In-cosmetics Global: Jungbunzlauer demonstrates sustainable skin care using natural solutions

23 Apr 2024 --- Jungbunzlauer’s Comprehensive Personal Care Solutions showcases Xanthan Gum, a natural and vegan stabilizer and thickener, and its CITROFOL Citrate Esters at In-cosmetics Global in Paris, France. 

Similar to the company’s TayaGel Gellan Gum solution, Xanthan Gum can replace synthetic thickeners and stabilizers. CITROFOL Citrate Esters is a biobased solvent, fixative and emollient used in sun care solutions. 

Personal Care Insights speaks with Teresa Berninger, team lead application technologist at Jungbunzlauer, on the trade show floor. “Emollients are an important component in sunscreen because they impact the direct consumer experience in terms of skin feel and applicability, but they are also important when it comes to the performance of sunscreen, influencing which SPF you can achieve.”

“This is because emollients are also solvents for organic UV filters. In this context, we present our CITROFOL Citrate Esters as natural emollients with high solvent power for different organic UV filters, particularly, for example, our CITROFOL B1, which has a very strong solvent power for EHT, an important UV filter.”

Biobased sun care
The company says its Zinc Lactate or Lactic Acid “enhances” personal care products. Zinc Lactate provides antibacterial properties and skin conditioning, while Lactic Acid serves as a natural preservative and helps with pH control.

“Our Citrate Esters differ in the way we produce them. We always start with citric acid, which is a product derived from fermentation, so it’s a natural biobased and biodegradable product,” explains Berninger.

“We then esterify it with different alcohols, and depending on which alcohol the esterification is done with, we obtain different CITROFOL types, which have unique properties. They differ in their polarity and, thus, in their solvent power and their spreadability on the skin and skin feel. This is what makes each one of them unique in their performance.”

Jungbunzlauer demonstrates its natural ingredients to supplement synthetic options at In-cosmetics.Natural skin cream
In addition to CITROFOL Citrate Esters, the company’s “Natural skin cream” was on display. Berninger tells us that the product is sustainable due to its lack of synthetic thickeners or microplastics, as they are becoming “increasingly undesirable.” 

To address the market demand for plastic-free and clean label formulations, Jungbunzlauer offers the “Natural skin cream” solution that claims to “benefit the environment and harmonizes nature and performance.” 

“Instead of using synthetic sickness, we work with our natural Biogums. Our rheology expert did a benchmark analysis of the market and then adapted the rheology of our natural product to match exactly the synthetic benchmark so you don’t have any compromise on skin feel,” says Berninger.

Instead of synthetics, the cream uses a combination of TayaGel Gellan Gum and Xanthan Gum. 

Sustainable beauty
The biotechnology company asserts that the personal care market is demanding natural, vegan, waste-free and plastic-free products. 

“Sustainability is a key pillar of the Jungbunzlauer strategy. First of all, we work with renewable raw materials. We always start with corn, from which we obtain our glucose syrup, which is then fermented to obtain our final products. But also, if we look at the overall processes, Jungbunzlauer tries to decarbonize the processes and the production,” expresses Berninger.

All of the company’s ranges are ECOCERT, COSMO and NATRUE-approved.

Other solutions showcased at In-cosmetics by Jungbunzlauer included Glucono-delta-Lactone for acidification, pH stabilization and exfoliation and Erylite Erythritol for moisturization. 

By Sabine Waldeck, with additional reporting from Anita Sharma at In-cosmetics Global in Paris, France