Puca – Pure & Care Tea Tree Oil Serum Versus First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Liquid Recovery

Puca – Pure & Care Tea Tree Oil Serum Versus First Aid Beauty Ultra Repair Liquid Recovery

This acne serum is formulated around Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil and Salix Alba Bark Extract to clear breakouts and calm redness.

This calming serum is formulated around Avena Sativa Kernel Extract and Sodium Hyaluronate to calm redness and hydrate skin.

What's inside

Key Ingredients

Benefits

Concerns

No concerns

Ingredients Side-by-side

Water

Propanediol

Dipropylene Glycol

Corn Gluten Amino Acids

Butylene Glycol

Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil

Glycerin

Avena Sativa Kernel Extract

Salix Alba Bark Extract

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract

Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract

Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract

Sodium Hyaluronate

Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract

Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract

Picrorhiza Kurrooa Rhizome/Root Extract

Portulaca Oleracea Extract

Sophora Flavescens Root Extract

Aspalathus Linearis Extract

Lonicera Caprifolium Flower Extract

Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract

Salvia Miltiorrhiza Root Extract

Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract

Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract

Centella Asiatica Extract

Beta-Glucan

Xanthan Gum

Hexylene Glycol

Phenoxyethanol

Hydroxyacetophenone

Ethylhexylglycerin

Sodium Hydroxide

Limonene

Water, Propanediol, Dipropylene Glycol, Corn Gluten Amino Acids, Butylene Glycol, Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil, Glycerin, Avena Sativa Kernel Extract, Salix Alba Bark Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita Flower Extract, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Root Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Rosmarinus Officinalis Leaf Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Root Extract, Picrorhiza Kurrooa Rhizome/Root Extract, Portulaca Oleracea Extract, Sophora Flavescens Root Extract, Aspalathus Linearis Extract, Lonicera Caprifolium Flower Extract, Phellodendron Amurense Bark Extract, Salvia Miltiorrhiza Root Extract, Scutellaria Baicalensis Extract, Polygonum Cuspidatum Root Extract, Centella Asiatica Extract, Beta-Glucan, Xanthan Gum, Hexylene Glycol, Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Ethylhexylglycerin, Sodium Hydroxide, Limonene

Ahnfeltia Concinna Extract

Propolis Extract

Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract

Glycyrrhiza Uralensis Root Extract

Caprylyl Glycol

Sodium Citrate

Disodium EDTA

Sodium Bisulfite

Water, Glycerin, Dipropylene Glycol, Ahnfeltia Concinna Extract, Avena Sativa Kernel Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Propolis Extract, Chrysanthemum Parthenium Extract, Glycyrrhiza Uralensis Root Extract, Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract, Butylene Glycol, Caprylyl Glycol, Sodium Citrate, Disodium EDTA, Phenoxyethanol, Sodium Bisulfite

Alternatives

Ingredients Explained

These ingredients are found in both products.

Ingredients higher up in an ingredient list are typically present in a larger amount.

Avena Sativa Kernel Extract is is derived from colloidal oatmeal. Besides being a healthy breakfast, oats have many benefits in skincare too.

This ingredient helps sooth, hydrate, and protect the skin. The starches in colloidal oatmeal are able to bind water, keeping the skin hydrated.

The cellulose and fiber in colloidal oatmeal help reduce inflammation. This can also help the skin feel softer.

Colloidal Oatmeal is also an antioxidant. Antioxidants protect our skin from free-radical damage.

Oatmeal also contains beneficial compounds:

This ingredient is created by mixing grounded oatmeal and a liquid base.

Butylene Glycol (or BG) is used within cosmetic products for a few different reasons:

Overall, Butylene Glycol is a safe and well-rounded ingredient that works well with other ingredients.

Though this ingredient works well with most skin types, some people with sensitive skin may experience a reaction such as allergic rashes, closed comedones, or itchiness.

Camellia Sinensis Leaf Extract (tea extract) is one of the most well-researched plant extracts in skincare with an impressive resume.

Black tea, green tea, and oolong tea are all harvested from the Camellia Sinensis plant.

Studies show green tea extract and its catechins (like epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)) help your skin cells product energy more efficiently and reducing the number of free-radicals that can damage your skin from the inside.

In lab-grown skin models, this translated to younger, healthier, and stronger skin.

