Emollients

Emollience is another ill-defined term often used in connection with skin creams. The general understanding of the word is the imparting of a smoothness and general sense of well-being to the skin, as determined by touch.

Example emollients include : water soluble emollients are glycerin, sorbitol, propylene glycol, and various ethoxylated derivatives of lipids. Oil soluble emollients are hydrocarbon oils and waxes, silicone oil, vegetable oil and fats, alkyl esters, fatty acids and alcohols together with ethers of fatty alcohols.

Propylene glycol is widely used and is an efficient preservative against certain micro organisms at concentration of more than 8 per cent, but it is a potential sensitizer

The alkyl esters represent a range of interesting emollients ranging, as they do, through lactates, oleates, myristates, adipates, linoleates with possibility of straight chained, branch chained, unsaturated, or precursor

Lanolin was considered once to be an extremely desirable emollient and the claim contains lanolin was felt to be a product plus. Presently, this same declaration is required by European law to warn consumers of the possible risk the is constitutes a primary sensitizer. However, much work is currently underway to show that lanolin and its derivatives are not sensitizers to healthy skin and still have great value in skin creams as emollients