Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner safety rating

Glycolic Acid 7% Exfoliating Toner safety rating | Greenlens

Raters split

Ingredient safety

A 35-point gap between the two loudest voices.

65ANSES Endocrine DisruptorsGovernment

100Greenlens Precautionary ScreenIndependent

050100

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All 996 cleaner options, safest first We show the best 12, including the strongest on each axis.

Every rater, every axis

Ingredient safety

35 pts apart

Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
A government authority. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
A government authority. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
Independent — not funded by the brands it rates. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →
A government authority. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. Checked this week. about this rater →

Also screened, nothing found: ECHA SVHC Candidate List · California Proposition 65 · US NTP Report on Carcinogens · EU Harmonised Classification (CLP Annex VI)

Environmental

Also screened, nothing found: EU Microplastics Restriction

Labor

Run by a nonprofit. Auto-linked to this product, not yet human-reviewed. This rates The Ordinary as a company and applies to everything they make, not this product alone. Checked this week. about this rater →

Coverage & match quality

7 ratings · 2 of 4 axes

Some ratings rest on an automatic match that has not been human-reviewed.
Fewer raters reach smaller-brand products, so a missing rating is not a clean bill of health, only a gap.

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composite recomputes live

Ingredient safety1.0×

Environmentalno rating

No rater covers this axis for this product, so its weight can't move the score.

Labor1.0×

Packagingno rating

No rater covers this axis for this product, so its weight can't move the score.

0 means ignored. Higher = more weight in your composite.

Ingredients, decoded

Data availability

Robust42 of 42 characterized

Our sources have reference data on all 42 listed ingredients.

Worth a look (5)

Triethanolaminefragrance · buffering · surfactant - cleansingraters disagree
ANSES CMR-listedflagged by 3 of 9 lists →

What these ingredient tags mean (2)

These describe what an ingredient is, not whether it is a problem. The stance marks above are the ratings; these are not.

exfoliating acidGlycolic Acid
- Glycolic Acid: An alpha hydroxy acid that loosens surface skin cells; it also makes skin more sun-sensitive while you use it. FDA, "Guidance for Industry: Labeling for Topically Applied Cosmetic Products Containing Alpha Hydroxy Acids as Ingredients" (announced at 70 FR 1721, 10 January 2005; FDA web pages title it "Labeling for Cosmetics Containing Alpha Hydroxy Acids"), which names this acid and recommends the statement "Sunburn Alert: This product contains an alpha hydroxy acid (AHA) that may increase your skin's sensitivity to the sun and particularly the possibility of sunburn."
humectantGlycerin, Sodium Pca, Urea
- Glycerin: A humectant, and one of the two ingredients a comparison of moisturiser components found made a significant difference to skin hydration. FDA OTC skin protectant monograph, 21 CFR 347.10(h), lists glycerin as a skin protectant at 20 to 45%. On the humectant half: Jeong CB, Han JY, Cho JC, Suh KD, Nam GW, "Analysis of electrical property changes of skin by oil-in-water emulsion components", Int J Cosmet Sci 2013;35(4):402-410, DOI 10.1111/ics.12059, PMID 23621673, found that "glycerine and urea showed significant skin hydration effects compared with other humectants".
- Sodium Pca: The salt of PCA, one of the water-holding substances the outer layer of skin makes for itself. Dörner C, Steinbinder J, Sachslehner AP, Sukseree S, Eckhart L, "Amino Acid Metabolism of the Skin: Control by Specific Enzymes and Contribution to Protective Functions", Metabolites 2025;15(9):601, DOI 10.3390/metabo15090601, open access, section "Glutamine Is Converted to Pyrrolidone Carboxylic Acid, a Component of the NMF": "pyrrolidone carboxylic acid (PCA), also known as pyroglutamic acid or 5-oxoproline, accumulates in the stratum corneum."
- Urea: A humectant the skin already makes; at higher levels it also softens thickened skin. StatPearls, "Moisturizers", NCBI Bookshelf NBK545171, updated 12 February 2024: "Urea is a component of NMF. The addition of urea to moisturizers helps with the absorption of water into the stratum corneum." The FDA label for prescription-strength urea calls it keratolytic and states that its mechanism of action is not yet known.