Website lets you upload a photo of a product ingredients, then explains what they do

[cathair]

Just discovered this website:

https://incidecoder.com/decode-inci

You upload a photograph of a products ingredients. Then it breaks them down for you and tells you what the likely purpose of each one is and possibly if it's harmful.

I thought it was very cool! They keep making the writing smaller and smaller on shampoo and I really struggle to read it these days.

Apologies if this has been posted before or is old news.

[lapushka]

Hmmm... Mmmyeah, I... don't know about sites that tell me whether or not something is "harmful". If it were truly harmful? Would not or no longer be on the market. EU would have bans against it, like that. Smells like a 2nd EWG to me.

[maborosi]

This is an excellent website. I love using it for skincare stuff!

[mermaid lullaby]

I think this is a cool website, thank you!

[lapushka]

Is it a site that is big on fear mongering? I mean by that that it marks most if not all regular bog standard drugstore products as "harmful". If it does that, count me out because it can get in line with the EWG. :tongue:

[SeppV]

Is it a site that is big on fear mongering? I mean by that that it marks most if not all regular bog standard drugstore products as "harmful". If it does that, count me out because it can get in line with the EWG. :tongue:

I took the freedom to search up "parabens", because I know that is something that is usually seen as evil.... Just to check what they had to write about it. Here is some of what came up:

"Parabens
WHAT-IT-DOES: preservative
Unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard of parabens. Until about 10 years ago they were the most commonly used preservatives, as they are non-irritating, very effective, and cheap.

Then 2004 came and a research paper came out that tested 20 human breast tumors and found parabens in all of them. This was before the era of social media (btw, it's the year Facebook was founded) but this research still managed to go viral and caused parabens to become the evil, cancer-causing preservative in people's head."

Seems balanced to me. But I have no more experience with the website than this.

[lapushka]

I took the freedom to search up "parabens", because I know that is something that is usually seen as evil.... Just to check what they had to write about it. Here is some of what came up:

"Parabens
WHAT-IT-DOES: preservative
Unless you live under a rock, you have probably heard of parabens. Until about 10 years ago they were the most commonly used preservatives, as they are non-irritating, very effective, and cheap.

Then 2004 came and a research paper came out that tested 20 human breast tumors and found parabens in all of them. This was before the era of social media (btw, it's the year Facebook was founded) but this research still managed to go viral and caused parabens to become the evil, cancer-causing preservative in people's head."

Seems balanced to me. But I have no more experience with the website than this.

That study is often misused to... exactly fear monger. So: I'm out!

[SeppV]

That study is often misused to... exactly fear monger. So: I'm out!

Oh yes, but it seemed like to me like they wanted to get across that this was indeed, to some degree, fear mongering? Seems like you understood them the other way around! Perhaps I misunderstood their tone. I thought they kind of discredited the whole "fear" about parabens a bit.
Either way, I don't think I'll need this website much, but if it works and is science based, then that's nice.

And... in case anyone will mention, I have no clue about parabens and if they are harmful or not. They are probably in many of my products.

[lapushka]

Oh yes, but it seemed like to me like they wanted to get across that this was indeed, to some degree, fear mongering? Seems like you understood them the other way around! Perhaps I misunderstood their tone. I thought they kind of discredited the whole "fear" about parabens a bit.
Either way, I don't think I'll need this website much, but if it works and is science based, then that's nice.

And... in case anyone will mention, I have no clue about parabens and if they are harmful or not. They are probably in many of my products.

I can see how it can be a very easy resource, and I definitely don't want to "spoil the party", but I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the EWG. I then around that time started paying attention to Dr Dray on YT, and then I thought, yeah that's more in line with what my doctors are saying.

[SeppV]

I can see how it can be a very easy resource, and I definitely don't want to "spoil the party", but I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the EWG. I then around that time started paying attention to Dr Dray on YT, and then I thought, yeah that's more in line with what my doctors are saying.

Ah, I see. I think... I worry so little about additives that I just don't care to use a site like this. I probably sound naive, but I kind of go by the regulations our goverment does and I think Norway is restrictive enough. There is a lot of scare about things that are based on marginal research. My attitude shows in the fact that I probably drink a litre of diet coke a day. I'm much more scared to drink a litre of sugary drinks than aspartame... :laugh:

So, you are not spoiling my party at least, as I didn't plan on using the site. But I just understood what they wrote the oposite of how you did. I thought they were kinda discrediting the whole scare about parabens. I read too much between the lines... probably.

[shelomit]

I think you are seriously misunderstanding the tone, lapushka. I'm not a scientist, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the data itself. Just as a reader, though, this site does not come off as fear-mongering or overblown at all. The main goal seems to be providing an explanation of what each ingredient is and why it would be used in a cosmetics formula. If there is some potential danger from that ingredient, it will explain exactly why. For example, the website flagged coumarin in one of the products I looked up. The description stated that coumarin is a common allergen and that it is required to be listed separately on product labels (rather than being lumped together with "fragrance" generally) for that reason. Obviously people with a known allergy ought to be staying away from it; the site also states that people who frequently have problems with sensitive skin might want to preemptively avoid coumarin. Seems reasonable and non-alarmist to me.

