Clean Beauty
Clean beauty is one of the latest trends companies are jumping on to describe the products they offer. As there is generally no agreed upon definition for “clean beauty,” many organizations have taken to self-definitions for this to suit their purposes. The general agreement, however, seems to imply that a clean beauty product or product line has been developed with a heightened sense of safety for consumers, and avoiding the use of some “bad actor” materials as well as unnecessary ingredients. These parameters require the formulations developed and ingredients utilized to be backed by supporting data that shows they have passed the test for topical use.
As a formulator, when developing a formula to fit the clean beauty profile, the approaches that seem to fit everyone’s needs include:
- Using ingredients that have a history of safe use in topical personal care formulations;
- If using new ingredients, ensuring the supplier has done their homework to determine the safety of the material;
- Ingredient safety testing that coincides with the recommended use level, if the supplier provides one. If not, the testing levels should serve as a guide to formula use levels;
- Avoiding the use of ingredients that consumers have been led to believe are “bad actors” in personal care, i.e., phthalates, parabens, sulfates and formaldehyde (I will not comment on whether these materials present any safety hazard to a formulation);
- Trying to minimize the number of ingredients in the formulation without compromising on performance and esthetics. This becomes a challenge when the project brief requests the addition of ingredients for marketing benefits rather than their functional contribution to product performance, esthetics or stability;
- Ensuring the functional ingredients in the formulation are used at the levels shown to be effective; and
- Trying to understand the biological activity of the materials used. For example, understanding the modes of action ingredients use to achieve their benefits—and how they may act in combination; i.e., whether they could compete with one another and cause reduced efficacy. This will also enable the use of fewer ingredients without compromising performance. The more you know about the chemistry and biochemistry of the materials you are using, the greater the chance of reducing the number of ingredients in a formulation to achieve the same results.
Surfactant Considerations
When developing a cleanser formulation, whether it’s a shampoo, body wash, facial cleanser or liquid soap, it is again typically advisable to use a combination of surfactants to achieve the desired cleansing/foaming properties and mildness. The nature of the formulation being developed also will determine the surfactants used.
Choosing an appropriate surfactant will usually create a high-quality formula with good performance that is safe and effective and can be used for most cleansing product forms. Cost, performance, formulation attributes and the marketing position of the products will have a major impact on the surfactant system selection but for clean beauty purposes, the key is to avoid overloading the formulation with more surfactants than are necessary.
Final Comments
As a recap, formulating clean beauty products puts the following responsibilities on the formulator.
- Optimizing the choice of ingredients to deliver the desired benefits and esthetics as efficiently as possible. This includes emollients, emulsifiers and thickeners as well as “actives.”
- Selecting ingredients that have a comprehensive safety dossier and, if possible, a history of safe use in the type of topical formulation for which you intend to use them.
- Using a safe effective preservative system that is compatible with your formulation and following supplier recommendations for how to use them.
- When adding a performance bioactive and/or botanical system to a formulation, ensuring the combination selected is designed with components that complement one other, rather than compete with one another.
- Avoiding the use of unnecessary or redundant ingredients.
- And conducting thorough safety and preservative testing on the finished formulation.
