WHAT'S IN IT, AND WHY

Twenty-five ingredients. All of them published, in order, at the bottom of this page.

Almost nobody in skincare does that. Most brands name three or four ingredients they want you to think about and bury the rest in small print on the back of the bottle. We'd rather you could check.

This page explains what each one is doing.

HYDRATE

Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder · Glycerin · Panthenol

Two of these are the second and third ingredients in the formula. That matters, because ingredient lists run in order of quantity — so most of what's in this bottle is hydration done properly, rather than filler carrying a hero ingredient that's barely present.

  • Aloe vera is the oldest soothing ingredient in skincare and still one of the best. It calms skin that's been in sun, wind and saltwater, and it hydrates without adding any weight. We use the leaf juice powder rather than a diluted gel, which means more of it and less water.
  • Glycerin is a humectant. It pulls water into the upper layers of the skin and holds it there. It's unglamorous, it's in almost every good moisturiser ever made, and any formula that doesn't have it high in the list is making a choice you should ask about.
  • Panthenol, or Pro-Vitamin B5, is the one doing the technical work. Hours of wind and cold water strip the outer layer of your skin of its ability to hold water — you feel it as tightness that doesn't go away. Panthenol works below the surface, reducing water loss and supporting the barrier as it recovers. It's one of the best-evidenced barrier ingredients in cosmetic science.

Well-hydrated skin also looks smoother. Dehydrated skin shows every line.

SOOTHE

Bisabolol · Allantoin · Avena Strigosa (Black Oat) Seed Extract

This is the group that deals with what you feel when you come back inside.

  • Bisabolol is the active anti-inflammatory fraction isolated from chamomile. Not chamomile extract — the specific compound that does the work. It settles the flush across the cheekbones after a cold session and the sting that arrives ten minutes after you've got out of the water. If you surf, ski or ride in winter, this is the ingredient you'll notice.
  • Allantoin is a skin-conditioning agent that softens rough, weathered skin and calms irritation. It's been used in wound-care and post-shave products for decades because it's gentle, well tolerated and reliably effective.
  • Black oat extract is where the soothing reputation of oats comes from — it calms reactive, irritated skin and helps it feel less angry. Worth saying plainly: this is oat extract, not colloidal oatmeal, which is a different ingredient with a different regulatory status. We use the extract, and we're not going to dress it up as something else.

ABSORB

Isoamyl Laurate · Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride · Glyceryl Oleate Citrate · Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6

This is the group nobody talks about, and it's the reason GRIFF feels the way it does.

  • Isoamyl laurate is the important one. It's a plant-derived emollient made from coconut and sugarcane, and it does the job silicones do — that dry, weightless, disappearing finish — without the silicones. Apply GRIFF, give it a minute, then pull on a wetsuit hood, a helmet or a pair of goggles. You won't feel it there, and it won't run into your eyes when you start sweating. Most products that feel this light achieve it with dimethicone. We don't use silicones at all.
  • Caprylic/capric triglyceride is a light, coconut-derived emollient that carries the other ingredients evenly across the skin and keeps the texture fluid rather than greasy.
  • Glyceryl oleate citrate is the emulsifier. It holds the water-based and oil-based parts of the formula together so they don't separate in the bottle.
  • Polyacrylate crosspolymer-6 is what gives the serum its texture — light enough to spread in a single pass, thick enough not to run off your face.

DEFEND

Tocopherol (Vitamin E) · Sodium Phytate · Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract

Sun, pollution and cold generate oxidative stress in skin. This group deals with the environmental end of the brief.

  • Vitamin E is a fat-soluble antioxidant. It works in the skin, and it also keeps the oils in the formula stable — a genuine dual purpose, which is why you'll find it near the end of most ingredient lists. Small amount, important job.
  • Sodium phytate is a chelator: it binds metal ions. Urban air deposits particulate metals on skin, and those metals drive oxidative reactions. This is the ingredient handling the pollution part of the brief, and it's the part most outdoor skincare ignores because saltwater is a better story than traffic.
  • Ascophyllum nodosum is knotted wrack — the brown seaweed that covers the rocks on the North Atlantic coast at low tide. It survives being alternately baked in the sun, frozen, and battered by salt water twice a day, which requires a serious antioxidant system. We use an extract of it for antioxidant support. It's also, we think, the most fitting ingredient we could have put in the bottle. It comes out of the same cold water some of our customers spend their weekends in, and it goes into a bottle made from plastic collected before it could reach that water.

