Salicylic Acid: All You Need to Know About This Ingredient

Salicylic Acid

Commonly known as: Salicylic acid, 2-hydroxybenzoic acid.

I.N.C.I. list name: Salicylic Acid.

Extraction process: Synthetic acid obtained by the Kolbe-Schmitt method.

Source: Synthetic.

Botanical name: /

Family: /

Extracted part of the plant: /

Origin, provenance: France (Roussillon) or Brazil (Paulinia).

Chemical properties: Beta-hydroxy acid (BHA); aromatic organic compound; colorless crystalline powder; molar mass: 138.121 g/mol; soluble in water; insoluble in oil.

Properties: Emulsion, colloidal solution, true aqueous solution, balsam.

Required dosage in cosmetic products: The dosage should not exceed 2% of the formula, except for hair rinse products with a maximum concentration of 3%. Maximum 0.5% as a preservative.

Function: Keratolytic agent (exfoliating), skin care agent and preservative approved by Ecocert.

Specificities: Purifying, regenerating, antiseptic, astringent, anti-inflammatory, seboregulating, soothing, photo-protective, antibacterial, keratolytic.

Benefits: All skin types but especially oily and acneic skin, skin with imperfections (blackheads, dilated pores), dull, irregular skin or skin showing signs of photoaging (pigment spots, wrinkles), dry skin; all hair types, especially oily and dandruffy scalps; indicated to fight against ingrown hairs.

Salicylic acid is also used in medicine for its analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties. It is the precursor of aspirin. A first extract was isolated (sodium salicylate) from the bark of the willow tree (Salix alba) in 1829 and used as a medicine, before the discovery of its chemical synthesis, and then of its synthetic derivative, aspirin or acetylsalicylic acid. This is where it gets its name from, which comes from the Latin Salix for willow. It was not until 1859 that Adolph Wilhelm Hermann Kolbe succeeded in completely synthesizing salicylic acid.