Recent trends of natural products in the Personal Care industry are growing. Public perception is that because a product is natural, on top of being better for the environment, it will have certain benefits. In this article we will discuss the perception of what is a natural ingredient and the use of natural and non-natural ingredients in cleansing formulations and their effect on the skin. Personal care industry has heavily invested in the promotion of several types of cleansers: Soaps, Syndets and Liquid Cleansers among many others.

The promotion of certain benefits of particular formulations has also been directed to the defamation of other products, particularly when talking about Syndets and Soaps. Soaps’ alkaline pH and Syndets allergenic ingredients have been under discussion for years. Cleansing formulations need to be looked at in their totality and evaluated in relation to the end user. Soaps, Syndets and liquid cleansers all have positive and negative effects on the skin barrier. Many surfactants can be irritating and harmful for the skin if they are not formulated correctly.

Formulations with humectants and lipidic content will be milder for the skin. These nourishing and moisturising ingredients will help reduce the potential damage that any chemical could inflict on the skin.

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