Ingredients of cosmetics - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Cosmetics ingredients come from a variety of sources but, unlike the ingredients of food, are often not considered by most consumers. Cosmetics

Cosmetics

Cosmetics are substances used to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes, lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup, towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hair sprays and...

often use vibrant colours that are derived from some unexpected sources, ranging from crushed insects to rust. Many new techniques have allowed manufacturers to synthesise such colours and the use of animals (or parts thereof) has been declining for many years and is now virtually eliminated, due in large part to the efforts of Beauty Without Cruelty, PETA

Peta

Peta can refer to:* peta-, an SI prefix denoting a factor of 1015* Peta, Greece, a town in Greece* Peta, the Pāli word for a Preta, or hungry ghost in Buddhism* Peta Wilson, an Australian actress and model* Peta Todd, English glamour model...

and other groups.

Cosmetics in a variety of forms date back to early civilizations, with the need to improve ones personal appearance being an important factor in attracting a mate. Over the years the ingredients have changed dramatically as we discovered how to manufacture our own scents and cosmetic formulae. The realisation of the dangers of many common ingredients also greatly affected the growing industry.

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...

ian aristocracy made use of minerals to provide colour and definition to their facial features. During the era of the Greek Empire it was common to use face paints, while the Romans indulged in baths containing oil-based perfume.

Common ingredients

Castor oil

Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean . Castor oil is a colorless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste. Its boiling point is and its density is 961 kg/m3...

and its derivatives are found in many cosmetics as it is "non-comedogenic" (does not exacerbate or contribute to acne).

Cerebroside

Cerebroside

Cerebrosides is the common name for a group of glycosphingolipids called monoglycosylceramides which are important components in animal muscle and nerve cell membranes.They consist of a ceramide with a single sugar residue at the 1-hydroxyl moiety...

s (cells from the nervous systems of cattle or swine) were once used in some high-end skin-care products to increase moisture retention and to create a smooth skin surface, however the BSE controversy has put an end to this practice.

In many countries colours in cosmetics are listed as numbers from the Colour Index International

Colour Index International

Colour Index International is a reference database jointly maintained by the Society of Dyers and Colourists and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. It was first printed in 1925 but is now published exclusively on the web...

. The scheme covers colours used in food, personal care products, cosmetics, household products and fabric dyeing. So, for example you will not normally see tartrazine listed in lipstick ingredients, but it may be there listed as C.I. 19140. Erythrosine will be listed as C.I. 45430, and so on. In US and Canada colors are listed as FD & C colors. tartrazine (E012) is FD & C Yellow 5 and erythrosine (E127) is FD & C Red 3.

Visual effects

Strong red colours for eye products have been produced using the dye

Dye

A dye is a colored substance that has an affinity to the substrate to which it is being applied. The dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution, and requires a mordant to improve the fastness of the dye on the fiber....

carmine

Carmine

Carmine , also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red #4, C.I. 75470, or E120, is a pigment of a bright-red color obtained from the aluminum salt of carminic acid, which is produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal beetle and the Polish cochineal, and is used as a general term for...

, made from carminic acid extracted form the crushed bodies of the cochineal

Cochineal

The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colour dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and...

insect. Carmine was once the only bright red color permitted by the FDA for use around the eye.

Pearlescence, also sometimes spelled as "pearl essence", is a shine or gloss effect commonly used in a wide variety of cosmetic products. The most usual source of pearlescence is the natural mineral

Mineral

A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...

mica

Mica

The mica group of sheet silicate minerals includes several closely related materials having highly perfect basal cleavage. All are monoclinic, with a tendency towards pseudohexagonal crystals, and are similar in chemical composition...

covered by a thin layer of titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...

. This coating causes goniochromism – the colour appears through interference effects with the naturally translucent mica, and varying the thickness of the titanium dioxide changes the colour. Alternatives exist, including the suspension of tiny flakes of a suitable material within the product, often a wax

Wax

thumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...

such as glycol distearate. A shimmery substance found on fish scales, most usually obtained from herring

Herring

Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...

and one of many by-products of commercial fish processing

Fish processing

The term fish processing refers to the processes associated with fish and fish products between the time fish are caught or harvested, and the time the final product is delivered to the customer...

, can also be used for pearlescent effects, primarily in nail polish, but is now rarely used due to its high cost, bismuth oxychloride

Bismuth oxychloride

Bismuth oxychloride is a chemical compound of bismuth, oxygen, and chlorine, with the formula BiOCl. It exists in nature as the mineral bismoclite which is part of the matlockite mineral group.-Structure:...

flakes being used as a substitute instead.

Facial cosmetics

The Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

and ancient Egyptians

Ancient Egypt

used cosmetics containing mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

Foundation

Women of Roman Britain used a foundation made from animal fat, starch and tin oxide.

