The word alcohol is doing a lot of unhelpful work here.

When people see alcohol on a skincare label they think of the drying, stinging kind — denatured alcohol, isopropyl alcohol, the stuff in hand sanitiser that evaporates and leaves skin tight. Cetearyl alcohol is a different class of ingredient entirely. It's a fatty alcohol, made from plant oils, and it behaves like an oil rather than a solvent.

Its job in Stand Fast is twofold. It softens skin directly as an emollient, and it gives the cream its structure — the reason it feels cushioned rather than watery. It's in most quality moisturisers for exactly these reasons.

If you've ever used a cream that felt rich and absorbed well, there's a good chance a fatty alcohol was doing part of the work. It isn't a filler, it isn't drying, and it's there on purpose.

Yes, it's a silicone. We chose it deliberately, and we'd rather explain why than quietly leave it off the label.

Dimethicone sits on the surface of the skin rather than absorbing into it. That's the whole point. It forms a light, breathable layer that slows how quickly moisture escapes, which is what lets both products keep skin hydrated for hours rather than minutes.

The common worry is clogged pores. Dimethicone is non-comedogenic — its molecules are too large to sit inside a pore, and it doesn't block them. It's also the reason neither product feels tacky. Without it, you'd need heavier oils and waxes to get the same moisture retention, and the finish would be greasy.

Silicones have a reputation problem that isn't really matched by what they do. If you'd prefer to avoid them entirely, that's a fair choice — but you should be making it knowing what the ingredient actually is.

Line Work Gentle Wash contains a sulfate. We'd rather tell you than have you find it.

Sulfates are cleansing agents — they're what allows a wash to lift oil and build-up away with water. The one people object to is SLS, sodium lauryl sulfate, which is a genuinely aggressive cleanser and turns up in everything from shampoo to dish soap.

Ammonium lauryl sulfate is a milder relative. It cleanses effectively without being as harsh on the skin barrier. In Line Work it's paired with cocamidopropyl betaine, a coconut-derived cleanser, and glycerin, which is why the wash rinses clean without leaving skin feeling tight.

We're not going to tell you sulfates are harmless in every context or that yours is the exception. What we'll say is that this one was chosen for its mildness, it's balanced against humectants in the formula, and if you specifically want a sulfate-free cleanser then this isn't it, and we'd rather you knew that before buying.

This is the same compound as lye, and seeing it on an aftercare label is understandably alarming. Here's what it's doing.

Sodium hydroxide is used in cosmetics as a pH adjuster, in trace amounts, at the end of the manufacturing process. Skin sits at a slightly acidic pH, and a cream that's too far either side of that will feel uncomfortable. A very small quantity of sodium hydroxide brings the finished formula in line.

It also reacts with the carbomer further up the list - that reaction is what makes the cream thicken into a cream rather than staying liquid. By the time the product is in the bottle, the sodium hydroxide has reacted. There is no lye sitting in what reaches your skin.

It appears second-last on the INCI, which tells you the amount involved. Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration.

A chemical-sounding name for something fairly simple.

This is made by taking coconut oil, separating out the shorter fatty acids, and recombining them with glycerin. What you end up with is a light, stable oil that absorbs quickly and doesn't go rancid the way whole plant oils can.

It's in both products because it does something neither shea butter nor sunflower oil does well on its own - it delivers moisture that sinks in fast. It's also part of why the balm isn't heavy despite the waxes.

If it were listed as "fractionated coconut oil" nobody would blink. The INCI name is the internationally standardised one, which is why it reads the way it does.

PEG is the part that makes people uneasy. It stands for polyethylene glycol, and this particular one is built from glucose and oleic acid, a fatty acid found in olive oil.

Its job is thickening. It gives Line Work enough body that it stays where you put it instead of running straight off, which matters when you're washing an area you'd rather touch as little as possible.

The number refers to molecule size, not strength or concentration. Larger PEGs like this one are too big to pass through skin — they sit on the surface, do their job, and rinse away.

The PEG family is broad and gets discussed as though it were one ingredient. It isn't. This is a large, well-studied, plant-derived thickener.

Both of these products contain water, and anything containing water needs a preservative. Without one you'd have mould and bacterial growth inside a few weeks, in a product you're putting on freshly tattooed skin. That's a considerably worse outcome than a preservative.

Phenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used and best-studied options available. It's effective at low concentrations, it's stable, and it's approved for cosmetic use in Australia, the EU and the US.

You'll notice it sits low on both lists. That's typical — it works at fractions of a percent.

The balm doesn't contain it, because the balm contains no water and doesn't need it.

Squalane is close to something your skin already makes. Human sebum contains squalene, and squalane is the stabilised version of it - which is why it absorbs so readily rather than sitting on the surface.

In Hold Fast it does the light, deep hydration, balancing the waxes that give the balm its structure. It's a premium ingredient and a big part of why the balm doesn't feel greasy.

One thing worth raising, because you'd find it anyway: squalane was historically sourced from shark liver oil, and in some cheaper products still is. Most cosmetic squalane today is plant-derived, from olive or sugarcane. We're confirming ours with our manufacturer and will state the source here once we have it in writing.

A fatty acid that gives Stand Fast its rich, stable body - part of what makes the cream feel substantial rather than thin.

Stearic acid occurs naturally in plant oils and butters, and it's part of what gives shea butter its texture. It can also be animal-derived, which is why we're not claiming a source for it yet. We're confirming with our manufacturer and will update this entry when we know.

Until then we're not making a vegan claim for Stand Fast Aftercare Cream either way. Line Work Gentle Wash is vegan. Hold Fast Tattoo Balm contains beeswax, so it isn't.

If you know lactic acid from skincare, you know it as an AHA - an exfoliating acid used in serums and peels. That's a fair thing to be uneasy about on a product meant for fresh work, so let's be precise about what we do and don't know.

Lactic acid appears eighth of eleven on the Line Work ingredient list, which tells you it's present in a small amount. Ingredients are listed in descending order of concentration, and the exfoliating concentrations used in AHA products are far higher than anything that low on a list.

We're currently confirming its exact role in the formula with our manufacturer, and we'll update this entry with their answer rather than tell you what we think it probably does. If that matters to your decision, email us and we'll tell you where it's at.