The write-up of parabens that SeppV quoted above makes very clear that they are not The Devil. Part of the quotation continues, "It's much easier [for cosmetics companies] to simply replace parabens than trying to go into lengthy explanations about why the 2004 research is misunderstood and how there are lots of data showing that parabens are totally ok." A user would either have to be deliberately misunderstanding or have spectacularly poor reading comprehension to read the entire statement on parabens and conclude that the site was calling them dangerous/bad/whatever. In short, SeppV, you understood it correctly ( ; Obviously it is easier to make a judgment about the tone based on the whole statement, rather than a small quotation.

[SeppV]

I think you are seriously misunderstanding the tone, lapushka. I'm not a scientist, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the data itself. Just as a reader, though, this site does not come off as fear-mongering or overblown at all. The main goal seems to be providing an explanation of what each ingredient is and why it would be used in a cosmetics formula. If there is some potential danger from that ingredient, it will explain exactly why. For example, the website flagged coumarin in one of the products I looked up. The description stated that coumarin is a common allergen and that it is required to be listed separately on product labels (rather than being lumped together with "fragrance" generally) for that reason. Obviously people with a known allergy ought to be staying away from it; the site also states that people who frequently have problems with sensitive skin might want to preemptively avoid coumarin. Seems reasonable and non-alarmist to me.

The write-up of parabens that SeppV quoted above makes very clear that they are not The Devil. Part of the quotation continues, "It's much easier [for cosmetics companies] to simply replace parabens than trying to go into lengthy explanations about why the 2004 research is misunderstood and how there are lots of data showing that parabens are totally ok." A user would either have to be deliberately misunderstanding or have spectacularly poor reading comprehension to read the entire statement on parabens and conclude that the site was calling them dangerous/bad/whatever. In short, SeppV, you understood it correctly ( ; Obviously it is easier to make a judgment about the tone based on the whole statement, rather than a small quotation.

I didn't even see the whole statement, I think. Now it became clearer to me. I guess I will use this site if I find that I am reacting to some shampoo or something, it could be useful for pinpointing the ingredient I am reacting to. Glad they seem well balanced, like I thought. Thanks for "translating", Shelomit! :laugh:

[lapushka]

I think you are seriously misunderstanding the tone, lapushka. I'm not a scientist, so I can't speak to the accuracy of the data itself. Just as a reader, though, this site does not come off as fear-mongering or overblown at all. The main goal seems to be providing an explanation of what each ingredient is and why it would be used in a cosmetics formula. If there is some potential danger from that ingredient, it will explain exactly why. For example, the website flagged coumarin in one of the products I looked up. The description stated that coumarin is a common allergen and that it is required to be listed separately on product labels (rather than being lumped together with "fragrance" generally) for that reason. Obviously people with a known allergy ought to be staying away from it; the site also states that people who frequently have problems with sensitive skin might want to preemptively avoid coumarin. Seems reasonable and non-alarmist to me.

The write-up of parabens that SeppV quoted above makes very clear that they are not The Devil. Part of the quotation continues, "It's much easier [for cosmetics companies] to simply replace parabens than trying to go into lengthy explanations about why the 2004 research is misunderstood and how there are lots of data showing that parabens are totally ok." A user would either have to be deliberately misunderstanding or have spectacularly poor reading comprehension to read the entire statement on parabens and conclude that the site was calling them dangerous/bad/whatever. In short, SeppV, you understood it correctly ( ; Obviously it is easier to make a judgment about the tone based on the whole statement, rather than a small quotation.

From the things I read, it did not seem that promising to me, but it's good that I'm wrong, right? :)

[Ylva]

Fully agree, shelomit!


Hmmm... Mmmyeah, I... don't know about sites that tell me whether or not something is "harmful". If it were truly harmful? Would not or no longer be on the market. EU would have bans against it, like that. Smells like a 2nd EWG to me.

If only it was so simple, but sadly, there are plenty of ingredients in use which, for example, I react negatively to. Stearate and methyl(chloro)isothiazolinone come to mind first. Figuring out the first one was a PITA, it was a member here who finally was able to confirm my suspicions concerning the different properties of product formulations. And even though the latter is banned from use in leave-on products, it’s enough to irritate my skin in rinse-out ones already despite being “safe enough for use” in that purpose.

I think a resource that lists what something can POTENTIALLY cause is a great tool.

[SeppV]

I should search up the ingredient list of Redken's All soft hair mask! My scalp reacted really badly to it, I got wounds. But no reaction on my back though, which was weird. I'm curious to see if I can pinpoint what caused the irritation.

[Krissycats]

Thank you for posting. I’m finding it very helpful.