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be sonatural, Face masks, read from the back

Ceramide NS

Well toleratedEmollientbarrier lipidemollientskin conditioning

No meaningful concern for most people; irritation is possible but rare.

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 NS is a normal fatty acid joined to sphingosine. It was formerly sold under the INCI name Ceramide 2, which was retired in 2014 because it covered both sphingosine- and sphinganine-based material; Ceramide NS and Ceramide NG were carved out of it as the two narrower names. A pack still printing Ceramide 2 has not told you which of the two it holds.

How it shows up on a label

Five masks here print it, and of the four whose lists show the point where ingredient order stops indicating quantity, all four put it below that point - the deepest being the 55th of 65 rows on the Biodance Hydro Cera-nol mask. The fifth is a caveat rather than a reading: the Schaebens Jelly Ceramide mask prints Ceramide NS and Ceramide NG together as a single row, so it is counted here without the label having settled which of the two it holds. It appears only beside other ceramides, never on its own.

What it does well

  • Restores a lipid the skin makes itself

    Ceramide NS 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.

  • One subclass is not a barrier score

    The familiar line that ceramides are depleted in eczema describes the overall profile, and the picture per subclass is more complicated than that. In an observational study of 213 children with atopic dermatitis, two of the twelve subclasses measured - the AS and NS types - were higher than in controls and tracked with severity. Reading any single ceramide on a label as a measure of barrier health is therefore a mistake, whichever letters it carries.

    Matters most toAnyone choosing a mask by counting the ceramides on the list.

Where the EU stands

No specific restriction

Not listed in any Annex of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, so there is no specific concentration limit; it is still covered by the general safety assessment every cosmetic product must pass before sale.

Regulation (EC) No 1223/2009 - no annex entry · source ↗

Sources (3)

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.

  3. [3]
    Skin Ceramide Profile in Children With Atopic Dermatitis

    Dermatitis · 2018 · doi:10.1097/DER.0000000000000392

    In 213 children, two of the twelve ceramide subclasses measured - the AS and NS types - were higher than in controls and tracked with disease severity, so a single subclass does not read as a barrier score.

Masks that contain Ceramide NS