RAW MATERIALS USED IN

COSMETICS

By
Dr. Chandra Sekhar Patro
Pharmaceutical Technology Department
Raghu College of Pharmacy
Visakhapatnam

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Definition…………

Cosmetic” means any article intended to rubbed ,

poured ,sprinkled or sprayed on or introduced into,
human body or any part thereof for cleanising,
beautifying ,promoting attractiveness , altering the
appearance and includes any article intended for
use .

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Cosmetic raw materials are …………
1. Water
2. Anti-oxidant
3. Humactant
4. Surfactant
5. Oil , fats and Wax
6. Preservatives
7. Perfume
8. Color
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1.WATER
Why used…….
• Cheap
• Abundance
• Innocuous
• Universal Solvent
• Used as solvent

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Purification of Water
 Filtration
 Distillation/Double distillation
 Ion-exchange system
 Reverse osmosis
 Microbiological purification

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 Filtration
Membrane filters(0.2mµ)
 Distillation /Double distillation
Boiling Steam Condensation
 Ion exchange system
 resins are used – to remove cations and
anions to form de-ionised water.
 Columns are made up of resins can be
regenerated.
 Reverse Osmosis – 75% purified water collected
and 25% as concentrated water
Membranes are made up of cellulose nitrate and
polyamide.
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 Microbiological purification
 Chemical treatment- Chlorine (1 to 4ppm)
to de-ionised water.Formaldehyde also used .
 Heat treatment –boiling –helding for 20
mins. For spores-boiling after 2hrs.
 UV radiation – below 300nm-lethal effect
on microbes.
 Filtration – membrane filters

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2.Anti-oxidant
 In cosmetic preparations fats and oils are used.
 Fats are unsaturated linkages cause oxidative
detoriation- causes rancid (causes change in
organoleptic character)
Factors affecting rancidity
 Presence of pro-oxidant- oxidase
 Oxygen- peroxides attack glycerides
 Moisture – accelerator to auto-oxidation
 Light – accelerator to oxidative reaction
 Heat- accelerator to hydrolysis of fatty acids 8
 External pro-oxidants- destroys naturally oxidant,
then added pro-oxidant.
 Ex- Metals and their alloys , peoxides,oxidised
fats,alcohol etc.
 Micro-organism- bacteria,moulds,yeast
Classification
 Phenolic type - Gallic acid and salts, BHA,BHT
 Quinone type – Tocopherol
 Amine type – Lecithine, ethanolamine
 Organic acids, alcohol and esters – Ascorbic
acid,citric acid,oxalic acid
 Inorganic acids and salts –Sodium sulphite, Sod.
metabisulphite
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3.HUMACTANT
• Drying out of cosmetic due to vaporization of
water
• Depends upon- Temp., exposure to air, humidity
• Humactant- Hygroscopic in nature, causes
absorption of water vapour from atmosphere.
• Usually aq. solutions of humactant are used
• Used in cosmetics – using for skin
• It should absorb moisture
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Types ………..
 Inorganic – Calcium chloride(corrosive
nature)
 Metal- organic – Sodium lactate(corrosive
nature).Lactic acid used as combination.
 Organic – Ethylene glycol, glycerol, sorbitol,
PEG, glycerine, propylene glycol

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4.SURFACTANTS
 Surface active agents may increase or decrease
interfacial tension at surface
Classification…….
 Anion
 Cation
 Non-ionic
 Ampholytic

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• Anionic surfactant- Negative charged in solutions
Ex- Soap(Sodium oleate)
 Anion + Hydrophobic part –Alkyl sulphate
 Anion + Ester group-Monoglyceride sulphates
 Anion + Ether group-Alkyl ether sulphates
 Anion + Amide group – Alkanolamide sulphate
 Anion+ Amidine group –Imidazole sulphates
• Cationic surfactant – positively charged in solutions
a) Nitrogenous surfactant-
 Alkyl trimethyl ammonium salts
 Quaternized amides of ethylenediamine
 Alkyl pyridinium salts
 Quaternized diamine salts
b) Non-nitrogenous surfactant-Sulphonium salts

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 Non-ionic surfactant
 Alkanolamides
 Polyethylene glycol
 Polyethyleneimine
 Ampholytic surfactant
 Alkylamino acids
 Acylamino acids
Alkylimidazoline
 Properties of surfactant
 CMC-stops action

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OILS,FATS AND WAXES
 Oils- two types
 Vegetable oils
 Mineral oils
 Vegetable oils
Consists of triglycerides- three hydroxyl groups of
glycerol esterified with same or mixed triglycerides
of other fatty acids.

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 Vegetable oils
 Almond oil- pale yellow oil, consists of glycerides of oleic
acid,linoleic acid,myrstic and palmitic acid.Used in creams
and lotions.

 Arachis oil- pale yellow oil with faint nutty odour. Consists
of glycerides of oleic acid,linoleic acid.At low temp it
solidifies.Used in hair oils.

 Castor oil- faintly yellow. Consists of 80% ricinoleic acid.

Used in hair oils,creams,lotions.

