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In the last few years, plant-based oils and butters have gained
prominence in the personal care and cosmetic industries.
Driven by consumer concerns about safety, renewability and
sustainability, brands have embraced various plant-based oils
and butters as functional emollients in many new product lines.
Face, body, and hair oils, as well as various butters and other
anhydrous products utilizing natural oils have seen large gains in
popularity and market share. Even cleansing oils and whipped
mousse products with natural ingredients are seeing a significant
uptick in sales.
Like all trends, the desire for products containing functional
content of natural oils and butters presents opportunities as well
as challenges for formulators and manufacturers. The simplification
of formulas, embracing of sustainable source materials,
and potential performance advantages for bio-based actives
found in plant-based sources are all positive motivators. However,
maintaining equivalent product functionality compared to
synthetic ingredients , reducing oxidative degradation, and the
inability to naturalize a broad range of product categories that
traditionally rely heavily on synthetics and technical function are
serious challenges. These challenges are particularly evident
in sprayable formulations where performance must meet both
formula functional goals and the package delivery requirements
unique to sprayable solutions.
One of the most recognized and widely used plant-based
emollients for personal care products is shea butter. It’s functional
performance and renowned sustainability and social
value has long established shea as a favorite among formulators
and marketers alike. However, the unique requirements
for sprayable products have kept many formulators from using
of shea butter despite all of its market appeal. Since most are
familiar with shea butter as a semi-solid fat at room temperature,
it’s use in spray applications has been nearly non-existent.
Solubilizing small amounts into a liquid base has been used
infrequently for marketing claims, but does not typically add to
the formula functionality. Fortunately, there are two new AAK
shea-based ingredient innovations that are both suitable to
spray delivery systems and also deliver functional performance
advantages to the formulation. These innovations overcome
previous limitations, enabling formulators to take full advantage
of shea based performance and marketing opportunities, opening
the new shea-for-spray market opportunity.
Lipex SheaClear - Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea) Oil
Lipex SheaClear is highly functional liquid shea oil which can
be used in a sprayable format without being first solubilized into
another emollient or solvent. It is specially processed to remove
all residual heavy waxes in the shea oil while retaining the high
natural content of shea triterpene esters for skin care functionality.
The processing of Lipex SheaClear provides for clean delivery
in sprayable systems while maintaining a low cloud point for
optically clear formulations popular in many sprayable hair and
body oil treatment formulations.
In addition, Lipex SheaClear is highly suited for personal care
and cosmetic applications with an oxidative stability about 10
times higher than the majority of market available vegetable oils.
The combination of a clear profile, high stability and rich content
of shea triterpene esters is establishes Lipex SheaClear as a
leading ingredient candidate for functional spray formulations.
Clinical research and multiple peer reviewed research have
shown shea triterpene esters to have numerous therapeutic
properties, including anti-inflammatory effects which are
achieved by inhibiting a series of pro-inflammatory factors within
the skin cell’s bio-molecular inflammation pathway. These
therapeutic effects make AAK’s Shea Technologies the perfect
sustainable and functional solution for skin-soothing and antiaging
formulas that can integrate directly into spray product
formats.
Lipex SheaLight – Shea Butter Ethyl Esters
Lipex SheaLight is AAK’s most recent and versatile Shea-based
ingredient innovation consisting of a set of lightweight shea
esters derived from agriculturally sourced ethyl alcohol and the
various fatty acids of Shea butter. It’s lightweight feel and extremely
low viscosity are ideally suited for direct application to
sprayable product platforms.
The renewable, sustainable, and complex composition of
Lipex SheaLight delivers significant advantages over other
synthetic or petroleum-derived lightweight esters. By containing
the various fatty acids found in Shea (oleic, stearic, palmitic,
linoleic), SheaLight exhibits functional complexity not available
within homogeneous molecular species ingredients.
This is demonstrated in Lipex SheaLight’s pigment wetting
ability, and its corresponding low viscosity at high pigment
loads. In studies comparing SheaLight to common
pigment-wetting emollients in mineral-based suncare formulas,
SheaLight consistently handled higher pigment loads with lower
viscosities. It is believed that because of SheaLight’s heterogeneous
composition, irregular particles of pigment can be more
easily dispersed and thus prevent viscosity build as pigment
load is increased. As well, it’s superior dispersing ability diminishes
the whiteness of mineral sunscreen pigments relative to
other pigment-wetting emollients at the same load. The desirable
combination of low viscosity and high pigment load makes
SheaLight an ideal shea ingredient for mineral-based, sprayable
sunscreen products.
Lipex SheaLight also performs well as solvent of organic
sunscreens, and provides comparable solubility to the common
and widely used synthetic emollients found in sunscreen products.
Third party clinical studies have shown that SheaLight has
an SPF enhancing effect similar to that of synthetic sunscreen
active solvents. Additionally, SheaLight functions as a sensorial
improver, reducing the tack and drag often associated with
crystalline and high molecular weight sunscreen actives, and
the polymers used for water-resistance in sunscreen products.
Beyond sunscreen products, SheaLight can be used to
lighten the skin feel of increasingly popular anhydrous oil spray
products. As a lightweight monoester ingredient, SheaLight
has a drier, silkier feel unmatched by any triglyceride vegetable
oil. This is particularly attractive in hair applications, where
SheaLight has been shown to reduce wet combing force to a
degree greater than the most common silicone “anti-frizz” products.
When considering spray formulation design, Lipex SheaClear
and Lipex SheaLight are ideal companion products as they are
100% miscible in each other. This mutual miscibility creates
an infinite number of shea ester/triglyceride compositions creating
a specifically tailored functional and sensorial performance
profile. Taken together, Lipex SheaClear and Lipex SheaLight
provide formulators and manufacturers an effective pair of innovative
shea-based ingredients enabling easy integration of
shea’s functional and marketing benefits into sprayable product
types previously unimaginable with traditional semi-solid shea
butter. Shea for Spray is here to stay.
Shea for Spray
Mr. Benjamin Schwartz
Personal Care Application Specialist – AAK USA
499 Thornall Street, Edison, NJ