Would you understand what tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate was if you saw it on an ingredients list? Most of us wouldn’t, and according to research it would probably put us off purchasing a beauty product if we were looking for something natural and organic.

That would be a shame, because tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate is just a liquid form of vitamin C, and nothing to worry about at all.

This just highlights the fact that beauty product labelling is an issue that manufacturers need to get right – not just because we don’t want to mislead people into thinking that they are buying an organic or totally natural beauty product when they might not be, but also so that they aren’t scared off by completely harmless ingredients on a bottle or jar.

79 per cent of women are confused by labelling

According to a recent survey carried out by Label Insight, an organisation that’s on a mission to help consumers understand what’s in the products they use and consume, 79 per cent of women in the US admitted that they were confused about ingredients listed on packaging at least some of the time.

Worryingly, 45 per cent of American women surveyed admitted that they were confused by packaging often, very often or ‘almost always’.

Kira Karapetian, Vice President of Marketing for Label Insight explained,

“While consumer demand for product transparency in food and beverage has experienced a groundswell, our study shows that interest in transparency for personal care products is also on the rise"

We couldn’t agree more at Botanicals – and we can see how a confusing ingredient list on a beauty product could easily impact a brand’s reputation; 45 per cent of those surveyed by Label Insight said they would trust a brand less if they found ingredients they didn’t recognise or were confused by on the packaging.

Vitamin C is a case in point – unsurprisingly, 88 per cent of consumers didn’t recognise liquid vitamin C when it was described as tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate and 49 per cent said they would not be comfortable buying a product containing it.

When it was properly labelled as the liquid form of vitamin C, with a description of its skincare benefits, there was a 43 per cent increase in the number of consumers who were now “very prepared” to buy a product containing it.

We believe in being completely transparent about what goes into our products, and our customers clearly appreciate that. It’s the same for the survey participants – 61 per cent of women said they were more likely to buy personal care products that contained ingredients they recognised, and 53 per cent would even swap products if they understood the ingredient list better.

When you buy a Botanicals product, you’ll find a complete list all of the high quality, natural ingredients that go into it. We don’t use colourants, silicones or parabens or any of the ‘Terrible Ten’ ingredients identified as part of the Soil Association’s ‘Come Clean about Beauty’ campaign.