Stories | Eluxier

Evolution is the only way forward, however, when it comes to care and wellness, we turn back to basics. Skin and hair wellness have some basic principles that have been reiterated through ancient texts and are still relevant as a soulful notion.

Innovations made during the last decade in skincare ingredients have created unlimited and complex options before us and we often confuse the options as recommendations. Still, they are mere possibilities to explore.

Today, true opulence is being aware of all possibilities and being able to make deliberate simple choices. Simplification is not merely a philosophy, not anymore. Simplifying is the very core of skincare now.

Eluxier experience is a synergy between purpose and opulence, a humble balance between what you could indulge in versus what you should embrace. Our evolved wellness principles focus on the macro triggers to prevent the cascade that eventually leads to micro-level skin concerns.

The 4 pillars of Evolved care at Eluxier:

Microbiome Friendly: pH-optimized formulas made with pro-barrier ingredients
Skin-Identical: Use biodynamic ingredients that are synergic and biomimic
Clean Label: Slow and sustainable care, choose only toxin-free formulas
Multifunctional: Bring clarity in chaos, simplify skincare with multifunctional products

Skin-Identical Skincare

Skin-identical ingredients are the substances that biochemically mimic the natural substances found in our skin. These ingredients perform some very critical functions like maintaining the homeostasis of water, minerals, and some other key actives (this balanced state is called isohydria). They also help in maintaining the pH, and keeping up the immunity against environmental factors as well as pathogenic microbes. More importantly, these ingredients also empower the skin to self-regulate the barrier function and moisture redistribution across different layers of skin.

The three most important functions of the skin are to maintain a healthy barrier function against exposomes, to Maintain the structural integrity of the outer covering of our body by healing wounds efficiently, and to regulate the temperature within a critical range so that all other bodily functions run smoothly.

At Eluxier, we believe that the skin functions its best when it remains in its optimum environment. All our products have been made to ensure that skin attains its best microenvironment in which it can maintain the isohydria and thrive with the normal proliferation of keratinocytes (growth of new skin layers from inside out).

Wellness Without DIRTY30

Eluxier is a promise of straightforward communication about who we are, where our ingredients come from, how we make our products, and how we ensure sustainability and cyclic.

The transparent labels are an ingrained commitment to our love for skin care and respect for the trust that our customers put in us.

The skincare industry uses around 80,000 ingredients (a rough estimate, as of 2023) and around 80% of ingredients have never been evaluated for their safety, toxicity, or incremental bioaccumulation (their presence in bloodstream after the exposure)

Over the last two decades, innovations in the cosmetic industry have truly revolutionized lab-made ingredients. This is both, good as well as concerning. On one side we received safer ingredients based on natural raw materials as an alternative to previously used toxic ingredients, while on the other side, to create a pleasing and comfortable skin feel, we have made ingredients that are non-functional and even toxic to animals, plants, and the environment.

Cosmetic ingredients can enter the body through skin absorption, inhalation, ingestion, and through internal use, and pose the same risks as food chemicals. Additionally, the risk increases due to contamination with heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and nickel.

Although most chemicals in cosmetics pose little or no risk, some have been linked to serious health problems, including endocrine disruption, several types of cancers, reproductive, organ, and neurological harm, and developmental delays.

Eluxier is extremely conservative when it comes to the safety of products. Our obsession with "slow and sustainable care" motivated us to categorically eliminate the ingredients that were either proven to be harmful or there is too little data on their safety to claim they are safe.

We partner with ingredient suppliers who are driven by similar values as ours and take every step to create safer, synergic products for wellness and care.

Cosmetics and skin wellness is a less regulated industry. Therefore we encourage users to read the labels and claims thoroughly and study the safety and functionality of the ingredients. Your products are just a stable blend of ingredients and therefore the safety of ingredients directly affects the safety of your products. The research may be tedious because the same ingredients can be identified with different names disguised under the class of chemical without specifying the exact name, but the effort is still worth it.

