Interview begins at 13:30

Interview – Matt Zoeller

Matt Zoeller holds a B.S. in Chemistry from Roosevelt University and is a 30-year veteran of the personal care product contract manufacturing industry segment. He has held senior technical management positions at Schmit Laboratories, SMAP Mfg., and Raani Corporation. He is currently V.P. of Product Development for Paket Corporation in Chicago, a respected contract manufacturer of HBA products packaged in flexible pouches. Matt has contributed to the MWSCC in many capacities, most notably as Editor of the SCCoop from 1999 to 2003. He also co-produced several technical seminars for the chapter and managed publicity for Teamworks events since 1996.

Cosmetic industry stories

Clorox rolls out Ingredients Inside app

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Tadpoles development hindered by cosmetic chemical
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Bacteria on skin affects attractivenss to mosquitoes

Cosmetic Industry

Better cosmetic ingredients

So how do you figure out which cosmetic ingredients are the best to use? The following checklist can help you figure it out.

1. First, have a standard test to compare performance
2. Consider the overall cost impact of the ingredient
3. Consider the impact on production
4. Figure out what your marketing people would say
5. Decide what you like

Announcements

Formulating Natural Products training program

Cosmetic science forum

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

Interview begins at 11:20

Interview – Gina Cosby

Gina Cosby is a Technical Services scientist currently working for Rhodia. She has focused primarily on the formulation of surfactant and conditioner blends, esters for skin care and creating other sample formulations for the personal care and cosmetic industry. Gina received her BS in Chemistry from Purdue University and was also the winner of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists Young Scientist award in 2006.

You can connect with Gina on LinkedIn

Cosmetic industry stories

Age old remedies of White Tea, Witch Hazel and Rose could be the next anti-aging treatments.

Gluten in cosmetics

Cosmetic Science

Forces against Innovation and how to solve them

1. Current formula already work
Solution – Challenge yourself to come up with completely new formula types that would never be launched. For example, an all oil-based shampoo. A spray-on skin lotion.

2. Regulatory environment
Solution – First, don’t ask your regulatory people whether you should investigate an ingredient. They’ll say “no”. Investigate then ask for forgiveness later. Most of the stuff you look at won’t be special anyway. But if you do find something special, prove the benefit of your new formula. If you can prove something you have created is truly revolutionary, your company will find a way to get your regulatory people to discover “loopholes” to allow use of a raw material.

3. Hard to understand
Solution – Create prototypes that so obviously show the benefit of your claims that people automatically understand.

4. Push cost savings
Solution – Use cost savings exercises like a knock-out experiment to make formula changes that you normally wouldn’t consider. These could lead to some completely different formula types. For example, what would a skin moisturizer that was completely water-based look like?

5. Things that work are drugs
Solution – Look to the coatings industry for some new product ideas. Cosmetic films have been under investigated and could lead to some non-drug solutions.

Announcements

Complete cosmetic chemist training program

Cosmetic science forum

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

Show Notes -

Interview – Chris Boone
Chris Boone is a cosmetic scientists who specializes in solving problems in the area of formulation, product development and innovation. He has worked with Unilever and Alberto Culver as a formulator and also worked on the supplier side with the McIntyre (now Rhodia) group. Currently he is a technical services specialist at Nexxeo solutions.

You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn

Web sites mentioned
Innovation web tools
Seth Godin’s blog

Cosmetic industry stories

L’Oreal Buys Clarisonic devices

Older men prefer stronger fragrances

Cosmetic Science

Reactive cosmetic products

While most of the chemical reactions in our industry occur at the raw material suppliers labs, there are some cosmetic products specifically designed to chemically react. Here’s a list of the most common.

Permanent Waves

These products are designed to permanently change the shape of hair. People with straight hair often use permanent waves to get a little curl in their hair. A permanent wave formula has a reducing agent like thioglycolic acid that reacts with the di-sulfur bonds in the cystine amino acids breaking down the hair structure. Hair is first shaped into curlers, then the product is put on hair. It begins reducing hair and is rinsed with water to stop the reaction. A neutralizing chemical like hydrogen peroxide, is added which reforms the di-sulfur bonds into the new configuration.

Hair Relaxers

These products do the opposite of permanent waves. They make curly hair permanently straight. The method is similar you chemically break down hair, reshape it, then reform the protein bonds in the new configuration. Sometimes ammonium thioglycolate is used but most often it is sodium hydroxide or lithium hydroxide. The compounds break down the di-sulfur bonds in hair and the neutralizing step stops the reaction.

