Some years ago I co-edited a book about the different types of conditioning agents that are used by cosmetic chemists for hair and skin products. You can still get the book through (Conditioning Agents for Hair and Skin) and it still has a wealth of excellent information. There’s even a chapter by the famous dermatological researcher Peter Elias.

However, this is such basic information that I thought it would be helpful to have a general blog post on the topic of the book, conditioning agents for cosmetic products. Here are the 7 classes of conditioning agents used in cosmetic formulations.

Occlusives

The classic example of this type of ingredient is Petrolatum and in the book there is an entire chapter devoted to it. You’ll find the evidence that when it comes to skin moisturization, few (if any) ingredients are better than petrolatum. The way occlusives work is that the produce a film on the skin that substantially blocks the evaporation of water from the skin surface. This causes water to build up in the stratum corneum and subsequently makes skin feel moisturized. Dimethicone is another ingredient that can be considered an occlusive. Both dimethicone and petrolatum are used as hair conditioners but they work more like emollients/oils for that application.

Humectants

Humectants are materials that can attract and bind water. The property is known as hygroscopicity. The humectants used in cosmetics are typically water soluble so they don’t work so well for products that are rinsed off. In skin, they have the ability to rehydrate so work well in lotions. In hair, they can attract moisture so they are good for leave-in styling products. Examples include glycerin, propylene glycol, and sorbitol.

Emollients & oils

These ingredients are designed to lubricate biological surfaces and in this way they condition. There are a wide variety of these types of ingredients including triglycerides, natural oils, lanolin, and synthetic esters. They work best in skin products to change the feel of an applied product however, they can also be used to increase flexibility in hair. The downside is that they can weigh hair down and make it feel greasy.

Proteins

Proteins are a complicated polymer made up of a series of amino acid monomers. When present in living things, proteins can have complicated structures. But when used in cosmetic products, the proteins are typically denatured and have less complicated structures. At that point, it becomes more important what amino acids make up the protein than the specific sequence of the amino acids. Proteins conditions in the same way as humectants or as emollients depending on their water solubility and hygroscopicity. They are not a major conditioning agent and are used as secondary conditioners that support marketing stories.

Silicones

Silicones are ultimately derived from sand and are some of the best ingredients for providing slickness and shine. There are a wide variety of silicones including things like dimethicone, cyclomethicone, and amodimethicone. They work in the same way that emollients work in that they are a non-polar molecule that stays near the surface. This property can have the drawback of weighing hair down or making a lotion feel too greasy.

Cationic Surfactants

Surfactants are versatile compounds in cosmetic products so it is no wonder that they find use as conditioning agents. They are not used so much in skin products as they can be irritating, but they are one of the primary ingredients in rinse-off hair conditioners. The thing that makes them so valuable is that they can be emulsified but will remain on the hair even during rinse-off due to electrostatic interactions between the positively charged cationic surfactants and the negatively charged damaged protein sites on the hair. Some common examples include Cetrimonium Chloride and Stearalkonium Chloride.

Polymers

Polymers make up such a large class of conditioning agents that it is difficult to make general statements about them. The most common polymeric conditioning agents are used in hair care and are cationic polymers or Polyquaterniums. These can deposit on hair via electrostatic interactions or the dilution/deposition method where they become insoluble as the product gets more and more dilute. Other polymers like lauryl methyl gluceth-10 hydroxypropyl dimonium chloride are humectants.

As a cosmetic chemist, improving the condition of the biological surfaces that your products interact with will be a primary goal. Knowing the basic conditioning agents for hair and skin will get you a long way to achieving that goal. It will also take you a long time and a lot of experimentation to find just the right conditioning ingredient for your application.

The SCC Midyear meeting is fast approaching. It’s scheduled for June 3-4 in Long Island, NY. It’s an excellent meeting for any cosmetic chemist to attend but if you are on the fence as to whether attend or not, here are a few reasons that might help convince you to attend.

