The Science Part: Natural Beauty Part 2

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Posted by Admin

Nothing’s nicer than a lovely rich face cream or invogorating exfoliating scrub, is it? Over the holidays we all sent and received lots of wonderful “smellies.” In Natural Beauty Part 1 we reported on how you could maintain beautiful skin with basic oil and water, but we’re well aware that a bottle of sunflower oil doesn’t make a very nice present for dear Aunty Mabel!

A quick look around the City Centre revealed that “natural” products are as popular as ever, with even premium brands surviving the recession better than we might expect! Everyone’s really getting into making their own natural toiletries too. Shops like Culpepper and Neal’s Yard sell base lotions and shampoos which can then be scented with essential oils. Small companies specialising in handmade, local products were really flourishing: some, like Anna Christensen, even offer courses.

Toiletries are actually quite easy to make yourself. In the run up to Christmas, programmes like Kirstie’s Homemade Christmas detailed how to make some of your own gifts including soaps (sadly, they didn’t think to air the programme in time for you to actually make the soap!) Earlier in the year, the excellent Grow Your Own Drugs also revealed how to make creams and lotions.

The Science Part
You may have covered this at school, in which case feel free to skip this section! For reasons beyond any understanding, our secondary schools do not consistently teach the science behind toiletries. So we’re going right back to basics.

In Natural Beauty Part 1 we discussed oil and water. Oil (or fat) and water are the two most important ingredients of any beauty product: they are what hydrate the skin and make it soft to the touch.

You’re probably aware that oil and water do not mix: oil floats on water. However, if you put some oil and water in a bottle and shake it vigorously (for example, if you make vinaigrette) you will get a sort of mixture, with little bubbles of oil dispersed in the water. This kind of mixture is known as a colloid or emulsion, specifically an oil-in-water colloid (you can also get water-in-fat colloids, like face creams).

Eventually the oil and water will separate out. This is why products contain an emulsifier, to keep the emulsion stable. They are sometimes referred to as surfectants (a surfectant changes the properties of a product, so this can refer to emulsifyers, wetting agents in shampoos, cleansers, etc.) The oldest, traditional emulsifier is beeswax: even today, you will often find beeswax listed as an ingredient in natural and organic products. There are other emulsifying waxes like lecithin (from soy or egg yolks), or steareth-20 and -21, and ceteareth-5 (to name only a few!) which are typically made by processing vegetable oils or fats like coconut oil.

Green Contradiction: Would you choose Beeswax, Lecithin or Steareth/Ceteareth as an emulsifing agent? Do you agree with bee-keeping or chicken farming? Do you agree with processed products? Which country does your emulsifier come from? How has the industry affected the environment there? Who works collecting or packaging it? Which has the lowest carbon footprint? Which of these is most important to you?

The next most important ingredient is a thickening agent, to give that lovely thick, luxurious texture. Perhaps the most common and recognisable is Polyethylene glycol (which is synthetic), although (again) there are plenty in use like Carbomers and vegetable gums. Some emulsifiers act as a thickener, so they are not always necessary.

Products also typically contain humectants (promote the retention of moisture). A common one is glycerine, which is actually a by-product of soap making. Soaps which have had the glycerine removed will really dry out your skin. Then you are expected to pay extra for skincare products which have this glycerine added to them! The cheek!

Other ingredients include preservatives (you’ll notice that some natural products have a shorter shelf-life than you might be used to), bulking agents, and perfumes. There are sometimes added nutrients like vitamins or co-enzyme Q10, or those rather laughably named ingredients like Boswelox or Collagene (we’ll discuss those later!) Some can come from natural sources, while others sound quite unpleasant: urea (yes, that’s right!), formaldehyde (thought to be carcinogenic and an irritant) and various chemicals. Vegetarians and vegans may be surprised by the volume of animal products in most toiletries. There are far too many for me to list here, but you can check out some of the links at the bottom of this article if you want to know more.

Hopefully, you are now convinced that toiletries are not some magic and impossibly scientific creation. Now that you understand what goes in them, you can be a little more dicriminating about how much you pay in the shops. You may also consider making your own toiletries, using your own fruit or herbs in place of synthetic ingredients: there will a ‘Part 3′ to this article where we try out some recipies!

http://www.treasuredlocks.com/ingredientswhy.html A basic list of ingedients in toiletries, and a glossary of terms.

http://www.tandurust.com/ Questions and Answers on skin care

The Animal Free Shopper from the vegan society lists vegan and animal-derived ingredients in toiletries and cosmetics. It makes interesting reading for anyone who wants to know where their products come from!