Biotin & Caffeine Hair Scalp Tonic Spray is suitable for all hair types that are in need of deeply purified roots, have a weak and unhealthy appearance, and are prone to falling out. Helps reduce hair loss, promotes healthy hair growth. Deeply refreshes the scalp thanks to the menthol in its formula.
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Ingredients overview
Aqua, Alcohol Denat, Glycerin, Caffeine, PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil, Biotin, Camphor, Parfum, Menthol, Benzyl Alcohol, PPG-2 Methyl Ether, 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool
Read more on how to read an ingredient list >>
Highlights
Key Ingredients
Antioxidant: Caffeine
Skin-identical ingredient: Glycerin
Soothing: Menthol
Other Ingredients
Antimicrobial/antibacterial: Alcohol Denat
Emulsifying: PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Moisturizer/humectant: Glycerin
Perfuming: Caffeine, Parfum, Benzyl Alcohol, PPG-2 Methyl Ether, Hexyl Cinnamal, Benzyl Salicylate, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool
Preservative: Benzyl Alcohol, 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate
Solvent: Aqua, Alcohol Denat, Benzyl Alcohol, PPG-2 Methyl Ether, Limonene
Surfactant/cleansing: PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
Viscosity controlling: Alcohol Denat, Benzyl Alcohol
Skim through
| Ingredient name | what-it-does | irr., com. | ID-Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aqua | solvent | ||
| Alcohol Denat | antimicrobial/antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling | icky | |
| Glycerin | skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | 0, 0 | superstar |
| Caffeine | antioxidant, perfuming | goodie | |
| PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil | emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing | ||
| Biotin | |||
| Camphor | |||
| Parfum | perfuming | icky | |
| Menthol | soothing | icky | |
| Benzyl Alcohol | preservative, perfuming, solvent, viscosity controlling | ||
| PPG-2 Methyl Ether | perfuming, solvent | ||
| 2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol | preservative | ||
| Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate | preservative | ||
| Hexyl Cinnamal | perfuming | icky | |
| Benzyl Salicylate | perfuming | icky | |
| Citronellol | perfuming | icky | |
| Limonene | perfuming, solvent | icky | |
| Linalool | perfuming | icky |
urban care Expert Biotin & Caffeine Hair + Scalp Tonic Spray
Ingredients explainedAqua
Also-called: Water | What-it-does: solvent
Good old water, aka H2O. The most common skincare ingredient of all. You can usually find it right in the very first spot of the ingredient list, meaning it’s the biggest thing out of all the stuff that makes up the product.
It’s mainly a solvent for ingredients that do not like to dissolve in oils but rather in water.
Once inside the skin, it hydrates, but not from the outside - putting pure water on the skin (hello long baths!) is drying.
One more thing: the water used in cosmetics is purified and deionized (it means that almost all of the mineral ions inside it is removed). Like this, the products can stay more stable over time.
Alcohol Denat - icky
What-it-does: antimicrobial/antibacterial, solvent, viscosity controlling, astringent
- It's a super common and super debated skincare ingredient
- It has several benefits: great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent and antimicrobial
- It can be very drying if it's in the first few ingredients on an ingredient list
- Some experts even think that regular exposure to alcohol damages skin barrier and causes inflammation though it's a debated opinion (read more in geeky details tab)
Read all the geeky details about Alcohol Denat. here >>
Glycerin - superstar
Also-called: Glycerol | What-it-does: skin-identical ingredient, moisturizer/humectant | Irritancy: 0 | Comedogenicity: 0
- A natural moisturizer that’s also in our skin
- A super common, safe, effective and cheap molecule used for more than 50 years
- Not only a simple moisturizer but knows much more: keeps the skin lipids between our skin cells in a healthy (liquid crystal) state, protects against irritation, helps to restore barrier
- Effective from as low as 3% with even more benefits for dry skin at higher concentrations up to 20-40%
- High-glycerin moisturizers are awesome for treating severely dry skin
Read all the geeky details about Glycerin here >>
Caffeine - goodie
What-it-does: antioxidant, perfuming
Hello, our favorite molecule that helps us wake up in the morning and then keeps us going through the day. As a super well-known stimulant from coffee, tea and plenty of other soft drinks,Caffeine needs no introduction. So we will skip right to the part where we talk about what the hell it does in so-so many cosmetic products.
Looking at the research, we were surprised to find how versatile Caffeine is. It is a small, water-loving molecule with pretty good skin penetration abilties. Once in the skin, it has nice antioxidant properties, meaning that it reduces the formation of evil free radicals and it mighteven be useful in preventing UV-induced skin cancers.
A well-known thing about Caffeine isthat it improves the microcirculation of the blood vessels. Though conventional wisdom and anecdotal evidence says that this property is helpful for dark under-eye circles and puffy eyes, we have to mention that the double-blind research we have found about a 3% caffeine gel concluded that "the overall efficacy of the selected caffeine gel in reducing puffy eyes was not significantly different from that of its gel base." But you know, the proof is in the pudding.