The research may also be challenging because there is conflicting information available for the safety of ingredients. For every report calling out the risk of using a chemical, you will find 10 reports that hail the use of the same material and call it totally safe to use. We encourage you to triangulate the information you receive and always choose the safe

Acrylates (Ethacrylate, Methacrylate, Polyacrylate): These are polymers of acrylic acid and methacrylic acid and act as bulking agents in skincare products. They are used to create an aqueous film on the skin (the same chemical that is used in Diapers to absorb the high amount of liquid). it’s a microplastic, almost non-biodegradable in the environment. Some degradant metabolites are skin sensitizers. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies ethyl acrylate as a possible human carcinogen. Ethyl methacrylate and methyl methacrylate are linked to malformed skeletons and limbs in the offspring of exposed experimental rats
Ingredient names ending with Siloxane and Methicone (Simethicone, Dimethicone, Cyclomethicone, Siloxanes): Silicone is not Silica, which is a very common and safe mineral to use in skincare. These are cyclic aromatic dimethyl silicone polymers, added as emollients to provide a silky feel to products. Siloxanes often contain impurity cyclotetrasiloxane (D4), which is a well-known hormone disruptor. These are absorbed through hair and skin and bioaccumulate in concerning amounts. A market survey revealed that currently, ~50% of skin care products contain one type of siloxanes. This means that the toxic burden increases with every product you use. Also, this product has extremely low biodegradability, so any silicone in a wash-off product will pollute the waterbodies and will not disintegrate for many many years.
Carbomer and other Microplastics: Carbomers are synthetic polymers that provide the gel like fluffy texture of the skincare products. They are an inexpensive bulk builder for the products. It is prepared by crosslinking different types of acrylates with propylene sucrose or allyl pentaerythritol. The most common solvent for polymerization is benzene. Newer Carbomer models are prepared using a mixture of ethyl acetate or cyclohexan-ethyl acetate solvents. A known cancer causing chemical Benzene is the building block for carbomers and the USFDA in its advisory issued in December 2023, have expressed safety concerns regarding the use of carbomers in pharmaceutical products and have demanded more safety data and additional tests to mitigate the risk. Carbomers
Oxybenzone: It is an organic sunscreen UV filter. We have found 29 studies that studied the blood levels of Oxybenzone points to its contribution to endocrine, neuronal, reproductive, metabolic, renal systems and neonatal development during pregnancy. It potentially triggers immunotoxicity and photoallergy, it penetrates through skin and accumulates in blood for a longer duration in cumulative amounts.
Cinnamates: (Octinoxate, Ethylhexyl Methoxycinnamate): Used as a chemical UV Filter, a known endocrine disruptor, that mimics estrogen. Persistent and bioaccumulative, is absorbed through the skin and can increase the absorption of other substances. It appears in breast milk. Ecotoxic.
PABA and derivates (Octyldimethyl PABA, Ethylhexyl triazone): Used as UV filters in Sunscreens. Endocrine disruptor (Estrogenic), liberator of free radicals, allergen reactions, ecotoxixin and environmental pollutant. Release free radicals in sunlight. Very little data available in scientific journals.
Salicylates (Octisalate and Homosalate): They are used as SPF boosters in sunscreens to enhance the other UV filters. These are weaker. Octisalate is a ecotoxin, but still safer to use, while Homosalate is an endocrine disruptor, decomposes with light into oxidizing substances that are harmful to the skin. Increases the absorption of other substances
Octocrylene: Used as a UV filter in sunscreens. It absorbs the UV radiation. It is an endocrine disruptor and may cause allergies and photoallergies. It is included in the list elaborated in 2019 by the European Commission that collected 14 ingredients with potential disrupting properties used in cosmetic products