Reasons to attend the mid year SCC meeting

1. Go for the talks. The line-up of speakers that have been arranged is top notch. They include people speaking on such topics as

• a. Green Chemistry – Sustainability, Natural formulations, etc.
• b. Hair formulation – Including a talk by Dr. Marsh who leads the industry in colored hair research.
• c. Formulating – Focusing on consumers, lip gloss and other makeup products
• d. Dermatology & Cosmetology – Speakers include Dr. Zoe Draelos, Dr. Vince Gruber, and other skin care researchers.

2. Go for the courses. Of course, you may want to just attend to go to the continuing education courses like the mini breakfast seminars on topics like sunscreen stability, skincare research, and color use in cosmetics. Then there is the Beginning Cosmetic Chemistry course taught by yours truly and a Formulating for naturals by Art Georgalas.

3. Go for the new ideas. If you are feeling like you’re in a rut as a formulator a meeting like this can do wonders for shaking up your brain. I get no less than a dozen good ideas while attending SCC mid-year meetings.

4. Go for the networking. It’s an excellent opportunity to meet and speak with cosmetic scientists around the country. See how they might be doing things different than you.

5. Go for the location. The meeting is just a short distance from Manhattan. If you’ve never visited New York City, well, that itself is a good enough reason to attend.

BONUS: Meet some of the people behind the Chemists Corner website and podcast. I’ll be there and there is also a chance that the coolest cosmetic chemist will also attend.

If you want to attend, just fill out this form and forward it to the National SCC office.

Are you attending the Mid-year SCC meeting? Why or why not? Leave a comment below.

The Internet is an excellent source for information, learning, and research. Unfortunately, it is not nicely organized and it can make you unproductive if you spend too much time trying to find the information. Here is a system I use to keep informed about the latest in cosmetic science using the minimum amount of time. If you follow a similar set-up you will be able to maximize the information you receive while minimizing the time it takes to get it.

Objective

Staying informed of important developments in the cosmetic industry.

Step 1: Create a homepage

The first thing to do is to create a homepage which is the first thing you see when you access the Internet. On the homepage, you’ll want to include only the most relevant information and links. There are many different options but we suggest you use iGoogle as your homepage. It’s easy to set up and best of all, it’s free!

Step 2: Find websites to follow

In the old days you used to have to go to websites to see their new content. Today, the websites will send links to their new content to you. This is much more efficient for you because you will only have to go to a page specifically to see information you want.

So, what sites are the best to follow for a cosmetic chemist? Follow these and you’ll be off to a great start.

List of sites to follow
1. Cosmetic Industry news
Cosmetic World
C&T
GCI
Happi
Perfume and Flavorist
Cosmetic Design EU
Cosmetic Design
Cosmetic Business
Specialchem 4 Cosmetics

2. Beauty Blogs
The Beauty Brains
Total Beauty Blogs
Splendicity
Glam Network beauty blogs
Beauty Blog Network
Alltop Beauty

3. Science sites
Science Daily
Eurekalerts
New Scientist
Science blogs
eScience News

4. Innovation blogs
Innovation Tools
Killer Innovations
Idea Connection
Opine Consulting

And you can find other blogs of interest by using either of these sites.
Technorati
Blog Search

Step 3: Subscribe to relevant websites

The way to follow websites is to click on their RSS feed and add it to your Google Reader page. There are other RSS reader applications but Google is by far the easiest to incorporate into your home page. The RSS is the little button in the address bar that looks like this. (See the top of your browser).

When you click on the orange button it will take you to a page asking if you want to subscribe through your reader or your home page. I suggest adding the website to your reader for most sites. For websites you want to read every day, you should add it to your home page.

Step 4: Scan your feed reader daily

Now that you are subscribed, you should check your feed headlines. Most sites update once a day so checking your feed daily makes sense. This doesn’t mean you have to read every article every day, it just means you should spend some time checking your feed to see if there is some relevant information that will help you do your job better. Checking your feed for 30 min to an hour at the end of the day is a strategy that has been successful for me.

