XYNDET

XYNDET is a German skincare brand for dry, scaly and sensitive skin, made by XYNDET Cosmetic GmbH in Düsseldorf. Its core range is small: a soap-free cleansing bar, a combined hair and body shampoo, and a body balm. All three share the same formula logic, built around salt and mud from the Dead Sea and a slightly acidic pH of 5.7. The company positions the products for everyday care of sensitive skin and for what it calls "interval care" between flare-ups of conditions such as eczema, psoriasis, acne and dandruff.

The brand is sold mainly through pharmacies, and its products remain in active distribution. It keeps a low public profile: the company publishes no founding date or founder story, and it has released no dated launches or news.

Little is documented about how or when XYNDET began. The brand is owned and run by XYNDET Cosmetic GmbH, a limited company registered at the district court in Düsseldorf and legally represented by Michael Renka [8]. No corporate parent is known, and the company does not name its founders or give a founding year.

There are indirect signs that the line is not new. An undated letter from the German patient organisation Psoriasis Selbsthilfe Arbeitsgemeinschaft (PSOAG), addressed to Renka and reproduced on the brand's website, says the organisation had received XYNDET samples regularly "for many years" and passed them on to people with psoriasis [12]. The letter does not say when that relationship started.

The name itself points to the product type. In its assessment, PSOAG notes that the name signals the shampoo is not an ordinary shampoo but a pH-friendly, soap-free "syndet", a synthetic cleanser made without traditional soap [12].

XYNDET presents itself as care for skin that reacts easily. Its tagline, "Es geht um deine Haut!" ("It's about your skin!"), sums up the tone of the German-language website, which addresses readers directly and informally.

Three points recur across the company's descriptions. First, every product in the skincare line is set to a pH of 5.7, which XYNDET describes as slightly acidic and supportive of the skin's natural protective acid layer. Second, the formulas contain mineral additives from the Dead Sea. Third, the company says the products are dermatologically tested and free from fragrances, dyes and animal fats [3]. "Free from animal fats" is a narrower statement than vegan, and the brand does not describe the range as vegan.

According to the company, the two Dead Sea ingredients do different jobs. The mud is said to have a gentle "mini-peeling" effect, while the salt is said to help close fine cracks in the skin [1]. XYNDET adds that the oils in the formulas help restore lipids to dry, flaking skin. The brand also lists quality, customer service and customer satisfaction as its stated values, and says that the reader's well-being is at the centre of its philosophy.

One unusual feature of the brand's approach is its reliance on free samples. The website invites visitors to order a free sample, and both the customer letters it publishes and the PSOAG letter describe trying the products through samples first.

Distribution is built around pharmacies. XYNDET says its products are available in pharmacies and online pharmacies, and tells pharmacists that the skincare line can be ordered through all pharmaceutical wholesalers [11]. Each product carries a German pharmacy product number (PZN), and the website exists only in German.

The skincare line consists of three products.

Seifenfreies Waschstück (soap-free cleansing bar, 100 g) is described by the company as designed to protect the skin even with frequent hand-washing, and as suitable for sensitive skin prone to redness or eczema. The brand also recommends it for people with acne or atopic eczema.

Haar & Body Shampoo (200 ml) is a two-in-one wash for hair and body. XYNDET recommends it for sensitive skin and for scalps prone to dandruff, and for gentle interval care in psoriasis and eczema. Its published ingredient list includes sodium laureth sulfate, so the brand makes no sulfate-free claim for it.

Pflege-Balsam (care balm, 200 ml) is intended to supplement care and replace lipids in very sensitive skin. The company recommends it for interval care in eczema, psoriasis, itching and acne. Its usage notes advise applying it sparingly, saying that it absorbs quickly and leaves no greasy residue when the skin has not already been treated with another product [7]. The same page passes on a user's tip that the balm feels more soothing when kept in the refrigerator.

The company's usage guidance says both the bar and the shampoo lather well in water of any hardness. PSOAG's assessment describes the shampoo differently: it says the syndet shampoo does not foam, so new users tend to use too much at first [12].

### Ingredient lists

The cleansing bar's ingredients appear in two different versions. XYNDET's product page lists disodium lauryl sulfosuccinate, sodium coco-sulfate, wheat starch, cetearyl alcohol, hydrogenated palm glycerides, water, Dead Sea salt, Dead Sea mud, lauryl PCA, citric acid, panthenol and glyceryl stearate [4]. The consumer ingredient database Codecheck shows another list for the same 100 g bar, which includes sodium cocoyl isethionate, paraffin, hydrogenated palm oil, stearic acid and titanium dioxide [13]. Both lists contain Dead Sea salt and mud. Neither list is dated, and no source explains the difference.

A similar gap appears in the balm. The PSOAG letter says the balm contained preservatives and parabens of the kind found in most conventional cosmetics. The ingredient list currently on the brand's website names phenoxyethanol and sodium benzoate as preservatives and includes no parabens [6]. XYNDET itself makes no paraben-free claim.

### Products outside skincare

XYNDET Cosmetic GmbH also sells products that are not cosmetics. The Nasaline nasal irrigation system is a rinsing device for the nose, sold with a matching Nasaline salt in 2.5 g sachets. The company says the device has a patented silicone top [2]. A further product, XYNDET procto-pad, is an absorbent hygiene tissue for haemorrhoids and light incontinence. These lines share the company's pharmacy distribution but are separate from the Dead Sea skincare range.

No awards or independent editorial coverage of XYNDET are documented. The most detailed outside assessment is the PSOAG letter, signed by Rolf Blaga, which the company publishes on its own references page [12]. PSOAG describes itself in the letter as financially independent of pharmaceutical and cosmetics companies, and notes that it also hands out free samples from other firms.

The letter is measured in tone. It describes the balm as a relatively thin lotion with a greyish-brown colour and a faint "dry, medical" smell that fades quickly. It also looks at practical details for people with psoriasis: both products come in the same hard plastic bottle, which stands on its cap so it can be emptied almost completely, though the letter notes that people with psoriatic arthritis in the fingers may find the cap hard to open. Used once a day on the whole body, a bottle of balm lasts about three weeks. It praises the company for restraint in its advertising, noting that the brand claims little beyond what can be checked. It concludes that the balm is a good, convenient care product that "could" have a positive effect on mild psoriasis, and describes the shampoo as a solid, well-tolerated product.

The same page carries a series of customer letters, most from people who had received free samples and one signed from Austria. They report softer skin, less itching and fewer red patches, mainly after using the balm and the shampoo. These are individual accounts published by the company, not independent reviews.

The brand's links page points readers to patient groups, including PSOAG, the Deutscher Neurodermitis Bund, a psoriasis and eczema self-help group in Ostheim, and a pelvic-floor training programme.

XYNDET is active. All six of the company's products, including the three skincare items, the two Nasaline products and the procto-pad, are listed as available on the pharmacy price-comparison site that the brand links to as its shop [14]. Its website is live, and the company runs Instagram and Facebook accounts.

The company has not published dated news, launches or press items. The most recent date on its website is a 2022 copyright notice. The brand's presence is centred on Germany, where its products carry pharmacy product numbers and are supplied through pharmaceutical wholesalers.