PERRY ROMANOWSKI
Element 44 Inc, Chicago, USA

It may surprise you to learn cosmetic chemists don’t do much reactive chemistry or invent new molecules. Instead we spend most of our time taking functional ingredients and trying to put them in a form that looks, feels and smells good when put on skin or hair. This requires developing a cosmetic formulation or more specifically, a delivery system.

Formulators have a number of delivery systems available for putting functional ingredients where they want and controlling the rate and duration of delivery. These include traditional systems such as solutions and emulsions but also include vesicular, molecular, and particulate delivery systems.

SOLUTIONS

These are the most simple type of cosmetic delivery system and are used for a wide range of products such as shampoos, body wash, hand cleansers, colognes, and more. They are homogeneous mixtures of mostly compatible ingredients. The functional ingredients delivered are typically surfactants for cleansing or fragrance.

EMULSIONS

Since most cosmetics use raw materials that are not mutually compatible, a cream or emulsion delivery sy ...