Caredermis

Methodology & Sources

Caredermis is a health tool, so we're precise about where every piece of information comes from. The classifications that drive an ingredient's score are ingested by code from official datasets — bans, cancer classifications, CMR and allergen codes, expert-panel conclusions. On top of those facts we add two things that we author and label as ours: a plain-language explanation, and — for the everyday concerns no regulator publishes (like irritation nuance) — a dermatological severity rating. This page says exactly which is which.

Datasets we ingest by code

These are downloaded from the official source and parsed by a script — no hand-copying, no AI. They produce the regulatory status shown on ingredient pages and feed the score directly.

Authorities we reference (not yet ingested)

These bodies publish opinions and reports as documents rather than machine-readable datasets, so we cite them where a specific note rests on them, but they do not feed the score automatically.

What “Editorial” means — and how it's kept honest

Some real-world concerns have no machine-readable regulator dataset: everyday irritancy nuance, preservatives classified only as mixtures, fragrance as a blanket term. For those, a severity rating or skin-profile guidance comes from our own dermatological review. Wherever such a value appears, it is marked Editorial — so you can always tell our judgement apart from an ingested classification.

Editorial values are still gated by the data: an automatic validator runs on every build and fails it if any editorial claim contradicts the official records we ingest (a claimed classification that doesn't exist, a “safe” where an authority says prohibited), and warns on strong profile warnings with no documented basis. Editorial ratings can be stricter than the datasets — never in conflict with them.

Where product ingredient lists come from

Product ingredient lists are ingested automatically from Open Beauty Facts, an open community database of cosmetic labels — we never type them in from memory. Community data means accuracy depends on contributor entries and can lag reformulations, so every product page links to its source record and reminds you to verify against your own packaging. The safety analysis applied to those lists always comes from the authority-sourced hazard database above.

How the score is calculated

No authority publishes a single 0–100 “safety score.” So we compute one with a fixed, published algorithm — the same rule for every ingredient, no judging by feel. It runs in two steps.

Step 1 — each ingredient's concern (0–100)

Every ingredient is scored by the strongest signal across all our sources — no single source is trusted alone, and the worst credible signal wins:

  • 90–100 — banned in EU cosmetics (CosIng Annex II), IARC Group 1, an EU CMR category 1 classification (ECHA CLP), or judged unsafe by the CIR panel.
  • 55–75 — the primary safety concerns: carcinogenicity (IARC Group 2A/2B) or reproductive, developmental and endocrine toxicity (EU CMR category 2, California Prop 65), or CIR data judged insufficient.
  • Capped at 25 (Low) — a secondary concern on its own: a declarable fragrance/contact allergen, a classified irritant, environmental (aquatic) toxicity, or comedogenicity. CIR-safe or unflagged ingredients score near zero.

Why the cap: allergens affect a sensitive minority, irritation is dose-dependent, and environmental harm is a different axis from personal safety — so an ingredient whose onlyconcern is one of these is still flagged and still drives the relevant skin-profile guidance, but it doesn't make an ordinary fragranced product read “High.” Only genuine carcinogen/endocrine signals (or an adverse CIR conclusion) raise the headline verdict.

Because regulators classify the pure substance and the CIR panel judges cosmetic use at real concentrations, a CIR “safe as used” conclusion tempers a pure-substance classification down to moderate (e.g. salicylic acid, talc) — it never overrides an outright ban.

Step 2 — the product score

A product is scored by its single worst ingredient, plus a small capped contribution from the rest — so one strongly flagged ingredient is never diluted by a long list of benign ones. Under 30 reads Low, under 70 Moderate, otherwise High. Skin-profile guidance (sensitive, oily & acne-prone, dry, pregnancy, babies, eczema) then re-ranks which concerns matter most for that group.

What we don't claim

Ingredient assessments summarize published findings about a substance — not clinical testing of a specific finished product. A concern being “documented” does not mean an ingredient is unsafe at the level used in your product; regulators often act on a precautionary basis or on exposure far higher than cosmetic use. Formulations also change over time. An ingredient with no flags in our database means we hold no documented concern from these sources — not a guarantee of safety, since individual sensitivities vary.

Caredermis is informational and not a substitute for medical advice. For a specific health concern, consult a dermatologist.

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