This is the most damaging chemical treatment for hair.

Hair Bleach

Hair bleaching is a process used to turn brunettes into blonds. You didn’t really think that there were that many blonds in the world did you? Hair bleach is a chemical reaction between melanin (the material in hair that gives it color) and hydrogen peroxide.

Hair Colors

Hair coloring is a slightly more complicated version of hair bleach. It uses hydrogen peroxide to break down hair’s natural color, then the peroxide also oxidizes a polymeric reaction with dye monomers. When the dye polymerizes inside the hair, it creates a color molecule that is too big to easily come back out.

Skin Darkening

These products are designed to give fair-skinned people a tanned look. They work by using an ingredient called dihydroxyacetone or DHA. It reacts with the proteins in the stratum corneum via the Maillard reaction to produce the brown (although sometimes orange) color. All the steps haven’t been worked out, but basically when DHA is exposed to skin protein, it is converted to pyruvaldehyde, which then reacts with arginine, lysine, and histidine amino acids in skin to form brown/yellow pigments called melanoidins.

Depilatories

These are products designed to help people to remove unwanted hair. The primary active in these types of cosmetics is some version of thioglycolic acid. The acid reacts with the cystine amino acids in hair and breaks down the S-S linkages. The hair is reduced to a jelly like mass that can then be wiped away. Note this is the same reaction as in permanent waves.

2SH-CH2-COOH(thioglycolic acid) +R-S-S-R(cystine)—–> 2R-SH + COOH CH2 SS CH2 COOH (dithiodiglycolic acid)

Announcements

Complete cosmetic chemist training program

National SCC year end scientific meeting

Cosmetic science forum

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

On today’s program we have an interview with Ron Robinson of Beautystat.com. He has created one of the largest portals for beauty information on the web and he stated his career out as a cosmetic chemist. We’re also going to talk about a couple of science stories in the news and answer some of the most common career questions.

Ron Robinson Interview begins at 13:00

Cosmetic Science news

Animal testing is in the news.

According to an article in Cosmetics Design-Europe, the European Commission who reports to the European Parliament has said that it will not be possible to meet the impending 2013 deadline for the banning of all animal testing.

In light of this fact, they are still looking at alternative scenarios which means there might be a delay in the outright ban of animal testing of cosmetic products. The final decision will be announced at the end of this year.

Currently, there are alternative methods for a variety of things that are normally determined with animal testing. These include, tests for the identification of corrosive substances, skin irritants, severe eye irratants, skin phototoxicty and skin penetration.

The EC says these alternatives are validated enough for ensuring the safety of cosmetic products. There are just a few more gaps that need to be filled in before a complete ban on the marketing of any cosmetic product that uses ingredients that have been animal tested after March 2009.

This is definitely a thing that a cosmetic chemist needs to keep an eye on. You will not be able to sell your products in Europe if you use any ingredient that has been animal tested since 2009. So much for all those new raw materials that have been launched in the last 2 years.

I really don’t know what cosmetic raw material suppliers are going to do. Until animal testing alternatives can completely replace current tests, there will be no new raw materials used in cosmetics in Europe.

I wonder if anyone will notice.
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Sunscreen from a pill?

Scientists from Kings College London are testing a new type of sunscreen that requires you to swallow it to get the benefits.

They found a coral-derived compound that is an efficient screen against UV rays. According to the team, the research could eventually lead to the development of a pill that you eat to get long lasting sun protection.

Eventually, they will have to figure out the molecular structure of the compounds and also a way to make them in the laboratory if the product is ever to be launched on a large scale.

The reason they believe it could work in pill form is because fish that live around the coral reefs where they discovered the compound, also benefit from the UV sun protection.

This is interesting for a couple of reasons. First, cosmetic chemists may now (or in the future) be competing with food chemists for the development of sunscreens. I could see people just taking this pill rather than putting on lotions and sprays when they want to go out in the sun.

Second, the future of cosmetic chemistry may be moving towards food supplements. There are not a lot of advances that can be made in the standard topical applications and testing for new materials is becoming more and more difficult. In the future, you may have to be able to develop food supplements as well as topical treatments if you want to compete as a cosmetic formulator. This would be a whole new area of chemistry that you will have to learn about. Perhaps now is a good time to start.

