Skin is being cast in a new role by personal care innovators. No longer does it simply act as the barrier against environmental stresses, skin is viewed as the pathway for ingredients to deliver doses of holistic well-being, energy and happiness to consumers. The spa industry has followed this trend for some time, but the raw material industry more recently has exploded with ingredients designed to offer these special effects to finished formulas.
Gaining a clear understanding of the path into and from the skin is necessary to engineer ingredients that will provide the desired effects. Formulators must know, for example, whether a water- or oil-soluble ingredient is more effective; or if the molecules in a formula are too large to penetrate, or so small that their safety must be considered.
In this issue, Martin Rieger, PhD, provides an overview of key research in fields related to dermatology to keep skin care formulators up on ever-changing discoveries in many disciplines. According to Rieger, practitioners of cosmetic science need to combine knowledge from many disciplines to create effective formulas. Shrinivas C. Kothekar et. al discuss principles of nanoemulsions.The behavior of emulsion systems and the stability of the oil membrane are studied by Özer et. al who, in their research, show how the type of oil used to make an emulsion can change a system’s properties. David Steinberg reviews the frequency of preservatives used through 2005 and discusses the importance of registering ingredients with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Let this month’s issue of C&T serve as a script for understanding the role of skin and the future of skin care formulating.
