chemistry and cosmetics
Chemistry and cosmetics
Cosmetics have been around since almost the beginning of time. Egyptian women used kohl to darken their eyelids, Cleopatra was even said to have bathed in milk to achieve a soft smooth completion. In Greece, women used lead carbonate (a white powder) to obtain a pale complexion, which probably wasn’t worth it seeing how it cost them their lives! Anyway, cosmetics are no modern phenomenon! Today it is a big business, making about $12 billion a year! What is a cosmetic? A cosmetic is something people use to clean, protect, perfume, and to change the appearance of their bodies. Perfumes, make-ups, deodorants, and shampoos are just a few. There are a few ingredients that most cosmetics contain at least some of: water, emulsifier, preservative, thickener, color, fragrance and bases. Ingredient selection is critical in cosmetic manufacturing because the ingredients decide the properties and effectiveness of the product. Most cosmetics are a mix of two or more liquids, like perfumes. Others are a mix of two of more solids, like powder foundation, or they are a mix between liquids and solids, like lipstick. Chemical changes don’t always occur and the original ingredients still retain their chemical properties. That’s why most cosmetics are mixtures.
Aluminum powder, coal tar, chromium oxide, manganese, iron oxide, and mica flakes are just a few examples of mineral ingredients that are used to add color to our faces. Other pigments and dyes, like beet powder, come from plants. There are even parts that come from animals like carmine, a crimson dried up pigment made from the ground-up dried bodies of a cactus eating insect! (don’t ask me how they figured that out!) Finding colors that look good on the human face isn’t the only challenge in creating cosmetics; the real challenge is getting them to stick! This is where the bases in make-up come in handy. Almost every type of make-up, from blush to eyeliner,
Cosmetics have been around since almost the beginning of time. Egyptian women used kohl to darken their eyelids, Cleopatra was even said to have bathed in milk to achieve a soft smooth completion. In Greece, women used lead carbonate (a white powder) to obtain a pale complexion, which probably wasn’t worth it seeing how it cost them their lives! Anyway, cosmetics are no modern phenomenon! Today it is a big business, making about $12 billion a year! What is a cosmetic? A cosmetic is something people use to clean, protect, perfume, and to change the appearance of their bodies. Perfumes, make-ups, deodorants, and shampoos are just a few. There are a few ingredients that most cosmetics contain at least some of: water, emulsifier, preservative, thickener, color, fragrance and bases. Ingredient selection is critical in cosmetic manufacturing because the ingredients decide the properties and effectiveness of the product. Most cosmetics are a mix of two or more liquids, like perfumes. Others are a mix of two of more solids, like powder foundation, or they are a mix between liquids and solids, like lipstick. Chemical changes don’t always occur and the original ingredients still retain their chemical properties. That’s why most cosmetics are mixtures.
Aluminum powder, coal tar, chromium oxide, manganese, iron oxide, and mica flakes are just a few examples of mineral ingredients that are used to add color to our faces. Other pigments and dyes, like beet powder, come from plants. There are even parts that come from animals like carmine, a crimson dried up pigment made from the ground-up dried bodies of a cactus eating insect! (don’t ask me how they figured that out!) Finding colors that look good on the human face isn’t the only challenge in creating cosmetics; the real challenge is getting them to stick! This is where the bases in make-up come in handy. Almost every type of make-up, from blush to eyeliner,