Step 5: Read or tag articles to read later

Just setting up the system is not helpful if you don’t use it. So, when you do your daily check of your feeds be sure to read headlines that you find most relevant. Scanning articles is helpful here too. Another trick is to use bookmarking to tag articles you want to read later.

If you want to be an informed cosmetic scientist who knows the latest happenings in the world of cosmetic science and the cosmetic industry, there is no better way to accomplish this than by following and reading the feeds of relevant websites.

Good luck.

After months of planning, writing and recording, we’re
almost ready to begin our new online cosmetic science
training program.

We’re not quite ready to start, but space will be limited
so I wanted people who are most interested to get on the
list for early notification of the course’s launch date.

See this webpage, watch the video that explains the
new course, then put in your sign-in information.

The Complete Cosmetic Chemist

In the next week, we’ll send out some more information
explaining more details about the course and how it will work.

There is nothing else like this online course and it is designed
to fill a need that isn’t already covered by the SCC or
university programs.

I look forward to working with you.

Perry, 44

PS.  If you have any questions about the program, leave a comment below.

In the United States (and most other places around the world), beauty product manufacturers are required to list the ingredients used to make their products in a specific way. The current guidelines can be found on the FDA website here – FDA Cosmetic Labeling.

Since it isn’t a terribly interesting read, we’ll try to summarize the key points here. We’ll also explain to you how ingredient listings can be useful to cosmetic formulators.

Cosmetic Ingredient names

We previously wrote about how cosmetic ingredients get their names so go read that for more details. Basically, the names come from the INCI Dictionary. These are the names that are supposed to be used by everyone although some manufacturers might take liberty with their labels and include inappropriate terms (e.g. ‘purified’ water)

Order of listing

In this post on how to label cosmetics, we gave an explanation of the rules in which ingredients are supposed to be listed. Essentially, things in concentration above 1% are supposed to be listed in order of concentration and things at 1% or lower can be listed in any order. Colors are supposed to be listed at the end.

Where to find cosmetic ingredient names

When you are working with a raw material, the supplier will have the INCI name listed in the specification sheet. Often, raw materials are made up of multiple compounds so there will be a listing of multiple INCI names. To create the correct ingredient list, you have to know the % of each compound in the raw material. This can get complicated and we’ll save the topic for another time.

Sometimes the INCI names are pending (if it’s a new material) but you should generally avoid working with raw materials that don’t already have an INCI designation.

If you are searching for a raw material, a nice, free way to find them is via the INCI directory. This excellent resource was created by Specialchem4cosmetics.com and is really helpful.

Where to find ingredient lists

Now that you know how to decipher raw material lists, you need to get some so you can start using them. Of course, an obvious place to get ingredient lists is to go to the store and get products. They should be listed there right on the back of any personal care and cosmetic product.

But going to the store can be inconvenient and you can often get ingredient lists just by searching the Internet. Two excellent sources of cosmetic ingredient lists is Drugstore.com and Ulta.com. The best thing about these sources is that they also include the cosmetic claims which can also be helpful.

How to use ingredient lists

Alright, now you have an ingredient list and understand what it means, you might be wondering, so what? Good question.

Here are a few things that I’ve used ingredient lists for as a cosmetic chemist.

1. For copying competitor’s formulas – Copying (or knocking off) a competitive formula is a great exercise for any new cosmetic chemist. It gives you a great sense of what the raw materials do, which ones are important, and how they affect different performance characteristics. There is no better teacher than going through the trial and error process of copying a formula from an ingredient list.

Remember to use the few clues that you have. For example, identify the probable 1% line, do a % solids test to figure out how much water is in the formula, and take pH and viscosity readings to figure out your targets. Then make some prototypes and see how close you can get.

2. For new product ideas – Marketers are always looking for new ingredients so whenever you come upon a novel ingredient, write it down, learn about it and pitch it at the next new product meeting if you wish.