Another thing Caffeine is used for in body care products is its anti-cellulite effects. In theory, it can speed up the lipolysis process (the "fat burning" by our cells) andstimulate the draining lymph system that might lead to the improvement of cellulite. But here again, the evidence that it actually makes a measurable, let alone visible, improvement on actualhuman beings is limited (we could find only some animal skin studies or caffeine being combined with other actives).
Last, but not least, we have to write about caffeine and hair growth. The theory is that it can inhibitthe activity of the 5-α-reductase enzyme that plays an important role in hair lossand allows a renewed growth phase of the hair. We have found some recent and promising research to back this up. A 2017 study compared a 0.2% caffeine liquid with a 5%Minoxidil (an FDA approved active to treat baldness) solution and found that "a caffeine-based topical liquid should be considered as not inferior to minoxidil 5% solution in men with androgenetic alopecia", or English translation means that the caffeine liquid was pretty much as good as the FDA-approvedMinoxidil stuff. Not bad!
Overall, we think that caffeine is a very versatile and biologically activeingredient. Even though some of its effects are more hyped up than backed up, it is still a nice tohave on many ingredient lists.
PEG-40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil
What-it-does: emulsifying, surfactant/cleansing
A mildly viscous, amber-colored liquid with fatty odor, made from Castor Oil and polyethylene glycol (PEG).
If it were a person, we’d say, it’s agile, diligent & multifunctional. It’s mostly used as an emulsifier and surfactant but most often it is used to solubilizefragrances into water-based formulas.
Biotin
Also-called: Vitamin H
Also called vitamin H, biotin is the main component of many enzymes in our body. A nice ingredient to take as a supplement for stronger nails and hair. When you do not take it as a supplement its effects are a bit more questionable but according to manufacturer infoit cansmooth the skin and strengthen the hair.
Camphor
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Parfum - icky
Also-called: Fragrance, Parfum;Parfum/Fragrance | What-it-does: perfuming
Exactly what it sounds: nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. Fragrance in the US and parfum in the EU is a generic term on the ingredient list that is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average (but it can have as much as 200 components!).
If you are someone who likes to know what you put on your face then fragrance is not your best friend - there's no way to know what’s really in it.
Also, if your skin is sensitive, fragrance is again not your best friend. It’s the number one cause of contact allergy to cosmetics. It’s definitely a smart thing to avoid with sensitive skin (and fragrance of any type - natural is just as allergic as synthetic, if not worse!).
Menthol - icky
What-it-does: soothing
Menthol needs no introduction: it's the thing that causes the cooling sensationso well-known both from cosmeticproducts as well as a bunch of other things like chocolate, chewing gum, toothpaste or cigarette.It's a natural compound that comes from theessential oil of Mentha species (peppermint oil contains 40-50% menthol) and it gives them their typical minty smell and flavor.
As for skincare, menthol seems to be a mixed bag. Apart from the cool cooling sensation (that might last up to 70 mins!), it also has painkilling, itch reducing, antibacterial, antifungal and even penetration enhancing properties.On the other hand, it also seems to act as a skin irritant that increases trans-epidermal water loss (the water that evaporates from the outer layer of the skin) and thus contributes to drying out the skin.
Benzyl Alcohol
What-it-does: preservative, perfuming, solvent, viscosity controlling
It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. It can be naturally found in fruits and teas but can also be made synthetically.
No matter the origin, in small amounts (up to 1%) it’s a nice, gentle preservative. Has to be combined with some other nice preservatives, like potassium sorbateto be broad spectrum enough.
In high amounts, it can be a skin irritant, but don’t worry, it’s never used in high amounts.
PPG-2 Methyl Ether
What-it-does: perfuming, solvent
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
2-Bromo-2-Nitropropane-1,3-Diol
What-it-does: preservative
We don't have description for this ingredient yet.
Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate
What-it-does: preservative
It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. Its strong point is being effective againstyeasts and molds, and as a nice bonus seems to be non-comedogenic as well.
It is safe in concentrations of less than 0.1%but is acutely toxic when inhaled, so it's not the proper preservative choice for aerosol formulas like hairsprays. Used at 0.1%, Iodopropynyl Butylcarbamate has an extremely low rate of skin-irritation when applied directly for 24 hours (around 0.1% of 4,883 participants) and after 48 hours that figure was 0.5%, so it counts as mild and safe unless your skin is super-duper sensitive.
Hexyl Cinnamal - icky
What-it-does: perfuming
A common fragrance ingredient that smells like jasmine. It is one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately because of allergen potential. Best to avoid if your skin is sensitive.
Benzyl Salicylate - icky
What-it-does: perfuming
It’s a common fragrance ingredient that has a light floral smell. It’s one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately (and cannot be simply included in the term “fragrance/perfume” on the label) because of allergen potential. Best to avoid if your skin is sensitive.