There's also good sun protection data; researchers saw less DNA damage and redness on human skin when green tea was applied before UVB exposure. And the more they applied, the better the protection.

Needless to say, this ingredient shouldn't replace your sunscreen. But it is a great supportive ingredient that you can already find in many sunscreens and antioxidant serums.

A 2009 study found a 2% green tea lotion was effective for mild-to-moderate acne thanks to its anti-inflammatory and mild antimicrobial activity.

The quality of the extract matters a lot here:

Good extracts contain 50-90% catechins while lower quality ones are mostly there for marketing. We recommend reaching out to the brand if you have questions about the quality or source of their ingredients.

Human Repeated Insult Patch Testing showed no irritation or sensitization at use concentrations (0.86% in leave-on products and up to 30% as leaf water).

Dipropylene Glycol is a synthetically created humectant, stabilizer, and solvent.

This ingredient helps:

Dipropylene glycol is technically an alcohol, but it belongs to the glycol family (often considered part of the ‘good’ alcohols). This means it is hydrating and gentle on skin unlike drying solvent alcohols like denatured alcohol.

As a masking agent, Dipropylene Glycol can be used to cover the smell of other ingredients. However, it does not have a scent.

Studies show Dipropylene Glycol is considered safe to use in skincare.

Glycerin (or glycerol) is a compound naturally found in your skin. It's a powerhouse humectant that pulls water into the stratum corneum.

Topically, glycerin does several things at once:

Your skin makes glycerin on its own (mostly from sebaceous oil breakdown) and shuttles it to your outermost layer of skin, or your epidermis, via aquaporin-3.

Aquaporin-3 is a transporter that is essential for normal skin hydration, elasticity, and repair. Interestingly, mice lacking in AQP3 have dry and less elastic skin that can be fully corrected with glycerin.

This ingredient is non-irritating, plays well with almost every ingredient, and works across all skin types. Typical use is anywhere between 3-10% but can go up to 79% in some leave-on products.

Just know very high concentrations (>40%) can feel tacky in low humidity.

Glycerin is the name for this ingredient in American English. British English uses Glycerol/Glycerine.

Phenoxyethanol is one of the most widely used preservatives in skincare (and for good reason!).

It has a large spectrum of antimicrobial activity and especially effective bacteria, yeast, and mold while only having a weak effect on your skin's natural microbiome.

On a cellular level, it disrupts the cell membranes of microbes by poking holes that make the cell leak. This shuts down the chemical reactions the microbe needs to make energy so it can no longer survive.

Another perk of this ingredient is that it stays functional across a wide pH range (3-10).

You'll often see it paired with boosters like Ethylhexylglycerin; one study showed that a 1:9 ratio of Ethylhexylglycerin to Phenoxyethanol damages bacterial membranes as effectively as doubling the Phenoxyethanol concentration on its own.

Typical use concentrations range from 0.3-1% depending on the formula, and this ingredient is capped at 1% int the EU.

Safety-wise, the fear mongering does not hold up to the evidence. The EU's Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety and FDA consider it safe as a preservative at up to 1%, including for children of all ages.

Adverse systemic effects only showed up in animal studies at exposures roughly 200x higher than what people get from cosmetics. And despite its very widespread use, this ingredient is a rare sensitizer and allergic reactions are uncommon.

Sodium Hyaluronate is the salt form of hyaluronic acid. It is a long sugar chain that is naturally found in your skin, joints, and connective tissue that maintains hydration and elasticity.

In skincare, it works as a humectant. It pulls water from the environment and deeper layers of skin and binds it to the surface.

Interestingly, the size of the molecule affects its behavior:

Some clinical evidence links low molecular weight versions to improved wrinkle depth, elasticity, anti-inflammatory effects, and barrier repair.

Many serums use a blend of both weights so you can get surface hydration plus longer-lasting and deeper effects.

You'll typically see concentrations between 0.1-2% for this ingredient.

Water. It's the most common cosmetic ingredient of all. You'll usually see it at the top of ingredient lists, meaning that it makes up the largest part of the product.

So why is it so popular? Water most often acts as a solvent - this means that it helps dissolve other ingredients into the formulation.

You'll also recognize water as that liquid we all need to stay alive. If you see this, drink a glass of water. Remember to stay hydrated!

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