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Cosmetic industry needs to do “harsher” stability tests
I’m tired of buying sunscreens, foundations and even moisturizers with separated phases - from big companies that are sold all around the world to smaller ones. And I´m not alone, there are a lot of complaints about this on the internet
Cosmetics, specially in tropical countries, can achieve about 60°C when they are left in a car for instance… Specially for sunscreens, in my opinion there are a clear necessity to do “harsher” stability tests before putting these products in the market. -
9 Replies
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Or maybe the cosmetics industry needs consumers who have the good common sense to not leave their cosmetic products in a car with all the windows closed in tropical countries.
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MarkBroussard: it´s often done by postal services, during transport…
With globalization, a consumer can buy from Internet a product that is stored under 15°C in another country and receive it in a place a country above 40°C… -
Ensuring stability of product stored at 60C is not really reasonable. Mostly because the raw materials used like Cetyl Alcohol or Stearyl Alcohol will melt around that temperature. This completely changes the structure of the emulsion and there is no way to predict how the emulsion will reform upon inconsistent cooling.
It’s not an easy problem. -
I think that pma has a point, un my country almost all sunscreen says “shake before use” yo avoid that, but assuming that sunscreens are used in pools or beaches and can be in the sand or on a table for arround 4 hours they can easily get 50 ot more degrees, manufactures shoudl use harder waxes and more estable emulsions or maybe a better package
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If there was a solution we would have it by now, so it’s the same emulsions and the best for the time being. Surely research must be going on!!!!
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Like a great many things in cosmetics, stability in emulsions is a balancing act. The best feeling emulsions are often the least stable. Also, the ingredients that make for high-temp stable emulsions also make it very easy to wash off/sweat off the sunscreen.
So what use would a stable emulsion be if no one liked to put it on their skin? -
I’m not quite sure what the big deal is with an emulsion separating a bit. I’m used to shaking my bottle of salad dressing before putting it on my salad. Doesn’t seem terribly different for skincare/cosmetics, though admittedly it’s not pretty when it’s separated.
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The typical Cosmetic consumer is very resistant to products which require them to “Shake Well”, to the point that most marketers will not accept a product requires this action. It is partly due to market expectation as well as the assumption that a client will not properly re suspend the product. In Pharmacy (my degree) we dispense pediatric antibiotic suspensions which require a Shake Well warning sticker so I can see your point as well.
Simply put your product will need to meet the standard 40C Stability benchmark. Warning the client not to expose the product to temperatures above X degrees Celcius will help. As far as shipping, if there is a fear that it will be exposed to excessive temperatures, your shipper can provide controlled temperature shipping albeit at an additional cost. Several years ago I worked on a line that was shipped to Bahrain. In the standard container shipping it separated in transit and the first shipment was rejected. After that point we addressed the issue by shipping under controlled temperature at the additional cost.
Simply put, in today’s market a product which is not adequately emulsified will be seen as a product failure. -
I think the reason for that there are no stable sunscreens at 60C is that nobody has seen a market for it.
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