Nervous System Skincare™

You learned to read the back of the bottle before the front.

You keep a list in your head. The ingredient that was fine last spring and is not fine now. The product that worked until the formula changed quietly. The brand that called itself clean and still left your face hot for two days.

You have been told your skin is sensitive. You already know it is more specific than that.

Why we start at the skin

Your skin is the part of your nervous system you can see.

It shares an origin with your nerves, and it is dense with them. When your skin reacts, that reaction is your whole system speaking at the surface.

A flare is information. It is the body saying something crossed a line.

How we formulate

By subtraction. We start by taking away.

Every ingredient we leave out is one less thing your skin has to respond to. That is the mechanism behind every claim we make.

Kikki has lived with MCAS for eight years. Indiefog started the week her own shampoo gave her hives on her scalp, and she went looking for a formula she could wear. Everything here was built from that side of the problem.

Left out on purpose

Every product we make, without exception.

Short lists are the point. Here is what never appears in any of them, and you can check every word of it against the full INCI on any product page.

The acids that set reactive skin off

Citric acid·L-ascorbic acid·Salicylic acid·AHAs

Fragrance and preservation

Synthetic fragrance·Phenoxyethanol·Parabens·Formaldehyde donors·Drying and denatured alcohol

Petrochemical and processing

Petroleum-derived ingredients·PEGs and ethoxylated solubilizers·Polysorbates·Silicones·Propylene glycol·EDTA

Minerals and color

Titanium dioxide·Natural mica·Nanoparticles·Synthetic dyes

Allergens and sourcing

Soy, in a soy-free and peanut-free facility·Wheat, barley and rye·Beeswax and animal-derived ingredients

The one we get asked about most

Citric acid appears in nothing we make.

It is one of the most common preservative-boosters and pH adjusters in natural skincare, including in lines built for sensitive skin, and it is one of the most consistent triggers we hear about. We adjust pH with L-arginine instead.

Vitamin C works the same way here. L-ascorbic acid needs a low pH to stay stable, and that low pH is the part reactive skin objects to. We use tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate, which is oil-soluble and stable at skin-neutral pH, so you get the vitamin C without the acid it usually arrives in.

What we do use, and why

The four things you will find if you read closely.

We would rather you read this here than find it on the label. If any one of them is a no for you, the note says where to go instead.

Sodium benzoateIn the water-based products · essences, serums, the ceramide cream
Anything with water in it has to be preserved, or it is not safe to keep on a shelf. Our system for those is gluconolactone and sodium benzoate. You will see sodium benzoate named as a pseudoallergen in mast cell guidance, and the research does not support treating it as a universal trigger, so we have kept it where water makes a preservative necessary. If you want none of it, the powders and the oils carry no preservative at all, because there is no water in them to preserve.
Ferments and mushroomAureobasidium, lactobacillus, radish root, tremella, cordyceps, lion’s mane
Fermentation generates histamine, and mold sensitivity sits alongside mast cell activation often enough that this deserves naming rather than burying. These appear in the essences, three of the serums, and the ceramide cream. The oils and the powders carry none.
Essential oilsBody and haircare only · the facial line has none
The reactive part of an essential oil is largely its terpene content, and dose is what decides the outcome. What we see is that a load at two percent or above is frequently irritating for this group, while the same material near one percent is often fine, and none at all is fine for everyone. The whole facial line is formulated without essential oils. Per-product exclusions are named on each page.
Benzyl alcoholIn ten products · named on each of their own pages
It is part of a certified preservative system in ten products across the line, and it is also a declarable fragrance allergen on EU labels. That is the reason those products are labeled unscented rather than fragrance-free, and each one says so on its own page. Everything else we make carries none of it at all.

If you are in a reactive stretch

  • Start with the waterless sideThe oils, the balms and the powder cleansers have no water in them, so they carry no preservative, no benzoate and no ferment. Shortest lists in the line, and the fewest variables to isolate if something does not sit right.
  • One thing at a timeAdd a single product and stay with it for a week or two before the next one. Two new products in the same week will not tell you which one to keep.
  • Patch test, every timeOn the inner forearm, left 24 hours, before facial use. If your history says you want longer than that, take longer. You are not being difficult.
  • Cool water, and press rather than rubHeat, friction and pressure are their own inputs, separate from anything in the jar. Warm rooms, hot water and scrubbing all ask something of your skin before an ingredient gets a say. Press products in with flat fingers and let them sit.

How to check us

1

Read the full INCI

Every product page carries the complete ingredient list, in label order, with the sourcing key. Nothing is summarized and nothing is left in a proprietary blend.

2

Read the allergen note

Every page has one. It names the tree nut, the legume, the latex cross-reaction, the ferment and the mold consideration, for each product, in plain words.

3

Check the percentages

Where an ingredient is doing real work, the number is printed. Nine ingredients in the face oil. Five percent tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate. Four percent menthol in the cooling butters.

4

Ask us

If an ingredient is a specific no for you, write to us before you order and we will tell you which products carry it. We would rather answer the question than sell you a jar you cannot use.

One more thing, said plainly

Tolerance moves. What was fine last year can stop being fine, and the reverse happens too.

That is why nothing here says safe. We cannot know what your body will do on the day you open the jar, and a brand that promises you it can is guessing. What we can do is tell you exactly what is in it, exactly what is left out, and why, so the call stays yours to make with your own history in front of you.

Made for

Skin navigating MCAS, histamine intolerance, eczema, psoriasis, rosacea, autoimmune conditions, celiac disease, endometriosis, chronic fatigue, perimenopause and cancer recovery. Skin that came through treatment and has not settled. Skin that reacts to things no one can find a name for.

Named here to say who these products are made for, and nothing more. They do not treat any condition.

Formulated for reactive, easily-overwhelmed skin. We suggest a patch test on the inner forearm, left 24 hours, before facial use.

Nervous System Skincare™ is a language for noticing. It is not a diagnosis, and it belongs alongside your doctors, never instead of them.

Indiefog products are cosmetics, made to cleanse, soften, and comfort skin. They do not treat, cure, or prevent any condition.