The science behind what we leave out.

Most skincare brands make ingredient claims. Few cite the evidence behind them.

We built Sorrel & Co because the gap between what skincare formulations contain and what most people actually understand about those ingredients is enormous. Walk into any beauty aisle and you’ll see hundreds of products labeled “clean,” “natural,” or “free from” — terms that mean almost nothing under US labeling law. The FDA does not regulate the term “clean.” Manufacturers can call almost anything natural.

So instead of marketing claims, we publish citations. When we exclude an ingredient, we do it for documented reasons — and when a formula still contains one, we flag it in the table below rather than round up to a claim that isn’t true. We use PubMed links so you can verify everything yourself.

The seven ingredient categories below cover the most consequential exclusions. We’ve graded each one by evidence strength — because not every “free from” claim is equally supported, and pretending otherwise would betray the trust of the customers we want most: the ones who read labels.