Product Ingredients Explained

A gel-to-foam wash built on a mild surfactant blend rather than soap, with the three ceramides CeraVe puts in most of its range plus niacinamide and hyaluronic acid. The formula's whole argument is that you can clean oily skin thoroughly without stripping it, and the ingredient list supports that: the surfactants are amphoteric and amino-acid-derived rather than sulfates, and the barrier lipids are there to put back what washing takes out.

A non-foaming cream cleanser. What is notable is what sits at the top of the list: glycerin, then cetearyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol — fatty alcohols that soften rather than strip — with no traditional foaming surfactant anywhere. It cleans by dissolving and lifting rather than by lathering, which is why it leaves skin feeling coated rather than squeaky.

The foaming cleanser with exfoliants added: salicylic acid plus gluconolactone, a polyhydroxy acid, on top of the same surfactant and ceramide base. Position matters here — salicylic acid appears sixteenth, below sodium chloride, which puts it at a low percentage. This is a maintenance wash, not a peel.

A lightweight lotion built on glycerin, a light ester oil and silicone, with the ceramide-cholesterol-phytosphingosine trio further down. It is designed to hydrate and seal without feeling heavy, which is why it reaches for dimethicone rather than a butter or a heavy plant oil.

Eleven ingredients, which is few enough that every one can be accounted for — rare in skincare and the reason this product is worth reading closely. Water, then niacinamide at the stated 10%, a glycol, zinc PCA at 1%, two solvents, two gums for texture, a solubiliser and two preservatives. There is no oil phase, no fragrance and no filler: it is an active in water with just enough around it to stay stable and spreadable.

A water-and-glycol base carrying four separate peptides, caffeine, niacinamide, acetyl glucosamine and a pair of green-tea-derived antioxidants. It is one of the more crowded formulas The Ordinary sells, and the peptides sit between positions eight and eleven — after three glycols, which tells you they are present at low percentages, as peptides almost always are.