More on ingredients categories

Cosmetics and the skin

First of all, what is a cosmetic product? According to Health Canada, the official definition is the following: a cosmetic product is a preparation which embellishes, cleanses or modifies the complexion of the skin or the teeth, but without claiming therapeutic virtues. We distinguish often two categories of cosmetics, namely beauty products (make-up, perfumes, creams, etc.), and personal hygiene products (shaving gels, soaps, shampoos, deodorants, etc.).
In every case, it is important to note that a cosmetic product acts on the epidermis, that is the very superficial layer of the skin. It is at this level that the product is supposed to give results affecting the suppleness, texture and hydration, thus the appearance of the skin.

As shown in the drawing below, there is a barrier between the epidermis and the dermis which is a part of the deeper layers of the skin. This barrier is conceived as a net of security which prevents substances from penetrating directly into the body. However, this barrier is not completely waterproof and certain products with lower molecular size can penetrate into the dermis, and there onto the blood and lymphatic stream. Certain medical substances will penetrate in that way.
As far as cosmetic products are concerned, most of the ingredients used have higher molecular weights which are simply too high to pass through the barrier, so we must beware of alarmist theories saying that one or the other ingredient in a skin cream can get into the blood stream, the liver, and cause certain sicknesses.

Ingredient Categories

There are at times more than a dozen categories of different ingredients that are used to produce a cosmetic product, but we can group them in two larger families: the active ingredients and the inactive ingredients, also called excipients

Among the active ingredients we can find natural extracts or biotechnological products which have a specific effect on the skin (tensor, antioxidant, moisturizer, etc.).

The inactive ingredients are used on the contrary to guarantee the consistency, the viability and the safety of the product. In this category we will find ingredients like emulsifiers that are used in order to mix oils with water-soluble ingredients, also thickeners like Xanthan Gum that act upon the texture of the product, humectants like glycerine that prevents the product from drying-out, sometimes coloring products, and finally preservatives.

Preservatives

In almost all cosmetic products we are obligated to add preservatives in order to avoid contaminations. The reason for this is that cosmetic products are often rich in lipids, water, vegetal extracts and sometimes vitamins, all of this being a true potential feast for bacteria, yeast and moulds, and obviously no one wants to risk their health with products that they cannot trust.

In order to have an effective preservative, it has to be a broad spectrum preservative, meaning that it has to be able to combat a large scale of unwanted micro-organisms that could be potentially pathological just like the E-Coli bacteria. The preservative must also be well tolerated by the skin. Natural preservatives exist, that have anti-bacterial properties or disinfectant properties like citrus extracts, essential oils, oregano oil, tee tree oil, but in general, they are not potent enough in regular doses, alone or combined, to guarantee a protection for the people that use the cosmetic products. This is why we often have to use artificial preservatives that are specially conceived for different categories of cosmetic products.

Some products need less protection from preservatives, and can live without them. These are products without water, for example massaging oils or shea butter.

Natural extracts or synthetic products ? Synthetic products are largely used in the cosmetic industry. They are created from scratch using many different raw material that are often naturally derived in order to play a very precise role in formulas and are conceived to be very stable. A lot of inactive ingredients are synthetic products, like emulsifiers and effective broad spectrum preservatives. As we explained earlier, these products do not penetrate in the deeper layers of the skin; they are also used in very reasonable doses and present very little risks of irritation for the skin.

Natural extracts can be of vegetal source (oils, butters, macerations and other extracts), of mineral source (pigments, clay), or of animal source (milk by-products, beeswax, internal extracts like animal fat). Most of these natural products have proven their efficiency and harmlessness over centuries. Everybody has in mind the image of Cleopatra taking a goat milk bath. But did you know the legend of her predecessor Queen Nefertiti? It is said that Nefertiti owed her divine beauty to a cream borrowed from the tribes of Black Africa called …shea butter !

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