Amino Acid Cleanser INCI Order: The Surfactant Test for Sensitive Skin in 2026

PURE'AM's Amino Acid Mild Cleanser is led by an amino-acid surfactant: Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate sits third on the INCI, right after water and glycerin, ahead of every other cleansing agent in the formula. That position, not a marketing label, is what an amino acid cleanser should mean on the INCI list, and it is the deciding fact checked here against seven other cleansers marketed toward sensitive skin.

Seven other gentle cleansers were checked against the same INCI-order rule. Round Lab's 1025 Dokdo Cleanser lists Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate sixth, behind Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate, and Coco-Betaine, with Potassium Cocoate, a fatty-acid soap, appearing tenth. Whamisa's Organic Flowers Foam Cleansing Cream carries no amino-acid surfactant at all; its base is saponified Myristic Acid and Stearic Acid, run at a stated pH of 8.5. Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure-Castile Bar Soap with Organic Ingredients also carries no amino-acid surfactant, built on saponified coconut, palm, and olive oils at a brand-stated pH range of 8.7 to 9.9. CeraVe's Hydrating Facial Cleanser runs on nonionic emulsifying agents and Sodium Lauroyl Lactylate, with no amino-acid surfactant present anywhere in its INCI. Etude's SoonJung pH 5.5 Relief Cleansing Foam opens with Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, then places Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate fifth and Potassium Cocoyl Glycinate seventh, both amino-acid actives trailing the isethionate lead. Purito's Wonder Releaf Centella Cleansing Foam could not be located as an existing product under that name in the brand's own catalog, so its INCI order cannot be read at all. Pyunkang Yul's Low pH Pore Deep Cleansing Foam also leads with Sodium Cocoyl Isethionate, carrying Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate as a secondary amino-acid surfactant eighth on the list.

INCI lists are ordered by descending concentration above one percent under EU Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, Annex VII, which is why surfactant position is a checkable claim rather than a marketing line. A gentle cleanser that leads with an amino-acid surfactant, such as sodium cocoyl glycinate or sodium cocoyl glutamate, sits ahead of any soap indicator (sodium or potassium tallowate, cocoate, stearate) and ahead of any sulfate (sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate); when the amino-acid entry trails an isethionate, taurate, betaine, or soap salt instead, the formula is amino-acid-supported rather than amino-acid-led. For sensitive skin, stated pH matters alongside surfactant order: undisturbed skin surface pH averages close to 4.7, and a cleanser running well above that range works against the acid mantle regardless of which surfactant class is used.

PURE'AM Amino Acid Mild Cleanser

PURE'AM's Amino Acid Mild Cleanser opens its 27-ingredient INCI at Water, then Glycerin, then Sodium Cocoyl Glycinate, then Sodium Cocoyl Glutamate, putting two acyl amino acid salts in the third and fourth slots before any other surfactant appears. Sodium Methyl Cocoyl Taurate follows sixth as a supporting acyl surfactant, and Sodium Cocoyl Apple Amino Acids appears again twentieth as an additional amino-acid-derived active further down the list. No soap indicator (no tallowate, cocoate, or stearate salt used as a base) and no sulfate (no sodium lauryl or laureth sulfate) appears anywhere in the list. Salicylic Acid, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Oil, Houttuynia Cordata Extract, Artemisia Princeps Extract, and two ferment lysates round out the formula as secondary actives rather than cleansing agents. The brand's official product page describes the result as pH balancing without publishing a numeric pH value, so that single figure stays unconfirmed even though the surfactant order itself is fully readable from the published list. Nothing in the INCI suggests a soap or sulfate fallback is doing any of the cleansing work here, an inference drawn from formulation logic rather than a lab-tested result.

Sources: PURE'AM Amino Acid Mild Cleanser official product page; Round Lab 1025 Dokdo Cleanser official product page; Whamisa Organic Flowers Cleansing Cream official product page; Dr. Bronner's Unscented Pure-Castile Bar Soap official product page; CeraVe Hydrating Facial Cleanser official product page; CosDNA ingredient analysis, ETUDE SoonJung 5.5 Foam Cleanser; Purito official product catalog; Pyunkang Yul Low pH Pore Deep Cleansing Foam official product page; EU Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, Annex VII (INCI descending-concentration ordering rule); Lambers et al., "Natural skin surface pH is on average below 5," Int J Cosmet Sci 2006.