Articles
Plain-language explainers on the ideas behind the claims the panel reviews: what the words on a label mean, how skin works, and what the evidence says. No product names, just the concepts.
Your skin’s pH: why slightly acidic matters
Why the surface of your skin is slightly acidic, how that acidity runs the enzymes that build your barrier and keeps friendly bacteria in place, and what pushes pH up, from soap to tap water.
Ingredients on the “free from” list
Formaldehyde releasers: the preservative you didn’t know was on the label
DMDM hydantoin, quaternium-15, imidazolidinyl urea and bronopol slowly release formaldehyde to keep products fresh. What that means for your skin, and what Canada allows.
Cracked heels and split fingertips: winter repairs that work
Why winter opens painful cracks in heels and fingertips, how urea and occlusive ointments help them close, and which signs mean a crack needs a doctor.
Fragrance allergy explained: how it starts and where it shows up
Fragrance is one of the most common causes of allergic contact dermatitis. Learn how sensitization happens, what patch tests look for and which body sites react most.
Canada’s Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist: what’s banned, what’s limited
What Health Canada’s Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist is, how prohibited and restricted entries differ, real examples, how the list gets updated, and what it can’t tell you about a product.
What a clinical study really is (and why it matters for skin care)
Control groups, randomization, blinding, sample size and publication explained in plain words, so you can tell a solid skin care study from a weak one.
Masking fragrance: the scent that hides a scent
Why a product that smells of nothing can still contain fragrance: what masking agents are, why companies add them, how Canadian labels show them, and how to check.
Hypoallergenic & sensitive skin
“Clinically proven hypoallergenic”: the testing behind the words
Learn what a human repeat insult patch test involves, what a pass really means, what it can’t show, and how it compares with the plain word “hypoallergenic” on a label.
Why the number of people in a skin study matters
How sample size, statistical power, dropouts and subgroups change what a skin study can tell you, with a real example of a small trial and a big one that disagreed.
Ceramides: the barrier lipid everyone’s talking about
What ceramides are, why your skin makes less of them in eczema, with age and in winter, and what studies of ceramide moisturizers actually found.
Hypoallergenic & sensitive skin
Methylisothiazolinone: the preservative behind an allergy epidemic
How a little-known preservative caused a wave of skin allergies in the 2010s, what Canada and Europe did about it, where it still turns up, and how to spot it and its cousins on labels.
DIN and NPN: the eight-digit numbers that show Health Canada reviewed a product
What a Drug Identification Number and a Natural Product Number mean on a Canadian label, what review each involves, how to look one up, and what the number doesn’t guarantee.
Enzyme exfoliants: papain, bromelain and the “gentle peel” idea
What fruit enzymes like papain and bromelain do on skin, how thin the evidence is, why many enzyme products may be inactive, who might prefer them, and the allergy question.
Alcohol-free hand sanitizers: how they work and what the evidence says
What’s in alcohol-free hand sanitizers, how Health Canada authorizes them (NPN vs DIN), how the evidence compares with alcohol, and when soap and water win.
Colloidal oatmeal: why oats soothe itchy skin
What colloidal oatmeal is, how Health Canada treats it as a skin protectant, what eczema trials found, and when oat products might not suit a baby with eczema.
Dandruff: why your scalp flakes, and what’s really behind it
Dandruff isn’t dirt and it usually isn’t dry skin. It comes from a yeast that lives on everyone, scalp oil, and how your own skin reacts. Here’s what the research says.
Niacinamide: what the multitasking vitamin B3 really does
What niacinamide is, what trials show for the skin barrier, redness, oil, breakouts and dark spots, which concentrations were tested, and why it isn’t the vitamin that makes you flush.
Why baby skin is different from adult skin
Baby skin is thinner, more permeable and still settling its pH and microbiome. Here’s what the research says, and what it means when you pick products for your baby.