The cosmetics industry assembled in the Windy City for the Society of Cosmetic Chemists' Annual Scientific Seminar. It was fitting that an industry with such rich history gathered at the historical Chicago Hilton for the event. When the hotel was first built in 1927, it was the largest hotel in the world with close to 3,000 rooms. Although the hotel has since been down-sized, the hustle and bustle surrounding it has not slowed, with its location near Grant Park, The Chicago Cultural Center and Lake Michigan. That traffic multiplied on June 4–5, 2009, as formulators and cosmetic chemists alike filed in, to learn about the latest technological developments in personal care.
But before the science began, the industry gathered the evening before at the Chicago Cultural Center for the SCC Midwest chapter's Social Night 2009, where the theme was “Cosmetic Inspired Concoctions,” reflected by the cocktails and bites offered. Attendees mingled in Preston Bradley Hall beneath a 38-foot Tiffany glass dome, the largest Tiffany dome in the world, designed by artist J.A. Holtzer. The cultural center is a city landmark, and the site where Chicago mayors have welcomed presidents, royalty and diplomats. Diplomats of the industry in skin, hair and sun care, color, and more discussed trends and news while overlooking Millennium Park and the Chicago skyline before retiring for the next day's sessions.
After marveling at the history or “aging” of Chicago, attendees focused on turning back time with a morning session on antiaging, moderated by Mindy Goldstein, PhD, of The Estée Lauder Companies. The session began with a keynote address by Gail Vance Civille, president of Sensory Spectrum Inc. Among her many insightful points on consumer perception, Civille noted that before quantitative data is taken, it is beneficial to gather qualitative data. “Qualitative data is very scary for scientists,” said Civille, who went on to recommend qualitative data as an inexpensive way to gather information before delving deeper into expensive quantitative data.
Moving from testing toward ingredients, Smitha Rao of Arch Personal Care introduced her company’s fermentation process to produce resveratrol for antiaging applications. During this process, Pichia pastoris, a species of yeast that is 95% identical to saccaromyces, is used to ferment the phytochemical resveratrol, which is used to treat inflammationthe first step in aging. Continuing the inflammation discussion was Carla Perez of Seppic who discussed her company’s active that encourages neovascularization without inflammation. Palmitoyl glycine, according to Perez, has the ability to rejuvenate cell/tissue phenotype through inflammation reduction, improvement of ECM production, and radiance boosting. Howard Epstein of EMD Chemicals Inc. then wrapped up the morning session with a discussion on bioflavonoids from such sources as adaptogenic herbs including emblica and ginseng, which are said to increase the body’s resistance to stress. Epstein emphasized that gene analysis is the “future of cosmetics testing,” and used this method to show that tiliroside upregulates catalase, which decreases with age.
The awards luncheon followed the morning session, where Mike Fevola, PhD, of Johnson & Johnson accepted the Best Paper Award, sponsored by Rhodia, on behalf of all the co-authors. This award recognizes the best paper presented at the 2008 Annual Scientific Meeting. “This award is great affirmation that we are working on the right things,” commented Fevola, who dedicated the award to industry great Des Goddard.
Concurrent afternoon sessions explored two sides of cosmetic science—formulation and analysis. The analytical session, chaired by Martha Tate, PhD, of Kimberly-Clark, opened with an analysis of free anhydrous formaldehyde (FA) availability on two donor preservatives, imidazolidinyl and imidiazolidynyl urea. Michael Tallon, PhD, of ISP explained the use of Carbon Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (13C-NMR) as a non-invasive and non-destructive method to accurately determine FA levels without affecting the equilibrium of the preservatives.
Following Tallon, Paul Winter, PhD, of Chemir Analytical Services explored the concept of deformulation (reverse engineering), using techniques to identify and quantify components and component types present in a sample, ranging from HPLC and NMR, to GCMS and Atomic Emission Spectroscopy. During the Q&D session, Joe Dallal asked what would motivate this type of work, to which Winter replied, “To compare good versus bad batches, when consumers complain. Or, for patent infringement to compare formulas and ensure a competitor is not using a patented formulation.”
Ingo Schelenberg, PhD, of the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences Institute of Bioanalytical Sciences (IBAS) then presented improved HPTLC as a tool for the qualification and quantification of lipids and phospholipids in cosmetics, and for the determination of major stratum corneum lipids. This 8-step process was shown to reduce total development time as well as reduce the accumulation of additives from solvents.
Finally, Gerardo Callegari, PhD, of TRI/Princeton presented an experiment to study the thickness of the liquid film left behind from a moving wet wipe. The equation presented measured the thickness of the film in relation to varying velocities and saturations, to serve as a tool for formulators designing systems for wipes applications, such as sunscreens. During the Q&A session, Prof. Randy Wickett, PhD, asked whether the model considered surface friction, to which Callegari replied, “This model was designed for smooth surface measurements.”
