Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Beeswax vs petroleum jelly for TEWL

  • oldperry

    Member
    July 17, 2020 at 12:50 pm

    It’s not as good.

    Reportedly, 5% Petrolatum blocks 98% moisture loss.  Beeswax is considerably less (my guess would be 20%).  See this write-up. Doesn’t compare beeswax but there is no reason to think it works better than lanolin or mineral oil.

    Petrolatum in a minimum concentration of 5% reduces TEWL by more than 98% followed by lanolin, mineral oil, and silicones which only reduce TEWL by 20–30%”

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4885180/

  • pharma

    Member
    July 17, 2020 at 7:07 pm
    Silicones are gas permeable, they ‘breath’ and that’s why they, although being more hydrophobic than mineral oils, don’t keep moisture sealed in ;) .
    Waxes seem like a good candidate but they are solid and hence, you’ll have to  add enough oil to form a continuous flexible film and then it’ll be impossible to really quantify how much TEWL reduction is due to wax, oil, or the combination of the two. In a standard emulsion, wax will likely form tiny crystals/flakes within the carrier and these can’t form a vapour tight film. Waxes may however reduce skin penetration of carrier oils and thereby increase the efficacy of the oils with regard to TEWL reduction.
    An exception would be liquid waxes such as jojoba. I don’t know how well that one works…
  • abdullah

    Member
    September 17, 2020 at 11:15 am

    @Perry thanks

  • abdullah

    Member
    September 17, 2020 at 11:17 am

    @Pharma is it better for carrier oils to penetrate the skin or to stay on surface of the skin? 

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