Lipstick

Lipstick is known to have been used around 5000 years ago in ancient Babylon

Babylon

Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...

, when semi-precious jewels were crushed and applied to the lips and occasionally around the eyes. Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

ians extracted purplish-red dye from fucus-algin

Seaweed

Seaweed is a loose, colloquial term encompassing macroscopic, multicellular, benthic marine algae. The term includes some members of the red, brown and green algae...

, 0.01% iodine

Iodine

Iodine is a chemical element with the symbol I and atomic number 53. The name is pronounced , , or . The name is from the , meaning violet or purple, due to the color of elemental iodine vapor....

, and some bromine

Bromine

Bromine ") is a chemical element with the symbol Br, an atomic number of 35, and an atomic mass of 79.904. It is in the halogen element group. The element was isolated independently by two chemists, Carl Jacob Löwig and Antoine Jerome Balard, in 1825–1826...

mannite, which resulted in serious illness. Cleopatra had her lipstick made from crushed carmine

Carmine

beetles, which gave a deep red pigment, and ants for a base.

The red color of modern lipstick can come from synthetically derived pure iron oxide

Iron oxide

Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. All together, there are sixteen known iron oxides and oxyhydroxides.Iron oxides and oxide-hydroxides are widespread in nature, play an important role in many geological and biological processes, and are widely utilized by humans, e.g.,...

(common iron rust), however most leading brands use the more economical synthetic colors. In the United States, every batch of synthetic dye and pigment must have a sample sent to the US FDA for testing and certification that the batch is pure and its contaminants are below the levels specified by law (Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act CHAPTER VII—GENERAL AUTHORITY SUBCHAPTER B—COLORS
LISTING AND CERTIFICATION OF COLOR ADDITIVES FOR FOODS, DRUGS, AND COSMETICS http://www.fda.gov/opacom/laws/fdcact/fdcact7b.htm). Synthetic colours are listed in the ingredients as a code (e.g.: F &D red no 6) and may contain up to 10 parts per million of lead / 3 parts per million of arsenic. (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Volume 1 -FOOD AND DRUGS, CHAPTER I—FOOD AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, PART 74—LISTING OF COLOR ADDITIVES SUBJECT TO CERTIFICATION) There is some controversy over the presence of these trace ingredients, especially since makeup worn on the lips is not just absorbed through the skin, but also swallowed with drinking and eating. Since lowering these levels would make the production and sale of practically all lipstick illegal, and since the FDA has determined that the existing levels are safe, the cosmetic industry continues to produce and sell lipstick. (Color Additives: FDA's Regulatory Process and Historical Perspectives)http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/col-regu.html

Typically, the pigment is crushed very finely (7 to 10 micrometres) while being mixed with castor oil

Castor oil

Castor oil is a vegetable oil obtained from the castor bean . Castor oil is a colorless to very pale yellow liquid with mild or no odor or taste. Its boiling point is and its density is 961 kg/m3...

and is then mixed with a wax base to form a finished lipstick.

Lipsticks may be sheer or dense, matte or shiney. In their thinnest and most fluid consistency they are given their own category, lipgloss.

Perfume

Islamic cultures contributed significantly in the development of western perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

ry in both perfecting the extraction of fragrances through steam distillation and introducing new, raw ingredients. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

developments, particularly chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

.

As traders, Islamic cultures such as the Arabs and Persians had wider access to different spices, herbals, and other fragrance material. In addition to trading them, many of these exotic materials were cultivated by the Muslims such that they can be successfully grown outside of their native climates. Two examples of this include jasmine, which is native to South and Southeast Asia, and various citrus, which are native to East Asia. Both of these ingredients are still highly important in modern perfumery.

The Crusaders

Crusades

The Crusades were a series of religious wars, blessed by the Pope and the Catholic Church with the main goal of restoring Christian access to the holy places in and near Jerusalem...

brought alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

-based perfumes back to Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

from the Middle East in the 13th Century. The first modern perfume, made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution, was made in 1370 at the command of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary and was known throughout Europe as Hungary Water

Hungary Water

Hungary water was the first alcohol-based perfume, claimed to date to about the late 14th century...

. France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

quickly became the European centre of perfume and cosmetic manufacture, cultivating vast amounts of flowers for their essence. By the 18th century, aromatic plants were being specifically grown in the Grasse

Grasse

-See also:*Route Napoléon*Ancient Diocese of Grasse*Communes of the Alpes-Maritimes department-External links:*...

region of France

France

to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials.

