Seven reasons the smoothest ingredient in your skincare might not be doing what it promises — and what botanical oils do differently.
When choosing skincare, it's easy to be drawn to products that feel silky, smooth, and luxurious. That texture often comes from one group of ingredients: silicones. They're found in everything from moisturisers and primers to foundations, sunscreens, shampoos, and conditioners — and while they create an instantly soft, velvety finish, that finish doesn't always tell you much about what's happening underneath it. At so'ham, we believe skincare should do more than create the illusion of healthy skin. Every ingredient we choose should actively nourish, support, and respect the skin's own functions. Here's why we build without silicones — and what we reach for instead.
01 What Silicones Actually Do
Silicones are synthetic polymers prized in cosmetics for one thing above all: texture. They help products glide effortlessly, soften the look of fine lines, and leave a smooth, silky finish — which is exactly why they've become a default ingredient in conventional beauty. Cosmetic-grade silicones such as dimethicone are widely considered safe for topical use, and dermatology sources describe them as forming a fine, semi-permeable film that lets oxygen pass while blocking moisture loss.
What that film also does is sit on the surface. For some skin, that's a pleasant, cushioned feeling. But that same film can trap oil, sweat, dead skin cells, sunscreen, and makeup against the skin underneath it — particularly if cleansing isn't thorough. For blemish-prone skin especially, some people find that heavier silicone formulas leave their complexion feeling congested, even though the clinical literature on comedogenicity is more mixed than the popular narrative suggests. Skin is individual: what feels balancing to one person can feel occlusive to another.
02 The Hydration Myth
One of the most common misconceptions about silicones is that they moisturise the skin. In reality, silicones don't supply hydration or nutrients of their own — they mainly create a temporary smoothing effect by sitting over the skin's surface. That's a cosmetic result, not a nourishing one.
Healthy skin is built by ingredients that actively feed the barrier: plant oils rich in essential fatty acids, antioxidants, and vitamins the skin can actually use. This is the difference between skincare that performs softness and skincare that builds it.
Jojoba oil isn't technically an oil at all — it's a liquid wax ester, chemically closer to human sebum than to the triglyceride oils that make up most plant-based skincare. That structural resemblance is why it's absorbed so readily and why it can sit in a formula alongside heavier botanicals without feeling greasy. It's one of several reasons we return to it across so'ham's oils.
03 Mask, or Support?
Silicones give an immediate silky finish that can make skin look smoother for a few hours. It's a real, visible effect — but a cosmetic one. It doesn't change the condition of the skin underneath, and it fades the moment the product is removed.
Botanical oils work on a longer timeline. Rather than sitting over the skin as an optical correction, they integrate into the skin's own lipid layer, working with its chemistry rather than around it — which is part of why a facial oil is often the last, not the first, step of a routine.
04 What Layering — and Cleansing — Requires
Most skincare routines involve several layered products, and heavier silicone formulas can change how everything sitting on top of them behaves. Botanical facial oils tend to integrate more naturally into that stack, becoming a finishing step rather than a barrier to what comes after.
Silicones are also water-insoluble, so build-up over the course of a day can call for more deliberate cleansing to remove fully — one reason double cleansing in the evening, especially after makeup or sunscreen, is such a common recommendation. Thorough cleansing simply ensures skin is actually ready to absorb whatever comes next in the routine.
05 What Nature Offers Instead
The advantage of botanical skincare was never really about what it leaves out. It's about what it includes. In place of a synthetic film, plant oils deliver essential fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins, and bioactive compounds the skin can genuinely use to support its own barrier.
Light and balancing, with a wax-ester structure that mirrors the skin's own sebum — hydrates without sitting heavy.
Rich in vitamin A and C and essential fatty acids; supports texture, tone, and visible renewal over time.
Striking indigo in colour, calming in effect — soothes visible irritation and helps bring skin back into balance.
Known as "liquid gold" — dense in vitamin E and fatty acids, it nourishes deeply and enhances elasticity.
Silicones tend to appear under a handful of recognisable endings:
- -cone — dimethicone, cyclomethicone, amodimethicone, trimethicone
- -siloxane — cyclopentasiloxane, polydimethylsiloxane
- -conol — dimethiconol
Related synthetic polymers can also appear as polybutene, polyisobutene, VP/VA copolymer, or acrylate crosspolymers. Learning to recognise them makes it easier to choose formulas that align with your own skincare philosophy.
06 The so'ham Philosophy
We believe healthy skin doesn't need to be coated — it needs to be cared for. That's why our formulations are built around botanical oils, naturally occurring antioxidants, and nutrient-rich plant extracts that work in harmony with skin rather than simply sitting over it.
The Blue. provides lightweight hydration and antioxidant protection through the day, without relying on silicone-based fillers. In the evening, GinZen. nourishes skin with plant-powered ingredients that support its natural overnight renewal. Every drop is chosen with intention — skin should be able to breathe while it's being nourished.
- Cold-pressed botanical oils
- Essential fatty acids & antioxidants
- Ingredients the skin can actually use
- Formulas that integrate into the barrier
- Silicone-based fillers
- Synthetic film-formers
- Cosmetic-only smoothing effects
- Fragrance for fragrance's sake
Lasting radiance was never about the appearance of healthy skin — it comes from respecting its biology and choosing ingredients that help it thrive.