THE ONES THAT AREN'T ACTIVES

Every cosmetic contains ingredients that aren't there to do anything to your skin. They're there to stop the product going off, keep the pH right, and make sure what's in the bottle on day ninety is the same as what was in it on day one. Most brands don't mention them. Here they are.

  • Phenoxyethanol, Hydroxyacetophenone, Ethylhexylglycerin, Potassium Sorbate — the preservative system. A water-based product without effective preservation grows bacteria and mould, and that's considerably worse for your skin than any preservative. Phenoxyethanol is capped at 1% under UK and EU law and is one of the most extensively studied preservatives in use.
  • Lavandula Stoechas Flower/Stem Extract — Spanish lavender, used as part of the natural preservative system rather than for scent. No perfume has been added to this product. You may notice a very faint natural smell from the botanical extracts, and it fades within seconds.
  • Sodium Hydroxide, Citric Acid — pH adjusters. Skin sits at around pH 5, and a product that doesn't match it will sting. These bring the formula into range. Neither remains as itself in the finished product.
  • Lecithin — a phospholipid that helps the formula stay stable and spreads the oil phase evenly.
  • Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil — a light, naturally vitamin E-rich oil. It contains gluten, so this product isn't suitable if you have a wheat allergy.
  • Sodium Hyaluronate — the salt form of hyaluronic acid, used here at a supporting level to help hold moisture in the upper layers of the skin. It's a good ingredient. It isn't the star of this formula, and we're not going to pretend otherwise.
  • Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract — a botanical antioxidant, present at a supporting level.
  • Water (Aqua) — the first ingredient in nearly every skincare product ever made, including the expensive ones.

WHAT WE DON'T USE, AND WHY

  • No SPF. A moisturiser needs to absorb into the skin. Sunscreen needs to sit on top of it. Combining them compromises one or the other, so we've kept them separate. Apply GRIFF to clean skin, let it sink in, then a broad-spectrum SPF30 or higher over the top. Water-resistant if you're going in the sea.
  • No silicones. They're the standard way to make a product feel light and dry. We use isoamyl laurate instead, which comes from coconut and sugarcane and does the same job.
  • No added fragrance, no essential oils. Fragrance is the most common cause of cosmetic sensitivity, and this is a product for skin that's already been through it.
  • No alcohol. Denatured alcohol makes products feel like they absorb faster. It also dries skin out, which is the opposite of the point.
  • No retinol, acids or exfoliants. These are good ingredients in the right product. This isn't that product. GRIFF is for skin that's already stressed by sun, salt and wind, and adding an irritant to that is a bad idea. If you use a retinoid, use it at night and use GRIFF alongside it, not instead of it.
  • No parabens.

THE FULL LIST

In order of quantity, as required by law:

Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Juice Powder, Glycerin, Glyceryl Oleate Citrate, Phenoxyethanol, Polyacrylate Crosspolymer-6, Caprylic/Capric Triglyceride, Hydroxyacetophenone, Isoamyl Laurate, Panthenol, Allantoin, Avena Strigosa Seed Extract, Ethylhexylglycerin, Triticum Vulgare (Wheat) Germ Oil, Bisabolol, Ascophyllum Nodosum Extract, Lecithin, Sodium Hydroxide, Sodium Phytate, Lavandula Stoechas Flower/Stem Extract, Citric Acid, Sodium Hyaluronate, Potassium Sorbate, Zingiber Officinale (Ginger) Root Extract, Tocopherol.

How to read it. Ingredients are listed in descending order of quantity. Anything appearing after the preservative system is present at 1% or less — which is normal, and correct, for actives that work at low concentrations. What matters isn't where an ingredient sits, but whether it's at the level it needs to be to do its job.

Made in Britain. Bottled in Prevented Ocean Plastic.

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