This month's survey of recent patent and literature research describes money-making ideas for the personal care industry including EGF-mimicking peptides and other skin treatments, as well as hair growth and makeup concepts.

Skin and Skin Care

Germanium mineral water, sericite for skin regeneration: Hyunju Home Shopping Co., Ltd., discloses a three-step method for producing a cosmetic composition containing germanium mineral water and sericite and used for promoting skin regeneration.¹ In step 1, natural sericite is pulverized to particle size of less than 10 nm and mixed with mineral water containing germanium. Step 2 is the addition of oily components, water, surfactants, humectants, lower alcohols, thickening agents, coloring materials and preservatives. In the final step, the result of steps 1 and 2 is processed into a cosmetic composition in which the germanium-containing mineral water has good skin permeability. Thus, sericite nanocapsules can be rapidly permeated into the skin and adsorb waste and harmful substances, which accelerates skin regeneration.

Skin-mimicking treatment: Evonik Goldschmidt GmbH discloses skin care compositions consisting of essentially nonionic emulsifiers and a mixture of ceramides, cholesterol, and free fatty acids, in which the mixture is able to mimic skin-identical lamellar structures.² These compositions are liquid and pumpable at room temperature, which means that they can be incorporated easily into cosmetic formulations with no need for heating. Furthermore, the compositions allow the stable inclusion of long-chain ceramides into o/w emulsions as well as into w/o emulsions. Inclusion of short-chain ceramides that can act as dermatological regulators did not affect the lamellar lipid organization.