3. To learn new ingredients – Whenever you see an ingredient you don’t know, take the time to look it up. Figure out why it might be in the formula. This way you can use ingredient lists as a way to help build your cosmetic science vocabulary. When you were learning to read they told you whenever you read a word you didn’t know the meaning of you should look it up in the dictionary. Well, whenever you see a raw material you don’t know, look it up in the INCI dictionary.

Have you found useful ways to use ingredient listings? Leave a comment below and let everyone know.

It’s the latest episode of the Chemists Corner podcast. Please have a listen and let us know what you think.

Chemists Corner podcast is about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. Each episode we’ll talk about news in the cosmetic industry, answer some of your questions, and discuss a topic in-depth, usually with an industry expert interview.

In this episode…

1. News

• Discuss the passing of skin research pioneer Albert Kligman.
• Dermatologist gets warning letter from FDA

2. Listener question
Why is fluid viscosity important to cosmetic chemists?

3. Weekly Challenge.

Which headline is the FAKE?
a. Drinking tea can protect your skin
b. Music is good for your skin
c. Spent oil from French fries can repair your skin.

If you’ve got an answer to the challenge, have a question, or have any topics you’d like us to cover, leave a comment below.

“What does a formulation scientist do every day?”

This was a question I received in an email from someone who was doing some research about different chemist careers. And if this person wanted to know about it, it makes sense that some of you might be wondering the same thing. So, here it is, 75 things that a formulation scientist or cosmetic chemist might do on any given work day, conveniently presented in four categories.

Cosmetic product development

Create formulas
Gather raw materials
Get equipment for making batches
Make batches
Restock lab supplies
Keep notes in notebook
Write experimental results in notebook
Clean glassware and lab
Research formulation topics
Generate new product ideas
Create prototypes
Create dye solutions for color matching
Make samples for marketing
Supervise / make batches for home use tests
Supervise first production batches
Solve stability problems
Generate test ideas to substantiate claims
Figure out ways to make formulas less expensive
Attend focus groups
Participate in brainstorming meetings
Review product label copy
Assist in writing product concepts
Present new technologies to non-scientists

Cosmetic product testing

Take pH readings
Take viscosity readings
Fill and label glass and plastic bottles
Wash & comb hair tresses
Color matching
Bleach and color hair tresses
Conduct foam tests
Run stability tests
Conduct skin moisturization tests
Run project specific, customized tests
Try formula prototypes
View samples under a microscope
Observe salon tests
Conduct odor tests
Participate in product panel testing
Get samples for testing
Evaluate competitive products

Personal Training

Read trade journals
Read Chemists Corner and other useful blogs in your RSS reader
Attend meetings with suppliers
Go to SCC meetings
Go to industry trade shows
Take continuing education courses
Attend conferences
Review latest patents
Listen to podcasts like the Chemists Corner podcast
Read industry text books
Take online training courses
Pursue an advanced degree in cosmetic science

Business stuff

Respond to emails
Create presentations
Attend corporate meetings
Attend project planning meetings
Respond to phone calls
Do desk side interviews with beauty editors
Conduct training sessions for non-scientists
Write business travel reports
Fill out expense reports
Write monthly reports
Go to office celebrations
Engage in “water-cooler” chat with co-workers
Write memos
Sign and review contracts
Give instruction to people who report to you
Meet with your boss to update them on your progress
Interview candidates
Entertain kids during Bring Your Kid to Work week
Keep track of project progress
Engage in debates with regulatory & legal departments
Write patent applications
Write employee reviews

Whew! My brain is fried and I might be able to go on, but I think I covered practically everything I did as a cosmetic chemist.

Is there anything we missed? Leave a comment below

One of my favorite times when training new cosmetic chemists is the moment they learn that many of the ingredients cosmetic companies put in their formulas are added for reasons other than their direct function. The look of puzzled enlightenment when they realize that the beauty product marketing they’ve accepted thus far is exaggeration is…well…priceless.

Perhaps by the end of this post, you might experience that look too.

What are puffery cosmetic ingredients?

