Delivering fast and effective hydration with advanced ingredients and dermatological care
21 May 2024 --- Consumers often search for hydrating skin care products, prompting manufacturers to innovate effective ways to deliver moisturizing ingredients. Personal Care Insights speaks to Givaudan Active Beauty and Kao representatives about the companys’ latest creations and the importance of hydrating ingredients in the beauty industry.
“What we see around the hydration claim is mostly related to performance. Several axes are explored: Delivering even more hydration at a lower dosage and for a long-lasting benefit (24, 48 or 72 hours). We can also see this trend becoming increasingly present in rinsed formulas, which can be quite a challenge to achieve with classical skin care ingredients,” says Mathias Fleury, head of Category — Actives at Givaudan Active Beauty.
Meanwhile, Kao expects the dermatological skin market to grow steadily worldwide.
“Curél is a brand well-known in Japan for its effective treatment of dry and sensitive skin. By leveraging its strong reputation in the Japanese derma skin market, Kao aims to strengthen its position in the global derma skin care market,” highlights Shinnosuke Matsukura, Curél brand manager at Kao.
Fine Fiber technology
By applying Fine Fiber technology, Kao introduced a new skin care concept called “Wearable Stratum Corneum Care” to meet the increasing demand for high-performance skin care addressing concerns with severe skin dryness.
Last month, the company launched a potion and a “high-tech” diffuser that applies a thin veil on the skin to moisturize during the night. The Curél brand sells the products.
Givaudan created an improved version of the classic skin hydration ingredient, HA.“As for the Fine Fiber technology, we plan to explore opportunities in the medical field in the future. This includes providing care after laser treatment and contributing to treating skin diseases that cause damage,” asserts Matsukura.
Elevating classics
Fleury says hyaluronic acid (HA) is “one of the greatest champions in consumers’ minds and calls it one of Givaudan’s “strongest fields of expertise.”
“Over the past few years, we’ve explored multiple innovations around this iconic molecule for the Beauty industry. First, we introduced PrimalHyal Hydra[+] last year, a cationic HA that ‘sticks’ to the skin, delivering impressive benefits in leave-on formulas and rinsed applications, such as cleansers or shower gels. This opens a whole new era for HA usage.”
Fleury continues that PrimalHyal Hydra[+] achieved the “optimal” balance between the HA’s molecular weight and its degree of cationization. Givaudan researchers “boosted” the ingredient’s performance in terms of hydration by at least a factor of two compared to “traditional” HA in leave-on formulas and demonstrated its ability to stay on the skin after “very drastic” rinsing conditions.
Earlier this year, Givaudan launched PrimalHyal 50 Life, a low molecular weight HA that repairs the skin barrier function, delivers hydration benefits, and has a “long-lasting” performance.
PrimalHyal 50 Life was already on the market and in the company’s portfolio. It “revolutionized” the fermentation process for the production of HA. Previously, the only way to reach low molecular weight HA was to produce high molecular weight HA and then perform hydrolysis.
“Our new strain is able to produce directly, in just one step, the molecular weight of interest by possessing the ability to synthesize high molecular weight HA and directly decrease its molecular weight before releasing it in the fermentation broth,” says Fleury.
“This results in a massive simplification of the process (less steps, less energy consumption, less substrates) and a great increase in the fermentation yield (because of the lower viscosity). The global footprint is drastically decreased compared to the conventional process that we were using up to this point and which is used by the rest of the industry (more than 90% reduction, as demonstrated by a full Life Cycle Analysis) and at the same time the cost structure is improved, meaning we can offer this innovation with a price positioning which is more competitive than the previous one.”
Curél is focusing on expanding its global reach for its derma care skin solutions.
Perfecting HA
Fleury explains that the cationization of HA faced challenges in product design, the balance between the HA polymer’s size and the degree of cationization had to be optimized.
“It took us a long time to reach the perfect conditions, but we’re really excited about this new performance that we can today offer to all beauty brands that want to extend the use of HA to rinsed formulas or offer the next generation of HA in skin care.”
Studying hydration
Danish researchers investigated the efficacy of Lactiplantibacillus plantarum LB244R in alleviating aging signs relative to its placebo vehicle. The study was conducted due to the increasing age of the Westernized population, which is creating an increasing economic and aesthetic interest in reducing the signs of skin aging.
The study evaluated subepidermal low echogenic band (SLEB) thickness, dermal density, skin firmness and elasticity, skin hydration, transepidermal water loss (TEWL), skin pH, collagen fiber visualization using confocal microscopy, crow’s feet, spot score, skin smoothness and complexion radiance were assessed by dermatologists.
All parameters except TEWL improved relative to their baseline for the active group. L. plantarum LB244R improved SLEB thickness, dermal density, skin elasticity, skin hydration, and crow’s feet wrinkle score relative to the placebo vehicle ointment.
According to the researchers, the study demonstrates an anti-aging effect of L. plantarum LB244R for topical skin use in “the first” double-blinded, vehicle-ointment placebo-controlled clinical study.
By Sabine Waldeck
