40 Skin Cleansing Liquids Daisuke Kaneko and Kazutami Sakamoto AminoScience Laboratories, Ajinomoto Co, Inc., Kanagawa, Japan INTRODUCTION Skin cleansing liquids are products that clean and refresh the skin by removing soil or dirty materials to help keep the skin's physiological condition normal. There are residual metabolites on the skin that are unstable and reactive with oxygen or deposited molecules. These reactions happen on exposure to the sun or skin micro- organisms, and form harmful materials that lead to skin trouble. Thus, cleansing is a necessary daily skincare practice, even for normal skin. Furthermore, special care must be taken for sensitive skin or atopic skin, because of its vulnerability. In such troubled types of skin, cleanliness must be attained without contributing to their susceptibility (1). There are different types of cleansing products, developed and commonly used, depending on the types of materials to be removed from the skin, or the types of conditions in which it would be used. Typical types of commercial skin cleansing products ate listed in Table 1 (2). Most of the common cleansing products contain a relatively high concentration of surfactants, and is applied with water lo make foam before washing off thoroughly. Good lathering is the most important feature of these products, because sensory feeling of the rich and fine foam is the key factor of repeated use by the consumers, although the amount and quality of foam are not directly related to the detergency from a physicochem- ical viewpoint, On the other hand, fine and thick lather serves an important func- tion in shaving foam preparations for smooth razor application, Ease of quick rinse and after-feeling are other factors that rule the quality of skin cleansing pro- ducts. Refteshed and moist feelings are typical elements that fulfill the consumers’ desires, and refreshing seems more important for body wash, especially for Japa- In terms of formulations for surfactant-type skin cleansers, soap bars have ‘been the most traditional skin cleansers, but there are liquid, paste-, or acrosol-type cleansers getting more popular on the market. Facial cleansing powder—a rather ‘new and niche trend in Japan—contains enzymes to help the cleaning of protein-type deposits, because of its anhydrous formula to preserve enzyme activities Solvent-type is mainly used to remove oily cosmetics applied to the skin. This type is further categorized to cleansing creams, lotions, liquids, or gels. The use of 493,494 Kaneko and Sakamoto ‘Table 1 ‘Types of Commercial Skin Cleansing Products Product type Form (formula type) Features Surfactant- Solid (Soap, transparent soap, Main type of cleanser: easy to use and feels based type neutral soap) good, but skin feels tight afterwards, ‘Cream paste (cleansing foam) Special face cleanser with excellent feeling and lather. It is easy to use. Bases may be selected in the range weakly acidic to alkaline depending on the purpose. Liquid or viscous liquid type Weakly acidie to alkaline. The weakly acidic (Cleansing gel) ‘base produces a weak cleanser but the alkaline base produces a strong one. The rain type of cleanser for hair and body Granule powder form Easy to use. As they contain no water, papain (Cleansing powder, face for other enzymes may be incorporated. cleansing powder) Acrosol type (shaving foam There are two types—one that comes out like type, after-foaming type) __a shaving foam and the other as @ gel which becomes @ foam on use (after-foaming type). A double container is used for the after-foaming type. Solvent- Cream e paste (cleansing ‘The emulsion type uses mainly O/W based type cream) ‘emulsion. The type in which oils are made into a gel has high cleansing power. For heavy makeup, Milky lotion (cleansing milk); 0/W emulsion milky lotion. Lighter feeling liquid form (cleansing lotion) after use than with cleansing cream. Easy to use, Cleansing lotion, Contains large amounts of nonionic surfactants, alcohol, ‘and humectants, There is also a physical cleansing effect as itis wiped off with cotton. For light makeup. Gel (cleansing gel) ‘The emulsion and liquid crystal types containing & lot of oils have high cleansing power and are rinsed off. They give & light feeling after rinsing off. The water-soluble polymer gel type has low cleansing power. Ol (cleansing oil) Ingredients like surfactants and alcohol are added to the oil in small amounts. Rinsed off. When rinsed off forms 0/W emulsion. Soft and moist feeling after use Others Pack (cleansing mask) Peel-off mask using water-soluble polymers. ‘Skin has strong feeling of being stretched Removes dirt from skin surface and pores when peeled off Source: From Ret. 2. makeup products, such as waterproof or nonstaining and long-lasting lipsticks, require the use of special cleansers to remove them. Facial packs with cleansing gel that claim gentleness and sufficient cleansing power have been launched in Japan,495, Table 2 Main Sus factants Used for Cleansing Products Type Ingredients Anionic Surfactants Soap Polyoxyethylene alkyl ether sulfate Acylatutamate Acylzlycinate Acylmethyltaurate Acylsurcosinate Acylisethionate Ampoteric surfactants Allyl dimethylaminoacctic acid betaine Alkyl amidopropyl dimethylaminoacetic acid betaine Nonionie surfactants POE alkyl ether POE glycerol fatty acid ester POE-POP block copolymer SURFACTANT-TYPE SKIN CLEANSERS Main surfactants used for surfactant-type skin cleansers are listed in Table 2. Soaps are used as a primary surfactant for solid bar cleansers and paste-type cleansers Sodium soaps are commonly used for solid bars, and potassium soaps are mainly for paste-type cleansers or shaving foams. Opaque soft bar is made from triethano- amine soap, used as gentle facial cleanser. Soaps have excellent lathering properties and superior detergency, but some deposit in hard water and cause skin tightness Additional surfactants are combined with soap, in order to improve tightness and give better mildness. Alkylethersulfate, acylisethionate, acylglutamate, acylmethyl- ‘taurate, and acylglycinate are commonly combined as a secondary or tertiary surfac- tant with soap. Acylglutamate has a unique feature as a weak acidic surfactant, pH similar to that of the skin, and is thus often used as a primary surfactant to give superb mildness for different formulation types. As for their physicochemical nature, surfactants not only remove soils but also tend to strip useful substances from the skin. Thus, excessive solubilization and strip- ping of skin lipids and natural moisturizing factors (NMF) must be avoided, otherwise destruction of skin-barrier functions would happen. The composition of skin-surface lipids is listed in Table 3 (3) and composition of constitutive lipids in the stratum corneum is shown in Table 4 (4). Detergency of surfactant should be good enough Table 3_ Composition of Human Skin Surface Lipids Lipid (wt) Range (wt) Triglycerides 410 19.549.4 Diglycerides 22 2343 Fatty acids 164 79-139 Squlene 120 101-139 Wax esters 25.0 226-295 Cholesterol 14 1223 Cholesterol esters 24 15.26 Source: From Ref. 3