Deodorants and antiperspirants

Perfume had been used to mask body odour for many hundreds of years, but in the late 19th century the ability to reduce such odour was developed. The original active ingredient of antiperspirants was aluminium chloride

Aluminium chloride

Aluminium chloride is the main compound of aluminium and chlorine. It is white, but samples are often contaminated with iron trichloride, giving it a yellow colour. The solid has a low melting and boiling point. It is mainly produced and consumed in the production of aluminium metal, but large...

but complaints of skin irritation led to the increased use of aluminium chlorohydrate

Aluminium chlorohydrate

Aluminium chlorohydrate is a group of specific aluminium salts having the general formula AlnClm. It is used in deodorants and antiperspirants and as a coagulant in water purification....

as an alternative. Aluminium has been established as a neurotoxin

Neurotoxin

A neurotoxin is a toxin that acts specifically on nerve cells , usually by interacting with membrane proteins such as ion channels. Some sources are more general, and define the effect of neurotoxins as occurring at nerve tissue...

and has been shown to adversely affect the blood-brain barrier

Blood-brain barrier

The blood–brain barrier is a separation of circulating blood and the brain extracellular fluid in the central nervous system . It occurs along all capillaries and consists of tight junctions around the capillaries that do not exist in normal circulation. Endothelial cells restrict the diffusion...

, cause DNA

DNA

Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...

damage, and have adverse epigenetic effects. Research has shown that the aluminum salts used in antiperspirants have detrimental effects to a number of species such as non-human primates, mice

MICE

-Fiction:*Mice , alien species in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy*The Mice -Acronyms:* "Meetings, Incentives, Conferencing, Exhibitions", facilities terminology for events...

, dogs and others. An experiment with mice found that applying an aqueous solution of aluminum chloride to the skin resulted in "a significant increase in urine, serum, and whole brain aluminium." Other experiments on pregnant mice showed transplacental passage of aluminum chloride.

Regulation

Legislation varies from country to country but most countries have some sort of formal legislation that either restrict or prohibit certain ingredients or products. There are two main sources for cosmetics safety. The EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

Cosmetics Directive 76/768/EEC and the Canadian Cosmetic Ingredient Hotlist.http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/cosmetics/html/consolidated_dir.htm http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/cps-spc/person/cosmet/hotlist-liste_e.html

A new version of the EU's Cosmetics Directive was adopted by the European Parliament

European Parliament

The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

, 24 March 2009. It namely includes new rules concerning the use of nanoparticle

Nanoparticle

In nanotechnology, a particle is defined as a small object that behaves as a whole unit in terms of its transport and properties. Particles are further classified according to size : in terms of diameter, coarse particles cover a range between 10,000 and 2,500 nanometers. Fine particles are sized...

s in cosmetics and includes stricter rules on animal testing of cosmetics.

Cosmetic colourants are highly regulated and also used as food dyes.
. Each country or group of countries has their own regulatory agency that controls what can go into cosmetics. In the United States, the regulating body is the Food and Drug Administration

Food and Drug Administration

The Food and Drug Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments...

. Aside from color additives, cosmetic products and their ingredients are not subject to FDA regulation prior to their release into the market. It is only when a product is found to violate Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA) after its release that the FDA may start taking action against this violation. The FDA may request a recall if the company refuses to remove an unsafe product from the market, work with the Department of Justice to remove contaminated or misbranded products, request a restraining order to prevent further shipments of contaminated or misbranded products, and take action against the company violating the law. A company may use any ingredient, other than color additives and those ingredients banned from use in cosmetics through regulation, as long the completed product and its ingredients is safe, is properly labeled, and isn’t contaminated or misbranded under the FD&C Act and the FPLA. FDA can and does perform inspections.

Potential dangers

The search for new ingredients and products often brings controversy, typically over ingredients whose function is unproven or disputed.

There are few potential dangers regarding the use of cosmetics. One such danger is the use of old mascara. Some mascaras contain an ingredient that breaks down to produce formaldehyde

Formaldehyde

Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...

. The formaldehyde prevents the growth of bacteria. Aged mascara, however, may no longer be producing formaldehyde, allowing bacteria to proliferate. For this reason, it is often recommended to replace a tube of mascara every few months .

In one well-known case, Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen

Buddy Ebsen was an American character actor and dancer. A performer for seven decades, he had starring roles as Jed Clampett in the long-running television series The Beverly Hillbillies and as the title character in the 1970s detective series Barnaby Jones, and played Barnaby Jones in the movie...

was originally cast as the "Tin Man" in the The Wizard of Oz
The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)
The Wizard of Oz is a 1939 American musical fantasy film produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It was directed primarily by Victor Fleming. Noel Langley, Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf received credit for the screenplay, but there were uncredited contributions by others. The lyrics for the songs...

. Aluminium dust was used to create a tin effect. As the result of an allergic reaction, he was hospitalized and Jack Haley

Jack Haley

John Joseph "Jack" Haley was an American stage, radio, and film actor best known for his portrayal of the Tin Man and Kansas farmworker Hickory in The Wizard of Oz.-Career:...

replaced him. Aluminium dust was, instead, added to a paste.