What a function means here
A CosIng function is the technical job an ingredient is declared to do in a formulation. It is not a claim about what the product achieves, not evidence that it works, and not a permission to use the ingredient.
- 83 functions, assigned by the supplier or manufacturer when an ingredient is declared.
- 'Skin conditioning' describes a role in the formula, not a demonstrated benefit to skin.
- An ingredient commonly carries several functions; the list is not ranked and does not say which dominates in a given product.
- A function is unrelated to regulatory status: prohibited and restricted substances carry functions too.
The function names read like benefits, and that is the trap. 'Skin conditioning', 'skin protecting', 'antioxidant' — each names a technical role in a formulation, declared when the ingredient was entered. None of them records that a product containing the ingredient does anything for the person using it. Efficacy is a matter for the product's own substantiation, and the regulation requires that separately from anything recorded here.
Most ingredients carry several functions, sometimes half a dozen, and the list is neither ranked nor conditional. An ingredient declared as both a surfactant and a skin-conditioning agent is not doing both in equal measure in every formula it appears in; it may be doing only one. Which it is depends on concentration, the rest of the formula and what the product is for, and none of that is in the declaration.
Function also says nothing about whether an ingredient may be used. A substance in Annex II carries functions in exactly the same way as one with no restriction at all — the declaration describes purpose, and the annexes decide permission. Reading a function as reassurance gets the relationship between those two things backwards.
What the function is genuinely good for is finding alternatives. If a formula needs an emulsifying surfactant and a particular one has become unavailable or has been restricted, the function is the honest way to see what else is declared for the same job — and then to check each candidate's regulatory status separately.
Checked against
Cosmetic ingredient functions
83 ingredient functions defined in the EU CosIng database. Each function describes the role a substance plays in a cosmetic formula — from emollients and surfactants to UV filters and preservatives.