In the cosmetic science business, non-functional ingredients that are added to your formula to support marketing stories have a variety of names; puffery ingredients, featured ingredients, woofle dust, and pixie dust have all been used to describe these ingredients. They usually have some of the following features.

1. They sound impressive
2. They provide a story that consumers find compelling
3. The are trendy and probably featured in a magazine article
4. They are endorsed by some “expert”
5. They are expensive
6. They are used at low levels

Basically, these ingredients are added to help convince consumers that their beauty product is special and will provide miraculous results.

Which of these sounds more compelling to you?

“Our product combines a blend of naturally charged biominerals with powerful botanical ingredients to create an exclusive anti-aging technology”

Or

“Our product combines petrolatum with cetyl alcohol to create an exclusive anti-aging technology”

Obviously, the first one. But the truth is, the functional claims of this product are provided by ingredients like petrolatum, mineral oil and cetyl alcohol. They just don’t sound as good.

Examples of puffery ingredients

There are a wide variety of cosmetic ingredients that are added as puffery ingredients but they roughly fall under one of the following types.

Vitamins – Everyone knows that vitamins are good for your diet and you need them to live, but consumers also have the erroneous belief that if something is good to eat, then it’s good to put on your skin & hair. The truth is there is very little evidence that topically applying most vitamins to your skin will have any effect. (Vitamins A & C are exceptions and can have an effect if properly formulated). There is no evidence that vitamins in your hair care products will have much effect. Some claim Vitamin B can increase hair strength but I’m not convinced by the available science and my own experience.

Whether they are functional or not, adding vitamins makes your cosmetic products more appealing to consumers

Proteins – These are another type of compound that consumers know about and are naturally inclined to believe they are good for them. When eaten, they are good for people. When slathered on their skin and hair, not necessarily. Proteins like collagen and elastin are added to skin creams. Silk, keratin, and other exotic hydrolyzed proteins are added to hair products. These ingredients aren’t added because of the effect they have (they don’t do much). They are added because consumers and marketers like the stories they convey.

Natural ingredients – Some beauty product companies are so enamored with natural ingredients, they add dozens and dozens which make their ingredient statements look like novellas. These include extracts from all kinds of plants from fruits, vegetable and herbs, taken from exotic places in the world like the Amazon rain forest or the mountains of Switzerland. You’ll find things like marine extracts and organically grown strawberry extract. If it’s natural and someone can squeeze some juice out of it, someone might ask you to put it in your formulas.

These ingredients rely on a belief in folklore to convince people they do something. More often than not, they are non-functional.

High tech ingredients – Sometimes marketers like to impress consumers by telling them a high tech story. To help support this story, you’ll be asked to add things like Stem Cells, Nanosomes, or ingredients with completely made-up high-tech sounding names. As with the other puffery ingredients, these high tech wonders frequently have some science to back up the story but almost never to back up their functionality delivered from a product.

Is cosmetic ingredient puffery right?

Admittedly, ingredients like this have always made me a little uneasy. It seems like trickery and worse, like lying. But the truth is, people who buy beauty products do not always want the “truth”. They don’t want to think that chemicals like Sodium Lauryl Sulfate or Petrolatum are what really makes their cosmetic products work. They would rather like to believe in the story that it’s Aloe that moisturizers their skin or it’s the Coconut Oil that gently cleanses their hair.

This is what people buy.

Whether we like it or not, as a cosmetic scientist we are in the business of creating great, functional products that people buy. If you create a brilliant formula that no one ever purchases, you’ve failed. Puffery ingredients entice people to buy products.

The ethical cosmetic chemist

Here are a couple of guidelines to use when adding pixie dust ingredients to your formulas.

1. Stay honest with yourself. Be careful not to fall for your own story. If you think the great high-tech ingredient you’re adding to your formula is really making a difference, be sure to conduct a blinded, placebo controlled study to see what effect it really has.