Cosmetic Science Career Questions

One of the goals of Chemists Corner is to help people who are curious about the cosmetic industry learn how they could start a career in cosmetics. That naturally attracts a number of questions which we have usually responded to via email. However, other people likely have similar questions so we’re going to edit and publish those questions and answers about cosmetic science careers here.

Question: What kind of degree should I get?

I really enjoy Chemistry but I’m not sure I would like to do it for a living for the rest of my life. What I
really am interested in is going into cosmetic sales. Would a Chemistry degree be a good way to get into Cosmetic Sales? Or do most sales employees you know start with a business degree?

Answer: If sales is what you really want to do, you’d probably be best served by getting a business degree first with a minor in Chemistry. However, lots of cosmetic industry sales people start out in the lab (with chemistry degrees), then get an MBA and switch to sales.

Question: What should my area of concentration be?

I have decided to major in Polymer and Color Chemistry, the only thing is I do not know what concentration I should chose. There is ACS certified, Science and Operations, and Medical. I would like to concentrate in Science and Operations and attend grad school for Cosmetic Science. My question is, are my chances still good for getting into grad school with regular physics and calculus courses versus more advanced?

Answer: I think that you would be fine following the Science and Operations route. If you really want to be a cosmetic chemist, you will not need to know as much of the math behind things. It is more important to know the characteristics of the chemicals that you are mixing together.

Question: What can you expect when starting a cosmetic science career?

Hi i’m going to study Chemistry at University in the UK , at the end of this year and have a lot of questions. What is the average salary? (although money isn’t my only target it is significant)Do you
get a chance to meet people like you would if you were working as a pharmacist? What is the most important factor for loving your job? Do you ever get the feeling that you could do more with your skills? How hard is it to get a job with a big company e.g. Estee Lauder?

Answers:
A. In the US, the average salary for a starting cosmetic chemist is ~$35,000 per year. I don’t know what that would be in pounds but you get the idea.

B. You don’t get much interaction with the general public but you certainly get to meet people who work in the cosmetic industry.

C. Loving my job involves doing something I’m interested in, feeling like I can make a difference, and making people happy. Cosmetic chemistry satisfies all those.

D. I certainly did think I could do more with my skills. That’s why I started my own business and it’s what I currently do.

E. If a company like Estee Lauder is hiring, it’s not too hard to get a job (if you have a good resume, degree, and interview).

Question: Where are all the cosmetic science jobs?
Answer: LA, New Jersey & NY are the best places to go for cosmetics jobs. Jobs in Utah are looking good as are those in Ohio (Cincinnati).

Interview

Ron Robinson is a seasoned product development expert with over 20 years of experience creating innovative products.  He has worked at companies like Avon, Revlon, Lancome and Estee Lauder.  He is currently the founder and CEO of BeautyStat.com, one of the leading beauty communities on the web.

Ron’s Website: Beautystat.com

Announcements

Sign up for the Cosmetic science forum.

You can still sign up for the Complete Cosmetic Chemist cosmetic science training program here.

Speaking engagements:

• Perry Romanowski will be speaking at the Midwest SCC Technical Symposium on October 13, 2011
• Perry will be speaking at the Southwest SCC October meeting on October 20, 2011.

If you have a question, comment or other suggestion about the podcast, leave a message in the space below.

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

Show Notes:

Desiree Mattox interview

Desiree Mattox is the owner and operator of Envie Bath and Body
Read her blog: The Glam Laboratory
Follow her on Twitter: envielabs

Cosmetic News

AAD: broad-spectrum sunscreen important, antioxidants could be the future

A new study by the AAD (American Academy of Dermatology) has further emphasized how important it is to use a broad-spectrum sunscreen to protect skin against cancer and the aging effects of the sun. They even say that adding antioxidants to formulas could be a key tactic in the future.

In research published in the latest issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, scientists say that antioxidants could help turn passive UV absorbing or reflecting sunscreens into active protectors.

Researcher Dr. Steven Wang says that sunscreens with UVA protection reduces the total amount of free radicals generated in the skin.

In the past people were more concerned with blocking UVB rays because these are the ones that cause sunburns. It is only recently that UVA has become a big concern.

Dr. Wang also cautioned that while supplementing sunscreens with antioxidants could boost the body’s natural defense against UVA damage, it is difficult to measure the effectiveness of antioxidants in topical products. This will be one of the main challenges for cosmetic formulators.

