Science · Two of five
How we formulate
The thinking behind what goes in, and what stays out.
Every ingredient in a Biotaderm product has to do a job the published evidence supports, and every claim on the label has to be supported by that evidence.
We start with three kinds of ingredient chosen to work together, in a base made to be gentle. The last step is to adjust the finished formula to slightly acidic (pH 5 to 5.5), close to the pH of healthy skin.
Three kinds of ingredient do the real work
ONE
Cold-pressed and organic plant oils
The base of every product is cold-pressed and organic plant oils. Cold pressing avoids the heat and solvents of refining, which means it preserves the bioactive compounds that give a plant oil its character: carotenoids, tocopherols, phytosterols and the phenolics that refined oils tend to lose. The research credits these compounds with antioxidant and skin-conditioning qualities, and there is a practical bonus too, since a higher phenolic content also improves the oil's oxidative stability, so the oil stays fresh for longer.
We choose these oils for what is in them. The particular oils change with the skin type, but the reasoning does not.
TWO
The microbiome, and what we do about it
Two ingredients are chosen with the skin's microbiome in mind. Inulin is a plant-derived prebiotic, food for the microbes already on your skin, with selective feeding shown in the laboratory but not yet on human skin. A chlorella extract has supplier evidence, at the level its maker tested, for holding back the more troublesome species while sparing the helpful ones.
Much of what a moisturiser can do for the microbiome comes from what it leaves out, and nothing in the formula is there to strip or sterilise. Once a formula is made, the final step is to adjust it to slightly acidic (pH 5 to 5.5), the level the skin's resident microbes prefer. Of everything here, that adjustment has the strongest published evidence behind it. There is more on the skin microbiome page.
THREE
Atlantic seaweed
One ingredient links the range to its home. Bladderwrack, Fucus vesiculosus, is the same Atlantic seaweed species you find on the rocks along the north Devon coast. Ours is a cold infusion in sunflower oil, made in the UK. Carried in oil, it is the oil-soluble part, chiefly fucoxanthin, that comes across, and the research credits fucoxanthin with modest antioxidant activity.
What we leave out
We leave out synthetic fragrance entirely, and nothing hides behind a "parfum" or "fragrance" catch-all. Fragrance ingredients are among the more common triggers for irritation and allergy, which matters most for sensitive skin, so the one aromatic in the range is a single named essential oil at a tenth of a percent, explained just below. Every ingredient we use is listed individually, most abundant first.
Made to be gentle on skin
The one essential oil
There is one essential oil in the range: vetiver root oil, from Vetiveria zizanioides, a natural essential oil distilled from the roots of the grass. We include it at a tenth of a percent, the same level in every product. Vetiver root oil is rich in antioxidant compounds, chiefly the vetivones, and it gives the blend its earthy note.
If your skin reacts easily, patch test on the inside of your forearm before first use, as with any new product.
A labelling fact
Vetiver appears on the label under its own name. Nothing in the range hides inside a "parfum" or "fragrance" catch-all.
A separate question: comfort
If your skin reacts easily, patch test on the inside of your forearm before first use.
This is why we describe the range as "no synthetic fragrance" rather than "fragrance-free". Vetiver is an essential oil, so "fragrance-free" would not be true.
The base, and everything else
Around those actives sits a supporting cast that does the quiet structural work: an olive-derived emulsifier system, olive-derived squalane, a gentle gluconolactone, glycerin, vitamin E and a few others. None of it is hidden. Every ingredient and its exact percentage is published on the product page, and each one has its own entry in the ingredient library if you want the detail and the sources.
Every formulation published in full