FEATURE ARTICLES

The skin, as the protective barrier that separates and isolates the inner from the outer environment, suffers the consequences of the intrinsic factors of ageing (oxidative stress, glycation, inflammation etc), as well as those produced by the so-called extrinsic factors (ionizing radiation, UV-B, pollution, tobacco, eating style etc) all of which may alter its condition and function.

Cleaning the skin is a must and a basic step of all skin care regimes, but especially of Korean beauty. In the K-beauty routine, cleaning is an essential point to thoroughly remove all the impurities from the skin due to makeup, dust or pollutants. The aim of this ancient routine is a healthy, glow and clear skin.

Preservation of the integrity of hair fibres requires an understanding of the structural and chemical composition of hair and the chemistry involved to counteract the damaging effects of the bleaching and color treatment processes.

The human hair fibre is comprised of the external cuticle covering the cortex and the medulla that is confined to the center of the fibre. To some extent, the hair has a structure that resembles that of the epidermis.

Consumer awareness and appeal of natural concepts is increasing. Good natural ingredients need to combine several factors to meet market demands.

Hair, as with skin, ages over time. As time progresses, one’s hair whitens, thins, waves, and reduces in lustre. In addition to the natural mechanisms of ageing, hair also ages as a result of damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to repeated exposure to ultraviolet light or metallic ions and chlorine present in tap water.

For many women, hair colour is an important part of their beauty routine. Women have been using a variety of approaches to cover up their greys. Today, hair colour is used to generate a myriad of results … from achieving flawless coverage from root-to-tip to creating vibrant rainbow tresses.

Today’s hair care industry is a highly competitive and segmented market place wherein formulators need to respond to a range of hair types, cultures, regions and ethnicities. A savvy youth market, emerging economies and an expanding group of sophisticated consumers need to be accommodated.

Butters are very commonly used in personal care formulations. Butters are divided into two classes, those that exist in nature, including shea butter,1 cocoa butter2, mango butter3, lilpe butter4 and several others or those that are man-made such as olive butter. Butters are structured gels that provide not only a unique skin-feel but also have a great rheology thinning under pressure.5

There has been an increasing number of ingredients claiming to offer an alternative to silicones in formulations. While they undoubtedly offer some excellent attributes there is still debate as to whether any ingredient can truly match silicones in terms of sensory quality. Walking around a trade show, it will be possible to hear heartfelt, genuine arguments on both sides of the debate.

The market segment of sun care products to protect sensitive skin is growing. There is evidence that peroxide free radicals derived from certain formulation components are involved in inducing allergic skin reactions.

Over the past decade the beauty industry has been transformed by an increasing global demand for cleaner, safer and more sustainable beauty products. As a result, we have seen the evolution of the clean beauty trend.

The beauty industry has a long lasting link with what happens to us while we sleep. Very few skin care ranges or regimes do not contain a night cream, a product usually required to be applied before bed time to enhance and complement the effects of the day products (typically an SPF cream and an intensive serum).

Silab creates and manufactures efficacyproven active ingredients from natural raw materials. As efficacy, safety and stability are the hallmarks of each Silab development, all the inputs are controlled from the R&D to the manufacture in situ. To meet these requirements, an essential step, settled in Silab’s DNA, is the mastery of nature combined with a perfect in-house control of the extraction and purification process inspired by agro-food technologies.

Azelis offers a wide selection of natural raw materials, answering the needs of the personal care market. We constantly monitor and embrace emerging trends and give our customers the tools to allow them to address those needs with our portfolio of raw materials available from our principals.

The human skin, and mainly the upper layer of the epidermis, plays the role of a barrier, but is also one of the first and major targets of air pollutants, pollutants contributing to wrinkle and dark sports occurrence through the redox imbalance

Our modern societies produce a lot of pollution, and although there are more and more people and governments willing to decrease their emissions, people are still heavily exposed to pollutants.

As more and more people decide to live in cities, more consumers are subjecting their skin to high levels of pollution, which can lead to premature ageing. As awareness and interest of this issue grows, the number of ingredients aiming to protect skin from pollution has risen rapidly.

Environmental pollution is one of the main contributing factors towards skin ageing and a dull complexion. For full protection, only a multi-level approach will succeed. Here an approach is described where a first line of defence is built up by a film-forming polysaccharide complex which physically prevents binding of pollutants.

In 2013, the European Union implemented its ban on animal testing in cosmetics. This landmark was the culmination of nearly 20 years of campaigning and the UK-based global cosmetics company, The Body Shop, was an instrumental force in its success.