2. Stay honest with your marketing people. Your marketing department desperately wants a product they can tell consumers is vastly different (and superior) to the competition. They will believe the marketing of other cosmetic companies. Resist the temptation to mislead your marketing group by telling them that these puffery ingredients will actually have a significant benefit. In the vast majority of cases, they won’t.

3. Always make great products. Don’t use the stories available from puffery ingredients to cover-up some low quality formulation. It is your responsibility as a cosmetic chemist to create the best formulas you possibly can.

See this article for more on what the FDA has to say about cosmetic puffery.

What do you think, is it right to add ingredients to your formulas that you know are not adding a functional benefit? Leave a comment below.

If you are a cosmetic chemist who works on hair care products, this conference would be a good one to attend. TRI Princeton is doing some great basic research on hair and hair products of anyone in the industry. See the press release below.
————-

TRI Princeton presents the 4th International Conference on Applied Hair Science
October 5-6, 2010
Princeton, New Jersey

TRI’s Conference on Applied Hair Science promises to provide a unique forum for the discussion of state-of-the-art science relevant to those practicing applied hair science. This year’s conference will inspire the hair care industry through an innovative selection of speakers from industry, academia and government.

Participants will have the opportunity to:

• learn from recognized leaders in hair science and technology presenting fundamental principals, an understanding of the evolution of current technology and contemporary experimental techniques
• interact with an international group of panelists, preseners and attendees to discuss category relevant topics in raw materials, claims and regulations
• experience demonstrations bringing the academic topics to the practical clarity of in-use observation

Key topics include:

Hair Care

*Mega trends in Naturals and Efficacy
*Multicultural Hair Solutions
*Performance Profiling
*Sensory Profiling & Consumer Perception

Actives and their Benefits

*Penetration of Fibers – Effects of Small Molecules on Hair
*Hair Growth
*Nutrition for Hair

Product Technology

*Silicone and Silicone Alternatives
*Deposition of Actives via Rinse-off Applications
*Hair Damage – Cutting-edge Technology, New Methods, Treatments
*Color Fading and Protection

Style – Devices and Formulations

*Curl Management/Treatment
*New Devices from light therapy to steaming irons
*How Devices are used on Hair
*Basic Research

Call For Papers

Abstracts for oral or poster presentations must be submitted by June 1, 2010. Please email your abstract to the Conference Organizer at info@triprinceton.org or complete the abstract submission form on the conference website. Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Applied Hair Science will be published as a special volume of a peer-reviewed journal.

For further information on the conference visit the TRI website.

It’s the latest episode of the Chemists Corner podcast.  Please have a listen and let us know what you think.

Chemists Corner podcast is about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. Each episode we’ll talk about news in the cosmetic industry, answer some of your questions, and discuss a topic in-depth, usually with an industry expert interview.

In this episode…

1.  News

• Colorado Safe Personal Care Products Act – The state of Colorado is proposing a bill that could limit the cosmetic chemist’s ability to formulate.

2.  Listener question – How do you do a Freeze / Thaw stability test?

3.  Cosmetic Science - Top 10 problems in hair care science

4.  Interview – Amanda Foxon-Hill of Realize Beauty.

• Amanda Foxon-Hill is a longtime cosmetic chemist who’s worked in both Europe and Australia. She has experience formulating a wide range of products and is currently the Director of Realize Beauty, which features a website dedicated to de-mystifying the cosmetics industry for the consumer. She works as an instructor for the Institute of Personal Care Science which offers a certified diploma course in cosmetic chemistry. Additionally, she runs workshops called Cosmetic Kitchen for adults and kids where they make a few basic products. Her latest project is writing a book called “Realize Beauty” which is a philosophical look at our relationship with our bodies.

5.  Weekly Challenge.

Perfume manufacturers are bringing out new fragrances for the coming season.

Ralph Lauren has four new fragrances, Christian Dior has five, and Givenchy has two.

How many new fragrances will be promoted by Yves Saint Laurent?

If you’ve got an answer to the challenge, have a question, or have any topics you’d like us to cover, leave a comment below.