 Olive oil – Pale yellow or greenish yellow oil. Consists of

glycerides of oleic acid ,palmitic acid ,lenolic acid ,stearic acid
and myristic acid. At low temp. it solidifies. Used in bath
oils,creams,oils.
Coconut oil-
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 Mineral oils
 Light liquid paraffin
Mixture of liquid hydrocarbon. Lower viscocity,
colorless and odorless oily liquid. Good spreading
agent . Used in bath oils , hair oils ,lotions,creams
 Heavy liquid paraffin
Mixture of hydrocarbons. Colourless and
odourless. Emolient in nature. Used in
creams,lotions,brilliantines,hair oil,bath oil.
* Mineral oil more stable than vegetable oil.
(10 ppm tocopherol /BHT used as stabilizer)
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FATS
 Originated from vegetable , animal or mineral
source or synthetic
These are
 Fatty acids –Stearic acid (C12-C18) and Oleic acid
• Commercially available stearic acid is mixture
of palmitic acid and stearic acid.
• Triple pressed -55% palmitic acid and 45% of
stearic acid.
• Used in -Emulsifier for Creams, Lotions and
Shaving Cream, Adhesives, Corrosion Inhibitor
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 Oleic acid-causes racidity,so preservatives are used
 It increases pearly sheen in lotion and creams.
 Stops the gel formulation , problems when used
stearate.
 Fatty alcohols-Cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol
 Cetyl alcohol- white waxy solid
• Used as emulsion stabilizer, Emolient
• Hydrophobic nature – produce occlusive film
,which help in hydration of dry skin.

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 Fatty acid esters- Isopropyl stearate, isopropyl
palmitate, isopropyl myristate, glyceryl
monostearate
 Oily nature and low viscosity
 After applying to skin- thin, oily film form on
skin. Non-greasy in nature .
 Used as emollient or emulsifying agent
 Increases in viscosity
 Used in lotion and creams
 Mainly used in o/w type emulsion.
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 Lanolin and its derivatives
Lanolin – a natural fat consists of higher fatty
alcohols and higher fatty acids.
 Good emollient – due to hydrophobic and
adhesive nature
 Used concentration- 5%
 produce w/o type emulsion
 Lanolin alcohol –mixture of sterols , triterpine
and aliphatic alcohols
 Acetylaed lanolin
 Propionyl lanolin
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 Soft paraffin – mixture of hydrocarbon obtained
from petroleum
 Two types- yellow and white soft paraffin
 Emollient in nature
 Hydrophobic in nature –produce occlusive
film ,which prevents water loss from skin

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WAX
 Bees wax- secreted from hive bees(Apis species)
 Yellowish brown in colour
M.P- 62 - 650 C.
 w/o type emulsion
 Spermaceti
 Solid wax from mixed oils from head ,bubbler of
spermaceti.
 Crystalline white
 M.P- 420 C - 500 C
 Synthetic spermaceti is also available –mixture of
esters of saturated fatty alcohols and saturated acids.
 white in colour with crystalline structure
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• Paraffin wax /Hard paraffin
Mixture of hydrocarbons consisting of n-
paraffins and their isomers
 Obtained by distillation process from
petroleum
 It is colorless /odorless
Slightly greasy in nature
 M.P – 500C-570C
 It is the translucent in nature

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• Ozokerite Wax/Ceresin /Mineral wax
Obtained from natural ozokerite by purification
process
 Colorless ,odorless and crystalline wax.
 M.P- 500C-750C
• Microcrystalline wax
 Complex mixture of isoparaffins
 As microcrystalline structure- so called
microcrystalline wax
 M.P -650C-850C
 Used in preparation of lipsticks
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• Carnauba wax
 Obtained from leaves of palm
 Different grades
 Highest grade- light brown
 Moderate grade- pale yellow
 Characteristic bland odor
 M.P- 810C-860C
 Hardest in nature

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 PRESERVATIVES
• Used to prevent spoilage of cosmetic products
• Spoilage of cosmetics due to
 Oxidation of oils and fats
 Microbial growth
• Water is the prime ingredient-promotes growth of
microbial growth
• Microbes attack anhydrous substance

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• Sources of microbes

 raw materials
 Environment
 Equipment
 Packaging material
 Personnel

Examples
 Organic acids- Benzoic acid,p-OH Benzoic acid,Formic
acid
 Alcohols-Ethyl alcohol,chlorobutanol,Isopropyl alcohol
Aldehydes –formaldehude
 Phenolic compounds-Cresol,phenol
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• Esters –Methyl p-OH Benzoate,Ethyl p-OH Benzoate
• Mercuric compounds-Thiomersol,Nitromersol
• Surface active agent –Benzathonium chloride
• Misc. Compound –Vanilin, Ethyl vanillin
Factors affect effectiveness are :-
 Dissociation & pH
₋ Ideal preservative should in wide range of
pH.
₋ Preservative effective in acidic and alkaline
having reactive in nature
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Concentration – less concentration required
When mucilage and gums used in
preparation more conc. required.
 0.001%-for organic mercuric compounds
 0.5% -1% - for weak acids
 Susceptibility of organism
 Hydroxy benzoates active against moulds,fungi
and yeasts but inactive against bacteria
 Chlorobutanol active against anti-bacterial and
anti-fungal activities
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 Interference by Ingredients
• Tween 80,PEG 1000,PEG 400 laurate interfere
with preservative to exert protective effect on
micro-organism
• Anionic surfactant promotes growth of gram –ve
bacteria.
• Mucilage decreases activities of preservatives
 Influence of solid particles
• Cosmetic preparations contain insoluble
particles – kaolin,chalk,talc etc.
• Preservatives can absorbed on the surface of the
particles, depend upon the nature of particles
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COLOUR
• Colour is an important
ingredient of cosmetic
formulation.
• Colours can be classified
into three classes:
 Natural colour
 Inorganic colour
 Coal tar colour
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 1. Cochineal
Natural 2. Saffron
Colours 3. Chlorophyll

1. Iron oxide
2. Chromium oxide
Inorganic 3. Ultramarines
Colours 4. Carbon black
5. Titanium dioxide
6. Zinc oxide

Coaltar 1. Tartrazine
2. Amaranth
Colours 3. Indigocarmine
4. Orange G
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