Personal cleansing products are complex systems that often contain several surfactants. Even a seemingly simple cleanser such as a soap bar comprises a mixture of soap species. Several of the mechanisms believed to drive surfactant interactions with the skin are discussed below. These are presented separately for convenience but the mechanisms are undoubtedly interdependent to […]

Surfactant Types Commonly Used in Personal Cleansers While some new cleanser technologies can combine effective cleansing with the potential to improve skin condition, the focus for the majority of personal cleansing products remains on minimizing the potential for skin damage. Surfactants make up the bulk of most personal cleansing products and are primarily responsible for […]

A personal cleanser’s ability to clean the skin is dependent on a number of factors including its (surfactant) composition, its in-use concentration, the application time and method, the soil load, and the surface characteristics of the particular skin being cleaned. The past several decades saw a change in how personal cleansers are viewed, the focus […]

The skin is covered with a hydrolipid film that, depending on the area of the body, comprises secretions from sebaceous glands and from apocrine and eccrine sweat glands. Decomposition products from cornification (cellular debris and stratum corneum lipids) and corneocytes in the process of being shed are also present. This film provides a degree of […]

Keith Ertel P&G Beauty, Sharon Woods Technical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, U. S.A. INTRODUCTION “Let it be observed, that slovenliness is no part of religion, that neither this, nor any text of Scripture condemns neatness of apparel. Certainly this is a duty not a sin. Cleanliness, indeed, is next to Godliness.” —John Wesley (1703-1791), Sermon XCII […]

The last two claims for special populations are non-comedogenic and non-acnegenic. These claims are aimed at individuals who develop acne in response to the facial use of skin care products and cosmetics. Non-comedogenic refers to the testing of products to determine that they do not produce blackheads, known as open comedones, or whiteheads, known as […]

Our prior discussion of sensitive skin focused on those special skin conditions, namely eczema, atopic dermatitis, and rosacea, which form the basis for a sensitive skin panel. However, we must also consider issues of contact dermatitis. Traditionally, issues of Table 1 Considerations for the Minimization of Contact Dermatitis from Skin Care Products and Cosmetics 1. […]

Rosacea is an example of the third component of sensitive skin, which is heightened neurosensory response. This means that patients with rosacea experience stinging and burning to minor irritants more frequently than the general population. For example, I demonstrated that 62.5% of randomly selected rosacea patients demonstrated a positive lactic acid sting test for sensitive […]

Sensitive skin due to eczema is predicated only on physical barrier disruption, while the sensitive skin associated with atopic dermatitis is predicated both on a barrier defect and an immune hyper-reactivity, as manifested by the association of asthma and hay fever. Patients with atopic dermatitis not only have sensitive skin on the exterior of the […]