How to research ingredients for beginners

This is a very basic overview of how to research an ingredient. This is just to get you started and familiar. 

1. Do not use platforms like google. Alternatives would be brave or DuckDuckGo 

2. Search “🔍 what is *insert chemicals name* you can read the AI over view but also look at the sources the AI over view pulled its summary from. Usually this is pretty accurate especially if you’re using brave but you always wanna check where the source comes from. 
Chemists corner, pubchem, science direct, cosmetics chem are all reliable and usually where these things are pulled from 

3. Search “how is *insert chemical* made” this will tell you all of the processes in which this chemical is created including other chemicals that were used to make it. 

4. Usually step 3 will influence what you do here. What you search will be determined by what you find. So for example. If you search how is sodium cocoyl isethionate made you’ll find that it is made by mixing isethionic acid with fatty acids naturally occurring in coconuts. It does give a more in detail explanation …. 

Here’s a step-by-step overview of how sodium cocoyl isethionate is made:
Mixing of Isethionic Acid and Coconut Oil Fatty Acids: Isethionic acid is combined with the fatty acids found in coconut oil.
Heating and Distillation: The mixture is then heated to remove extra water and distilled to remove any unnecessary fatty acids.
Synthesis with Sodium Isethionate: The resulting mixture is then synthesized with sodium isethionate, which is obtained from mining byproducts and natural gas.
Purification: The final product is purified to create a white, powder-like substance that is water-soluble.

You’d think ok this looks fine right? Wrong. Now for step 4. 

4. “What is isethionic acid” 
5. “How is isethionic acid made” 

You’ll find that isethionic acid is made using ethylene oxide primarily. There is a way to make it without ethoxylation it’s actually the original way they made it but since have discovered that there is an easier way which has become the most commonly used industrial route- reacting ethylene oxide with aqueous sodium bisulfite. 

C2H4O + NaHSO3 → C2H6O4SNa (sodium isethionate) C2H6O4SNa + HCl (or H2SO4) → C2H6O4S (isethionic acid)
Which is why you find sodium cocoyl isethionate on our ingredients to avoid list 😉 

I want to again express this is a very basic, beginner, way of searching. You will not always know that what you’re searching is totally accurate without doing deeper dives like the example above with sodium cocoyl isethionate. Face value from step 1-3 you’d think it was clean. 

Another way to possibly get this answer would be … 
4. “Sodium cocoyl isethionate contamination concerns” 

Normally if you see something ending in an amide it or amine there is possibility of nitrosamine contamination or being a nitrosamine precursor for these you’d skip the elongated step 4. And go straight to “*insert chemical* contamination concerns” 

I hope this helps at least give a starting point on the where and how to search. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 on how to identify if a study is accurate 🤎✏️🔍