In the US, new FDA sunscreen rules will make it mandatory for manufacturers who make broad-spectrum claims about sunscreens to follow specific tests that prove protection against both UVA and UVB rays.

This is going to mean that a lot of sunscreens will have to be reformulated. Good news for sunscreen cosmetic chemists.

Cell-based alternative to animal testing found to detect allergies

This is interesting news for cosmetic chemists who are concerned about animal testing. Researchers in Sweden report finding a cell-based alternative to animal testing that can detect allergic reaction and the strength of response to certain cosmetics.

They use laboratory grown human cells to classify chemicals as sensitizing or non-sensitizing. They also are able to predict the strength of the allergic response.

The research can be found in the latest issue of BMC Genomics. They found 200 genes in their human cell culture line that could discriminate between sensitizing and non-sensitizing chemicals. This data correlated with known data about cosmetic chemicals.

Of course, more work has to be done to verify the procedure but it is promising.

In the EU, they banned animal testing for new cosmetic products and ingredients in 2009 so currently there is no approved way to demonstrate that a product will not result in allergies. This test might help change that.

This does demonstrate one of the challenges you’ll face as a cosmetic formulator. Often, regulators make rules that are ahead of scientific developments. Banning animal testing in 2009 seemed like a good idea when they proposed it but the officials figured we’d have alternatives by now. Unfortunately, we don’t. Cosmetic chemists in Europe are now hampered and it is extremely difficult to develop innovative, new formulations.

Ah, but this is the life of a cosmetic formulator.

Cosmetic Science Formulation

A strategy that still holds promise for allowing you to make your cosmetic formulations stand out is the creation of multifunctional cosmetics. While there is no single definition to what constitutes a multifunctional cosmetic, there are three aspects of it that can impact your formulation.

1. Multifunctional Performance
2. Multifunctional Cosmetic Ingredients
3. Multifunctional Applications

Differentiating your formulations will continue to be a challenge all cosmetic formulators face. You can achieve some real differentiation if you apply some of these principles of multifunctionality.

Announcements

Sign up for the Cosmetic science forum.

Take the Natural Product formulation survey.

You can still sign up for the Complete Cosmetic Chemist cosmetic science training program here.

Perry Romanowski will be speaking at the Hair and Skin Conference California on August 27, 2011

If you have a question, comment or other suggestion about the podcast, leave a message in the space below.

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

Many people have asked about whether they should get an advanced degree in cosmetic science. Well, in today’s show we interview one of the instructors at the Fairleigh Dickinson University cosmetic science program, Steve Herman.

Show notes:

1. News
New acne technology that kills bacteria using gold & lactic acid ‘nano-bombs’.

2. Cosmetic Science Jobs
We discuss the different types of jobs you might get as a cosmetic chemist. This is related to a blog post we did about chemist careers.

3. Interview with Steve Herman
Steve Herman is an adjunct professor in the FDU Masters in Cosmetic Science program and has been since 1993. He is also a regular columnist at GCI magazine and has written the book ‘Fragrance Applications: A Survival Guide’. He has over 30 years of experience in the cosmetic and fragrance industry.

You can contact Steve through his website www.stephen-herman.com

If you have a question, comment or other suggestion about the podcast, leave a message in the space below.

Chemists Corner is a podcast about cosmetic science and is broadcast to help educate, entertain, and inspire current and future cosmetic scientists. The information and opinions discussed on Chemists Corner are those of the hosts and the guests alone. They do not necessarily reflect those of any past, present or future employers.

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 Consumer Reports article about anti-wrinkle treatments

2. Cosmetic Science
The 10 topics that were barely covered in college chemistry but are most important to cosmetic scientists

3. Interview
Kevin Young has been a Cosmetic Chemist for 35 years. He has formulated cosmetic products for several major cosmetic companies including Maybelline and Almay. He now owns his own Independent Laboratory and Consulting Service – KYLabs

You can contact Kevin through his website KYLabs.com where he is available for consulting on cosmetic formulation of skin care, hair care, make-up, EPA regulated FIFRA and OTC products

*If you would like to participate in the Yahoo! cosmetic science group discussions, please visit here – The Cosmetic Lab.
If you have a question, or have any topics you’d like us to cover, leave a comment below.

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.