Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Skin Hyaluronic Acid %’s

  • Hyaluronic Acid %’s

    Posted by enthusiash on September 23, 2019 at 7:09 pm

    Hi all!

    I’m curious about how hyaluronic acid %’s are conveyed based on their content in formulas. How do some companies claim above 60% hyaluronic acid in serums? Is this % expressed as a portion of another material? Or perhaps in solution? 

    Thank you!

    markbroussard replied 4 years, 6 months ago 5 Members · 8 Replies
  • 8 Replies
  • JonahRay

    Member
    September 23, 2019 at 7:19 pm

    They’re basically lying - probably in the fine print it says something more truthful. Example: https://www.timelessha.com/products/hyaluronic-acid-serum-100-pure#ingredients

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    September 23, 2019 at 8:33 pm

    You can’t dissolve more than 2% of High molecular weight HA in water (maybe a bit more but it will become clumpy). That 60% claim means 60% of that 2% solution in water. I also think it’s very misleading.

  • enthusiash

    Member
    September 23, 2019 at 11:18 pm

    This is exactly what I was wondering. So if a company advertises, say, 65% hyaluronic acid, it can be assumed that they are using 65% of the hyaluronic acid maximum in water? 

  • markbroussard

    Member
    September 23, 2019 at 11:53 pm

    @enthusiash:

    It’s basically a play on words … in the example that @JonahRay linked, they’re referring to the hyaluronic acid being 100% pure HA, but state that they are using a 1% concentration of 100% pure HA.

    Post a link to the 65% example … as @ngarayeva001 stated, depending on the molecular weight of the HA, you’ll get 2% HA max into solution.  You can get more using a super low molecular weight HA, but it’s going to be pricey.

    I’m sure your 65% example is a similar play on words.

  • enthusiash

    Member
    September 24, 2019 at 8:46 pm

    Thanks @MarkBroussard, @JonahRay and @ngarayeva001 for your feedback. 

    Here’s one other example of what I was referring to: https://www.sephora.com/product/water-drench-hyaluronic-cloud-serum-P222818?icid2=products%20grid:p222818:product.

    This % explanation makes sense now. 

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    September 25, 2019 at 1:50 pm

    @enthusiash Haha! I know this one! It caused me cognitive dissonance when I just got into formulating. I understood very quickly (after wasting a small fortune worth of ingredients) that it’s absolutely impossible to dissolve that much of high molecular weight HA in water. Then, when I realised that ingredients must be listed in decending order (some companies ignore it, but it’s FDA reqiurement and a company of Peter Thomas Roth’s size would not take that risk), I found out that math doesn’t add up. Sodium Hyaluronate is the 4th ingredient. If it’s at 75% how much are the ingredients above it in the list? You can argue that it’s some type of ultra low molecular weight HA, but math is math. I bet they use 2% max.

    • Water/Aqua/Eau
    • Saccharide Isomerate
    • Sorbitol
    • Sodium Hyaluronate
    • Lactobacillus/Olive Leaf Ferment Extract
    • Opuntia Tuna Fruit Extract
    • Honey Extract
    • Algae Extract
    • Eriodictyon Crassifolium Leaf Extract
    • Hydrolyzed Silk
    • Saccharomyces/Zinc Ferment
    • Saccharomyces/Copper Ferment
    • Saccharomyces/Magnesium Ferment
    • Saccharomyces/Iron Ferment
    • Saccharomyces/Silicon Ferment
    • Pentylene Glycol
    • Butylene Glycol
    • Glycerin
    • Urea
    • Sodium Pca
    • Trehalose
    • Polyquaternium-51
    • Triacetin
    • Propylene Glycol
    • Diazolidinyl Urea
    • Methylparaben
    • Propylparaben
  • EVchem

    Member
    September 25, 2019 at 2:57 pm

    Honestly I’d expect the top 3 ingredients (not counting water) to be near 2% at best anyway.  When I first started I was trained incorrectly on making labels. we were buying a premade 1% solution of Sodium Hyaluronate  so if I used 10% of that I left it at that place in the LOI, even after I crossed out the repeated water

  • markbroussard

    Member
    September 25, 2019 at 3:59 pm

    Again, this is a play on words … they are referring to the trademark VIZ 1000 ingredient combination of which 75% of that trademarked combination of ingredients is Hyaluronic Acid.  They don’t claim how much of the VIZ 1000 complex is in the product … probably 2% or less.

    They are not claiming that the entire product contains 75% Hyaluronic Acid, only that the VIZ 1000 “complex” contains 75% HA.  It’s a play on words that can have a deceptive interpretation by consumers.

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