The ingredient narratives reshaping clean beauty.
Allantoin
aka 5-ureidohydantoin
The quietly indispensable barrier-soother — naturally found in comfrey, urea, and snail mucin; cosmetically synthesized for purity. Allantoin's keratolytic-at-high-doses, soothing-at-low-doses dual mechanism makes it the workhorse of every well-built sensitive-skin cream from Cetaphil to La Roche-Posay to virtually every K-beauty cica formulation. 2025's clean-formulator playbook treats allantoin as a non-negotiable in barrier products.
- soothes irritation and supports re-epithelialization
- mild keratolytic — improves skin texture without acid sting
- exceptionally well-tolerated across all skin types and ages
- sensitive-skin moisturizers
- diaper and post-procedure creams
- cica and barrier formulations
Effective at 0.1–2%. Solubility-limited (~0.5% in water at room temp); often used at saturated concentration with the rest as suspended micro-crystals for sustained release. Pairs with virtually anything — panthenol, ceramides, niacinamide, centella, urea.
Essentially none at cosmetic concentrations.
Universally trusted.
The ingredient narratives reshaping clean beauty.
Allantoin
aka 5-ureidohydantoin
The quietly indispensable barrier-soother — naturally found in comfrey, urea, and snail mucin; cosmetically synthesized for purity. Allantoin's keratolytic-at-high-doses, soothing-at-low-doses dual mechanism makes it the workhorse of every well-built sensitive-skin cream from Cetaphil to La Roche-Posay to virtually every K-beauty cica formulation. 2025's clean-formulator playbook treats allantoin as a non-negotiable in barrier products.
- soothes irritation and supports re-epithelialization
- mild keratolytic — improves skin texture without acid sting
- exceptionally well-tolerated across all skin types and ages
- sensitive-skin moisturizers
- diaper and post-procedure creams
- cica and barrier formulations
Effective at 0.1–2%. Solubility-limited (~0.5% in water at room temp); often used at saturated concentration with the rest as suspended micro-crystals for sustained release. Pairs with virtually anything — panthenol, ceramides, niacinamide, centella, urea.
Essentially none at cosmetic concentrations.
Universally trusted.