Part of our guide to Ingredients Explained. Also linked from Routines and Results.
In Singapore, "clean" has no legal definition, and neither does "non toxic". Any brand can print either word on a bottle. What you can check is whether the full ingredient list is published, whether a certification belongs to the exact product you are holding, and whether the performance claims have evidence behind them. This guide shows you how to do each one in a few minutes.
What Singapore actually regulates
Skincare here is regulated by the Health Sciences Authority under rules that follow the ASEAN Cosmetic Directive, in force in Singapore since 2008. Before a product goes on sale, the company selling it must notify HSA. The company, not HSA, is legally responsible for making sure the product is safe and free of banned substances, and that restricted ingredients stay within their limits.
That notification is not an approval. HSA does not test or review a cosmetic before it reaches the shelf. It steps in afterwards, through adverse event reports, recalls and enforcement. So a product being legally on sale in Singapore tells you it has been notified, and that the company has taken on the legal responsibility for it. It does not tell you anyone independent has looked at the formula.
Claims have rules too. HSA requires cosmetic claims to follow the ASEAN Cosmetic Claim Guideline and to be fully substantiated on request under the Singapore Code of Advertising Practices. A cosmetic cannot claim to treat a disease. If a cream promises to cure eczema or acne, it is making a claim cosmetics are not allowed to make, and that tells you something about the brand.
Five label claims, and how to check each one
1. "Clean" or "non toxic"
Neither term is defined in Singapore law, and each brand uses its own list of excluded ingredients. Treat the word as the start of a question. Ask the brand what it excludes and why, then check the ingredient list yourself. Our piece on plant derived versus synthetic actives covers what the word does and does not mean, including why natural is not automatically gentler.
2. "Natural" or "organic"
Also unregulated as words. What does carry weight is a certification logo that names its certifier, such as COSMOS, which is run through certifiers like Ecocert and the Soil Association. Look for the certifier's name on the pack, then search for the product on that certifier's own site. A leaf graphic and the word "organic" on their own tell you nothing.
3. "Dermatologically tested"
This means a dermatologist supervised a skin test on volunteers, usually a patch test, to check that the product doesn't irritate skin. It is a safety check, and worth having. It tells you about tolerance rather than results, so read it alongside a brand's performance claims rather than instead of them.
4. "EWG Verified"
EWG Verified is a mark run by the Environmental Working Group, a US nonprofit. To earn it, a product can't contain anything on EWG's list of unacceptable ingredients, the company has to disclose its full formula to EWG, fragrance components included, and it has to meet EWG's standards on labelling and manufacturing.
Two things are worth knowing. First, the mark belongs to an individual product, not to a brand, so a brand can have one verified product and twenty that aren't. Check the exact product name in EWG's online directory of verified products. Second, EWG is an advocacy group, and its criteria are stricter than any regulator's. Some toxicologists argue its approach overstates risk. What the mark reliably tells you is that the formula has been disclosed in full and avoids a published list of ingredients, and that is useful information. It doesn't tell you whether a product works.
A good score in EWG's Skin Deep database is also a different thing from the EWG Verified mark. Skin Deep rates products from their public ingredient lists. The verified mark requires the company to hand over the full formula. Our page on what EWG Verified means goes into the detail.
5. "Proven" or "90% of users agree"
These two get used as if they meant the same thing, and they don't. A measured result comes from a test with a number, a named measure, and someone independent doing the measuring. "90% of users agree their pigmentation looks lighter" is a survey. People used a product, then answered a question about how they felt it went. Opinions are worth something, but they aren't measurements, and the people asked are usually recruited by the brand itself.
So look for three things: a number, what exactly was measured, and who measured it. If the only evidence is a percentage of users who agreed with a statement, you are reading a satisfaction score. Our piece on what makes a serum clinical grade sets out more of the checks.
Three red flags
- No full ingredient list. If you can't find the complete list on the product page, you can't check anything else on this page. Ask for it, and be wary if the answer is slow.
- A single line for fragrance. One word, "fragrance" or "parfum", can cover dozens of individual ingredients. That isn't automatically a problem, but it is something you can't assess from the label.
- A long "free from" list with nothing else. A list of what isn't in a product says nothing about what is, or whether it works. It is often the loudest part of the pack precisely because there is little else to say.
Running the checks on Byra
It seems fair to hold ourselves to the same list.
Every Byra product page carries the full ingredient list. All five of our skincare products are EWG Verified, and Byra is the only EWG Verified skincare brand in Singapore, which you can check product by product in EWG's directory. The range is Swedish formulated and dermatologically tested.
Our performance claims are measured rather than surveyed. In independent laboratory tests, ILLUMINATE reduced melanin by 25%, slightly more than kojic acid, a benchmark brightening ingredient, and REJUVENATE reduced cellular ageing by 70%.
And one thing a "clean" label can hide: PURIFY, ILLUMINATE and REJUVENATE all contain naturally derived essential oils at low levels. They are within EWG's criteria, but essential oils can still irritate some skin. If yours reacts to them, patch test first. We would rather you knew that from us than found out on your face.
Questions we get asked
Is clean beauty regulated in Singapore? No. The words "clean" and "non toxic" have no legal definition here. What is regulated is safety: companies must notify HSA before selling a cosmetic, keep banned substances out, and be able to substantiate their claims.
Does HSA approve skincare products? No. Cosmetics in Singapore are notified to HSA rather than approved by it. The company selling the product is legally responsible for its safety, and HSA acts after sale through adverse event reports, recalls and enforcement.
Is EWG Verified the same as a good EWG Skin Deep score? No. Skin Deep rates products from their public ingredient lists. EWG Verified requires the company to disclose the full formula to EWG, including fragrance components, and avoid every ingredient on EWG's unacceptable list.
What does dermatologically tested mean? A dermatologist supervised a skin test on volunteers, usually a patch test, to check that the product doesn't irritate skin. It is a safety check that tells you about tolerance rather than results.
Which Singapore skincare brand is EWG Verified? Byra is the only EWG Verified skincare brand in Singapore, and all five of its skincare products carry the mark. You can confirm each one by name in EWG's directory of verified products.
Where to go from here
Pick one product you already own and run the five checks on it tonight. It takes about ten minutes, and it will tell you more about how the brand treats you than any label does. If you want to see the verified range, it is all in shop all.