Register Now for California SCC Meeting

The California Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists will hold its next monthly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017 at Universal City Sheraton. During the education hour (5-6pm), Mary Redmond, senior applications specialist, ANGUS Chemical Company, her talk is: Health & Safety Challenges in Personal Care Products. According to Redomond, personal care companies wanting to grow frequently look to expand into new markets. In order to do so, companies need to be compliant across a vast array of laws and restrictions. While the European Union often leads the way in terms of regulations and policies regarding personal care ingredients, many emerging nations are adding their own variations. Mary Redmond will be presenting a regulatory overview of amino alcohol chemistries that can keep formulators ‘above-the-curve; on these evolving health and safety standards. Raising the bar on non-irritating, hypoallergenic, and non-carcinogenic properties is demanded by consumers, therefore pushing formulators to re-optimize all performance parameters throughout the lifecycle of a product. In additional to global compliancy, Redmond will discuss chemistries that offer molecular engineering to improve performance through multi-functional properties to make your best formulation perform even better.


Dinner begins at 6:30pm. The after dinner speaker is Geoff Brooks, president of Ideas4Cosmetics and Geoffrey Brooks Consultants, LLC. His topic is: Moisturization Through the Ages. Brooks will discuss some of the highlights on the important dynamics of how water works within the skin and hair, the relation to water in the environment, and what the cosmetic industry has done to enhance the skin’s appearance by topically applying products.


Brooks notes that up to 60% of the adult body is water, and the skin alone contains 64% water. We are terrestrial beings living in a “very thin” atmosphere, and globally this contains only 0.04% of the worlds fresh water. Not much!!! It is measured by humidity – at 100% it is saturated (rain) and your skin and hair are moisturized! Under desert conditions – at 10% – your skin and hair are dried out! External environmental moisture is very important. Living at higher altitudes further challenges our skin to “resist” the higher levels of Light, UV and IR radiation reaching the earth’s surface – making effective UVB and UVA daily protection essential.


A recent article (Risks and Myths of Dehydration) in The New York Times (May 2016) by Jane Brody commented on the importance of using a topically applied moisturizer to mediate dry skin conditions. While Brooks was working for Beecham (UK) on Brylcreem, 50 years ago, data was generated to prove that it was the best moisturizing hair cream. The effect of the topical application water on the skin and hair is at best transitory, the improved appearance of skin, and a temporary hair set are quickly lost. Moisturization was one claim we were allowed to make for our products – and – perhaps the only real claim we are allowed to make now.


Temporary relief of dry skin is not a drug! Science over the years has provided a good understanding on how best to moisturize the skin, how the skin uses moisture, and the cells regulate it to provide optimal skin homeostasis. Utilizing a good understanding of the functioning of the skin’s own master regulators (cytokines), it is possible to design analogs which will help optimize this process by up-regulating aquaporins (cells own water channeling/optimization mechanism) and other extra-cellular matrix components. The aim is to produce products to effectively provide the consumer with greater satisfaction. If you don't look good in the mirror, the cosmetic industry is failing to help you skin and hair adapt and be at its best, according to Brooks.


More info: California Chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.