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The Refractive Index of Oils & Esters
Hello lovely members 🙂
Recently a fellow formulator insisted that I shouldn’t ignore the refractive index (RI), because using oils and/or esters with a RI very close or equal to the RI of the human sebum “helps to make formulations that are compatible with the skin (?) and non-comedogenic, plus it helps creating “invisible” serums, light oils, and non-greasy aesthetics”.
Is the RI something that a formulator must always take into account when choosing oils and esters?
Or is it something that could be useful only for oil-based products?
Or is it something that doesn’t help much?
The person couldn’t give me any reference, and I couldn’t find any, plus the RI of oils and esters wasn’t ever discussed in the courses I’ve took, nor in the school’s forum, therefore your help is really appreciated.
Thank you.
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2 Replies
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I think someone has got some things mixed up. RI has nothing to do with comedogenicity or really any other type of product performance as far as I know. Matching RI was important in terms of trying to create a clear product when making an anhydrous mixture.
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Thank you, Perry.
It might be that the idea of using oils with a RI equal to the sebum’s RI made him so enthusiastic that he came up with a new “must”.
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