Niacinamide and Ceramides: What Ingredient Names Tell You

Review articles on moisturisers usually describe three properties: humectants, which draw in water; emollients, which smooth the skin's surface; and occlusives, which form a film on the skin to reduce water loss. Real products are made by combining ingredients with these properties.

A 2022 review by Peter Elias at the University of California, San Francisco explains that humectants such as glycerin draw water from the surrounding air. The same review notes that when the air is dry, humectants are often paired with an occlusive such as petrolatum. One way to read this is that how ingredients are paired matters more than the property of any one of them.

In its advice on dry skin, the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) recommends a cream or ointment over a lotion, and lists glycerin and hyaluronic acid among ingredients to look for, alongside jojoba oil, dimethicone and shea butter. A 2008 review in the British Journal of Dermatology describes glycerin as a substance that also occurs naturally in the skin, and summarises studies in which applying it increased stratum corneum hydration.

Hyaluronic acid is a glycosaminoglycan, a sugar-chain molecule found in the spaces between cells throughout the body, including the skin. A 2012 review in the journal Dermato-Endocrinology describes its unique capacity to bind and retain water molecules. Sodium hyaluronate, the name used on ingredient lists, is the sodium salt of hyaluronic acid. A 2009 safety assessment by the US Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) states that hyaluronic acid and its salts function in cosmetics as skin conditioning agents.

Ceramides are lipids that fill the spaces between cells in the stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin. According to a 2021 review in the journal Cells, stratum corneum lipids are roughly 50% ceramides, 25% cholesterol and 15% free fatty acids by weight. This lipid layer forms a permeability barrier that keeps the body from losing too much water, and ceramides play a key part in how it forms and functions.

Some researchers urge caution about ceramides in cosmetics. The 2022 review mentioned above notes that topical ceramides at sufficient concentrations have shown changes related to stratum corneum hydration in studies, but that the amounts in most formulations are usually too low to make a measurable difference. It also describes research in which recovery of an experimentally disrupted skin barrier was delayed when ceramides were applied without cholesterol and fatty acids in an appropriate ratio. Seeing ceramides on an ingredient list, in other words, tells you little about the product on its own.

Niacinamide, also called nicotinamide, is the amide form of vitamin B3. A 2014 review in the Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology explains that it is a precursor of coenzymes needed for many reactions in the body. A review published the same year in Skin Pharmacology and Physiology notes that the effects reported for niacinamide applied to the skin depend on its concentration and on how much actually reaches the skin, and adds that, at the time, the data were not yet sufficient for a firm evaluation.

Panthenol is closely related to pantothenic acid. Research mostly looks at one form of it, dexpanthenol, which a 2002 review in the American Journal of Clinical Dermatology describes as the stable alcohol analogue of pantothenic acid. The review summarises studies in which topical dexpanthenol acted like a moisturiser, improving stratum corneum hydration and reducing water loss from the skin, and notes that it penetrates the skin well when delivered in a suitable vehicle.

Ectoin is the least familiar of the six. A 2022 systematic review in Dermatology and Therapy describes ectoin (also spelled ectoine) as a cyclic amino acid made by extremophiles, microorganisms that live in extreme conditions. These microorganisms use it to form a shell of water molecules around proteins, which protects them. That property is what has drawn interest in ectoin as a cosmetic ingredient.

Names on cosmetic ingredient lists often follow the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI), which is why the same substance appears under a set name such as Glycerin, Niacinamide or Sodium Hyaluronate. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) explains in its cosmetics labelling guide that ingredients must be listed in descending order of predominance, and that ingredients present at 1% or less may be listed in any order after those present at more than 1%. Article 19 of the EU Cosmetics Regulation likewise requires listing in descending order of weight at the time ingredients are added, and allows ingredients below 1% to follow in any order.

Knowing these rules separates what an ingredient list can tell you from what it cannot. Ingredients near the top are generally present in larger amounts, but the list does not give exact concentrations. Further down, the order may not reflect the amounts at all. An ingredient list tells you what is in a product. It is not a statement of what the product does.

Our products page lists all six of these among the main ingredients of Even Days Serum and Air-Fit Gel Cream, and glycerin and panthenol for Clean Start Gel Cleanser. The ceramides are five types: NP, NS, AS, AP and EOP. As described above, their amount and their ratio to cholesterol and fatty acids matter, but whether the ceramide content and lipid ratio in HANARI's products meet those conditions, and what effect the finished products have, has not been confirmed. We do not disclose the concentration of each ingredient, and the full INCI list will be published on this site later.

The three products are planned to launch together in December 2026, and none of them is on sale yet. The general roles described in this note are not claims about what HANARI's products do. Their effects have not been verified, and we will make efficacy claims only after they have been checked. With any product, if your skin reacts after use, stop using it and talk to a dermatologist.