Reading an ingredient list without fear

Ingredient lists look intimidating, but they follow a simple logic: ingredients are listed in order of how much is in the formula, from most to least.

The long chemical-sounding names are usually just the standardised (INCI) way of writing common ingredients. “Tocopherol” is vitamin E. “Aqua” is water. Once you know that, the list stops being scary and starts being useful — it’s the most honest thing on the box.