Citronellol - icky
What-it-does: perfuming
Citronellol is a very common fragrance ingredient with a nice rose-like odor. In the UK, it’s actually the third most often listed perfume on the ingredient lists.
It can be naturally found in geranium oil (about 30%) or rose oil (about 25%).
As with all fragrance ingredients, citronellol can also cause allergic contact dermatitis and should be avoided if you have perfume allergy. In a 2001 worldwide study with 178 people with known sensitization to fragrances citronellol tested positive in 5.6% of the cases.
There is no known anti-aging or positive skin benefits of the ingredient. It’s in our products to make it smell nice.
Limonene - icky
What-it-does: perfuming, solvent, deodorant
A supercommon and cheap fragrance ingredient. It's in many plants, e.g. rosemary, eucalyptus, lavender, lemongrass, peppermint and it's the main component (about 50-90%) of the peel oil of citrus fruits.
It does smellnice but the problemis that it oxidizes on air exposure and the resulting stuff is not good for the skin. Oxidizedlimonene cancause allergic contact dermatitis and counts asa frequent skin sensitizer.
Limonene's nr1 function is definitely being a fragrance component, but there are several studies showing that it's also a penetration enhancer, mainly for oil-loving components.
All in all, limonene has some pros and cons, but - especially if your skin is sensitive -the cons probably outweigh the pros.
Linalool - icky
What-it-does: perfuming, deodorant
Linalool is a super common fragrance ingredient. It’s kind of everywhere - both in plants and in cosmetic products. It’s part of 200 natural oils including lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot, jasmine, geranium and it can be found in 90-95% of prestige perfumes on the market.
The problem with linalool is, that just like limoneneit oxidises on air exposure and becomes allergenic. That’s why a product containing linalool that has been opened for several months is more likely to be allergenic than a fresh one.
A study made in the UK with 483 people tested the allergic reaction to 3% oxidised linalool and 2.3% had positive test results.
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Normal (well kind of - it's purified and deionized) water. Usually the main solvent in cosmetic products. [more] Alcohol with some additives to make it unconsumable. It is great solvent, penetration enhancer, creates cosmetically elegant, light formulas, great astringent, and antimicrobial. In large amounts, it can be very drying to the skin. [more] A real oldie but a goodie. Great natural moisturizer and skin-identical ingredient that plays an important role in skin hydration and general skin health. [more] The well-known stimulant from coffee. It has nice antioxidant properties and can improve the microcirculation. Might be helpful for dark circles, puffy eyes, as well as cellulite and hair loss. [more] A mildly viscous, amber-colored liquid that works as an emulsifier and surfactant. [more] Vitamin H is a great supplement for stronger nails and hair. As a skincare ingredient, it's a bit more questionable, but it might smooth the skin and strengthen the hair. [more] The generic term for nice smelling stuff put into cosmetic products so that the end product also smells nice. It is made up of 30 to 50 chemicals on average. [more] Menthol needs no introduction: it's the thing that causes the cooling sensationso well-known both from cosmeticproducts as well as a bunch of other things like chocolate, chewing gum, toothpaste or cigarette.It's a natural compound that comes from theessential oil of Mentha species (peppermint oil contains 40-50% menthol) and it gives them their typical minty smell a [more] It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. It can be naturally found in fruits and teas but can also be made synthetically.No matter the origin, in small amounts (up to 1%) it’s a nice, gentle preservative. [more] It's one of those things that help your cosmetics not to go wrong too soon, aka a preservative. Its strong point is being effective againstyeasts and molds, and as a nice bonus seems to be non-comedogenic as well.It is safe in concentrations of less than 0.1%but is acutely toxic when inhaled, so it's not the proper preservative choice for aerosol formulas like hairsprays. [more] A common fragrance ingredient that smells like jasmine. It is one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately because of allergen potential. [more] It’s a common fragrance ingredient that has a light floral smell. It’s one of the “EU 26 fragrances” that has to be labelled separately (and cannot be simply included in the term “fragrance/perfume” [more] A common fragrance ingredient with a nice rose-like smell. [more] A supercommon fragrance ingredient found naturally in many plants including citrus peel oils, rosemary or lavender. It autoxidizes on air exposure and counts as a common skin sensitizer. [more] A super common fragrance ingredient that can be found among others in lavender, ylang-ylang, bergamot or jasmine. The downside of it is that it oxidises on air exposure and might become allergenic. [more] what‑it‑does solvent what‑it‑does antimicrobial/antibacterial | solvent | viscosity controlling what‑it‑does skin-identical ingredient | moisturizer/humectant irritancy,com. 0, 0 what‑it‑does antioxidant | perfuming what‑it‑does emulsifying | surfactant/cleansing what‑it‑does perfuming what‑it‑does soothing what‑it‑does preservative | perfuming | solvent | viscosity controlling what‑it‑does perfuming | solvent what‑it‑does preservative what‑it‑does preservative what‑it‑does perfuming what‑it‑does perfuming what‑it‑does perfuming what‑it‑does perfuming | solvent what‑it‑does perfuming
