Surfactants For Cosmetics

The composition of cosmetic formulas is diverse and complex. In addition to oil and aquatic raw materials, there are various efficacy surfactants, preservatives, flavors, and pigments, which are multi-phase dispersion systems. Therefore, the requirements of cosmetics for surfactants of important raw materials used by cosmetics are as follows:

(1) Functional requirements for surfactants
Each cosmetic has its own specific efficacy and usefulness, manifested in physical and chemical usefulness: covering, cleaning, and moisturizing; Biological efficacy: anti-wrinkle, whitening, etc.; Due to the psychological effects of color, aroma and so on. Therefore, the surfactant required as a raw material has the functions of whitening, moisturizing, delaying skin aging and preventing hair loss.

(2) Safety Requirements for Surfactants
Since the adverse skin reactions caused by the use of cosmetics directly affect people's physical and mental health, the raw materials used for cosmetics must be harmless to the human body, and there is no irritation, no toxicity, no unpleasant odor, and no allergies to the skin(hair) and eye mucosa. phenomenon.

(3) Requirements for compatibility of surfactants
The stability problems such as water precipitation, oil analysis, stratification, precipitation, discoloration, odour, and expansion may occur during the shelf life of cosmetics. This is related to the improper selection of surfactants used as emulsifiers. Therefore, The surfactant required as emulsifier has good compatibility and compatibility.

(4) Commodity requirements for surfactants
With a good appearance and feel of use, it requires a pleasant aroma, delicate, smooth and soft, and a good coating and spread; Convenient in production operation. When the ratio of cost to performance is smaller, that is, the lower the cost of the product and the better the product's performance, the higher the formulation design level of the product.

(5) Requirements for sanitary standards of surfactants
In the use and storage of cosmetics, microbiological pollution and other health and safety problems will occur. Therefore, the surfactants used as cosmetics should have anti-microbial pollution properties.

Surfactants are a class of organic compounds that can significantly reduce the surface tension of water at very low concentrations. Its molecular structure has two groups of different properties: one is a long-carbon chain alkyl group that is insoluble in water, called a hydrophilic or hydrophobic group; A group that is soluble in water is called a hydrophilic group. Therefore, surfactants are two parental molecules that are affinity to water and oil and can be adsorbed on the water/oil interface to reduce the interfacial tension between two phases.