The third session of the day focused on formulations and was moderated by Jim Vlasic of Greenway Research Lab. Eric Abrutyn of TPC2 Advisors Ltd. began the session with a discussion on glycerin. According to Abrutyn, glycerin is one of the better moisturizers but can leave a clammy or tacky feeling on skin if it is not formulated correctly. Through previous research, Abrutyn found that a cationic delivery system is the best vehicle to optimize hydration of glycerin, and that small amounts of alkylamide MEA boost the performance of glycerin.
Another formulating challenge was resolved using water-in-silicone (w/s) emulsions, as addressed by Lisa Van Ommeren of Dow Corning. She found that w/s emulsions allow formulators to provide pleasant aesthetics and textures in addition to wash-off resistance and a long-lasting hold. Specifically, she noted that silicone polyethers allow for a large variety of textures and stable formulations.
The silicone discussion was continued by Stacy A. Mundschau of Kimberly Clark; however, the focus moved to SPF retention with silicone derivatives. Mundschau noted that dimethicone copolyol has excellent solubility in ethanol. He emphasized that this material could retain 100% of the original SPF by forming a water-resistant film alone or in conjunction with other polymers.
Paul Chang of Seppic focused his discussion on polymers, as his company investigated the structure and property connections of thickening and stabilizing polymers. He noted that the monomer choice was the key to get a thickening effect in a wide pH range with resistance to UV exposure. His team formulated with acrylamide and acryloyldimethyltaurate with a pH of 3–10 and stability with UV exposure.
The second day mostly focused on hair. The first session, moderated by Robert Lochhead, PhD, explored new methodologies in hair science. Yan Zhou of International Specialty Products opened with the discussion of color fade in hair. Her team found that many factors cause color fade, including thermal treatments and UV exposure. Asian hair, according to Zhou, fades less than European hair because it has more cuticle cells, making it more resistant to damage. She introduced polyquaternium-55 to impart wash-resistant hydrophobility on damaged hair surface to cause it to fade less.
Renee Bolden of Procter & Gamble went on to discuss the use of flow cell microscopy to view deposition of ingredients. Bolden showed a series of videos illustrating the deposition of shampoo and conditioner actives. Janusz Jachowicz, PhD, of Better Cosmetics LLC then covered the limitations of protein and protein hydrolyzates in deposition efficacy. He used measurements such as streaming potentials and contact angles to conclude that hydrolyzed wheat and soy proteins make bleached hair more hydrophobic and intact hair more hydrophilic.
Rounding out the morning session was Ray Rigoletto of International Specialty Products. Similarly to Zhou, Rigoletto discussed polyquaternium-55; however, he discussed the ingredient’s ability to protect hair from thermal stress such as that caused by flat irons. He also reviewed fiber fragmentation as a method for identifying thermal stress on hair or protection of hair by specific ingredients.
After a morning of hair care, attendees gathered for lunch where students in cosmetic science were presented the Best Poster Award, sponsored by DD Chemco. First place was awarded to Rahia Ibrahim of the University of Cincinnati for her poster and research on an improved method for predicting dermis permeability in vitro. Second, third and fourth place went to Jennifer Karr, Amber Evans and Rachna Gajjar, respectively, all from the University of Cinncinnati.
The afternoon session continued with hair, specifically multicultural hair care. Colleen Rocafort of Ciba Corp. moderated the session that was kicked off by Guive Balooch, PhD, of the L’Oréal Institute for Ethnic Hair and Skin, which is located in Chicago. Balooch noted that 70% of African-American women use relaxers to straighten their hair to increase its manageability. However, relaxer treatments can lead to compromised macro strength, and his research used synchrotron X-ray tomography to view this damage on a wide array of hair types, from Nigerian to Jamaican. Balooch noticed that hair damaged by relaxing treatments exhibited cracks and voids. This non-destructive measurement technique according to Balooch can be combined with other techniques to link energy absorption to protein content and concentration.
Balooch’s colleague, Bradford Pistorio, PhD, continued with what he found to be “the #1 problem for multicultural hair" —hair breakage. Pistorio discussed a consumer study conducted by L'Oréal that found consumers could not decipher between split ends, shedding and breakage. Finally, Trefor Evans, PhD, of TRI/Princeton discussed breakage as well by relating the propensity for breakage in afro hair to Caucasian hair.
Two days were not nearly enough to pack in all the technology the seminar had to offer, as evidenced by the number of sessions and pre-event courses held. Attendees ate up the wealth of information that came their way, in addition to drinking in a little of the culture that Chicago had ready and waiting.
