It does, however, help us create products that are purposeful, balanced, and pleasant enough to use consistently.
Because in skincare, the question should not be, “How much can we possibly add?”
The better question is, “How much belongs in this formula?”
And those are rarely the same thing.
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