Ceramide NG

What it is

Ceramides are the most abundant fat in the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of skin, where they stack with cholesterol and free fatty acids into the lamellar sheets that hold water in and keep irritants out. The letters in a ceramide's INCI name are a specification of its two halves rather than a grade. The first letter gives the fatty acid - N for a normal, non-hydroxy acid, A for an alpha-hydroxy acid, EO for an omega-hydroxy acid that carries a second fatty acid esterified on its far end. The second letter gives the sphingoid base - S for sphingosine, P for phytosphingosine, G for sphinganine. Ceramide NG is a normal fatty acid joined to sphinganine, also called dihydrosphingosine - sphingosine without its double bond. Like Ceramide NS it was carved in 2014 out of the retired name Ceramide 2, which had covered both bases at once. When the CIR assessed the ceramides in 2015 it recorded no cosmetic use of Ceramide NG at all; the letter names were new then, and the ingredient turns up on masks today.

How it shows up on a label

What it does well

• Restores a lipid the skin makes itself

  Ceramide NG belongs to a subclass of ceramide found naturally in the stratum corneum, so it tops up a lipid the skin already produces. The Panel that assessed these ingredients commented that they would not be readily absorbed through the skin and are expected to remain in the stratum corneum. That is where the effect sits, and it is also the limit of it.

  Moderate evidence

• Works as part of a lipid mixture rather than alone

  Barrier research found that applying one or two of the three physiological lipids - ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids - actually delays barrier recovery, and that only complete mixtures allow normal repair. A list carrying ceramides alongside cholesterol and a fatty acid is following that evidence, which is a reason to read the surrounding rows rather than the ceramide line on its own.

  Strong evidence

Worth knowing

• Present at low levels

  The highest maximum concentration reported to the CIR survey for products left on the skin was 0.2%, in skin care preparations. That survey covers the ceramides reported in use at the time, this one among their close relatives. Ceramides are among the more expensive cosmetic raw materials, so a product may advertise them and still contain a fraction of a per cent. Where the name falls on the ingredient list is a rough guide to how much is really there.

  Matters most toAnyone paying a premium specifically for ceramide content.

• The label may not distinguish it from Ceramide NS

  Both names came out of the retired Ceramide 2, so a pack printing that older name has not said which of the two it contains. One mask here prints the pair together as a single row, which leaves the question open on the label itself. The two differ by one double bond in the sphingoid base.

  Matters most toAnyone trying to match a specific ceramide between two products.

Where the EU stands

Sources (2)

Every link goes to the original: a journal, a PubMed record or an EU document.

1. [1]
   Safety Assessment of Ceramides as Used in Cosmetics

   Cosmetic Ingredient Review Expert Panel · 2015

   The Panel concluded that the ceramide ingredients, including this one, are safe in cosmetics in the present practices of use and concentration described in the assessment, and recorded that they are not restricted in any way under the rules governing cosmetic products in the European Union.

2. [2]
   Optimization of physiological lipid mixtures for barrier repair

   Journal of Investigative Dermatology · 1996 · doi:10.1111/1523-1747.ep12340135

   Ceramides, cholesterol and free fatty acids must be applied together for normal barrier recovery, and increasing any one of the three up to threefold accelerates repair further.