Benzophenone: Used as an UVA blocker in sunscreens. one of the worst chemical filters that exists, especially BP-3 or Oxybenzone, which has multiple endocrine disrupting effects, persistent in the environment, is associated with photoallergic reactions, is absorbed in significant amounts through the skin,bioaccumulative, passes into breast milk. There is evidence of neurotoxicity and ecotoxicity affecting many aquatic species
Other Organic Sun Filters: there are several other sun UV Filters that have not been studied in detail and only limited data is available regarding their safety in scientific journals. For example, Tinosorb (Photostable and large molecule, so doesn't absorb through skin, but an ecotoxin), Iscotrinizole (No data available on safety or bioaccumulation), Avobenzone (weak UV filter, degrades on UV exposure, no data on the metabolite toxicity or absorption into skin)
PolyEhylene Glycol (PEG) and its derivatives: it is a long-chain synthetic polymer made by condensing ethylene oxide, ethylene glycol, and water used as such or as ester derivatives. These are used as penetration enhancers, surfactants, emulsifiers, cleansing agents, humectants, and skin conditioners. They break down to form 1,4-Dioxane, a potential carcinogen. PEG is often contaminated by ethylene oxide, that The World Health Organization classifies as a human carcinogen. It may also be contaminated by 1,4-dioxane which is a possible human carcinogen potentially leading to Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Multiple myelomas, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, Liver cancer, Lung cancer, and Breast cancer.
Petroleum jelly (Petrolatum): Petrolatum is a by-product of crude petroleum oil distillation. This tasteless and nearly odorless substance is a complex combination of liquid (mineral oil) and solid (paraffin wax and microcrystalline wax) components that cannot be reproduced by simply mixing the two. It is used as an occulant that forms a barrier on the skin. It is a rather inexpensive replacement for oils and bulking agents in emulsions and butters/balms. It is hardly without impurities, especially the Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs). The PAHs have been classified as potential carcinogens and long-term exposure to PAHs may cause skin cancer, lung cancer, or reproductive issues.
Mineral Oil (Liquid Paraffin): Liquid Paraffin is derived from petroleum, coal, or shale oil and may contain impurities like benzene and toluene, both notoriously responsible for cancers, kidney damage, birth defects, bone marrow damage, and respiratory damage.
Ethoxylated polymers: (Ceteareth/Polyethylene glycol (PEG): used as a surfactant, emulsifier, and penetration enhancer that enhances the penetration of other harmful chemicals and pollutants. Reproductive and skin toxin. Animal studies show brain and neuronal toxicity.
Parabens: (Methyl, Ethyl, Propyl and Butyl): these chemicals are used as preservatives to control microbial growth in products. It interferes with the endocrine system. It may hamper fertility, may alter fetal development, and potential carcinogen for breast cancer.
Butylated Aromatics: Butylated Hydroxy Anisole (BHA)/ Butylated Hydroxy Toluene (BHT): Used as an anti-oxidant but it is absorbed through the skin and is an immune toxin, endocrine disruptor, probable carcinogen. Animal studies have shown brain, liver, reproductive and respiratory toxicity.
Sulphates: a whole class of products like Sodium Lauryl Sulphate, SLES, ALS, : these are one of the commonest surfectants used in face cleansers, shampoos, even toothpastes. These are often contaminated with nitrosamines, a known carcinogen which is a by-product of the sulfation process by which SLS is made. These are used as a surfectant/penetration enhancer. Changes skin structure allowing other chemicals to cross barrier into the bloodstream. Animal studies have shown organ effects.
Formaldehyde or Compounds that release Formaldehyde: (DMDM Hydantoin, Diazodinyl Urea, Imidazolidinyl Urea) : Used as preservatives. It forms Nitrosamines that get absorbed through the skin, Animal studies have shown endocrine disruption, nervous system, and organ system effects, a possible carcinogen.
Refined natural oils: The process of refining the oils involves heating up to 200 degrees Celsius at high pressure along with treatment with concentrated alkali. These processes are done to remove the flavor, fragrance and colour of the natural oils, however, due to this process all the active ingredients in oils also get lost and the oils become merely a homogenous mass of fatty acid chains devoid of any beneficial values of the natural oils.
Harmful Organic Solvents: Several modern lab-made ingredients use organic solvents to manufacture. It is practically impossible to remove these solvents completely from the final products. We study the chemistry of each ingredient thoroughly from its original raw materials to the manufacturing process and all the way to the purification process and we categorically eliminate products that may contain any trace of these organic solvents. Eluxier products use ingredients made by green chemistry principles (no harsh solvents, no extreme temperature/ pressure conditions, plant-based starting materials, and well-defined impurity profile of the final products)
Quaternium (-7, -15, -31, etc): Quaternium compounds are often added to hair care products, but they are known allergens and potential carcinogens. People exposed to it may get extreme skin allergies and rashes. Quaternium-15 releases formaldehyde, a known carcinogen.
Ethanolamines (Diethanolamine (DEA)/ Triethanolamine (TEA): Used as a pH buffer to regulate the acidity of products. These nitrosamine-producing products are potential carcinogens based on several scientific researches. Also an endocrine disruptor, and may trigger Asthma.
Propylene glycol: Used as a skin conditioner, emollient, and viscosity enhancer. Changes skin structure and allows the absorption of other harmful chemicals and pollutants into the bloodstream.
Acrylamides (polyacrylamide): A synthetic polymer dries to form a barrier layer on skin, hair, or nails. It is added to keep the product at the desired application site for a long duration. It blocks water or other active absorption through the skin and causes premature skin aging. Acrylamide is a known carcinogen.
Heavy Metals: Natural materials and poorly manufactured ingredients have a potential risk of containing heavy materials such as Arsenic, Lead, and Mercury. These metals accumulate in blood, bones, and muscles and create serious damage to the normal functioning of the organ systems in the human body.
Retinol compounds: There are many products in the market that contain retinol, however certain retinyl compounds like retinyl palmitate, as per a study in 2011, were found to increase skin cancer lesions by 21%, and it has also been associated with reproductive toxicity. Retinol-related skin problems are so common that there is a medical term for it- Retinoid Dermatitis. Applying retinol on already stressed skin significantly worsens skin conditions.
1, 4 Dioxane - 1, 4 Dioxane is a solvent used in cosmetics and shampoos. It can cause liver and kidney damage. 1, 4 Dioxane has been shown to cause cancer in rats.
Triclosan: It is an antibacterial agent, used as a preservative. Possible endocrine disruptor and carcinogen. Bioaccumulates in cumulative values. Animal studies show reproductive toxicity.
Phthalates: These are added as a plasticizer and prevent the products from becoming brittle. They are known endocrine disruptors and interfere with fertility and normal hormone functioning.
Styrene: It is a synthetic polymer added as an emollient. The European Commission on Endocrine Disruption classifies styrene as a Category 1 endocrine disruptor, meaning evidence for endocrine disruption has been documented in humans and wildlife. Exposure to Styrene increases the risk of breast cancer manifold. Styrene has also been associated with Lymphoma and Leukaemia, damage to white blood cells, and genetic disorders. Workers exposed to styrene manufacturing have shown an increased risk of pancreatic and esophageal cancers.
Synthetic Colours and Dyes: Synthetic colours are not only used in colour cosmetics like lipsticks, foundation, and mascara, but also in creams, shampoos, cleansers, and all sorts of skincare products to enhance the visual appeal of the products. Most of these dyes are made using 20 or more chemicals including elements like Aluminium, Manganese, Chromium, petroleum by-products, and organic solvents. Azo dyes are made using aromatic amines that may cause mutagenic, genotoxic, and carcinogenic effects. These dyes can be absorbed in the bloodstream through the skin, mouth, or by breath. These dyes disturb the oil balance of the skin, are comedogenic, and bioaccumulate. Dyes normally don’t have any functional value in the products and are added only for cosmetic purposes.